I won't say welcome to the forum since you have been around for a while but I will say welcome to posting.
Very nice collection and cool display. As you know we love pictures here and many refer to it as "gun porn".
S&W only kept track of the shipping dates as that is when a gun left inventory and either payment had been made or was expected. When the gun was made was of no interest as it did not reflect income at that point.
Some collectors have been able to secure some of the foremen's factory floor records that do give manufacture dates and serial numbers however, they are not complete and are few and far between. The ATF has accepted the shipping dates from S&W as the manufacture date as obviously the gun had to have been made before it was shipped although many guns have been found to have sat in inventory for as much as 10 years before shipment.
This really only becomes critical when trying to determine either antique or C&R status.
As an FYI, the S&W Historian and founder of the Smith and Wesson Collectors Association is Roy Jinks, not Jenks.
