In general, the factory discouraged its engravers from signing their work, much to the frustration of us collectors. HOWEVER, some factory engraved guns (that letter as such) were signed, often times very discretely, before they left the factory.

To answer your question as to what "factory engraved" means, I'll give you three scenarios of how your grandfather's gun came to be engraved:

1) Smith & Wesson hired engravers who were employees of the Company. They worked at the S&W factory. Guns engraved by these factory engravers at the factory were billed, shipped and invoiced by S&W as such and are referred to as "factory engraved" guns. Individuals could order a custom engraving job from the factory and specify what they wanted to be engraved on the gun (including names or initials). Factory engravers would take an unfinished gun ("in the white") and engrave it to customer specifications. When completed, the engraved gun was shipped to the customer, usually through a distributor or local dealer.

2) Individuals could also purchase a plain gun, then decide at a later date that they wanted it to be engraved by S&W. They would contact the factory, tell them what they wanted and ship their gun to the factory, which would then be engraved by a factory engraver, refinished to spec and upon payment from the individual it would be returned to them as an engraved gun (most of the time with S&W paperwork or certificates stating that the gun was engraved at the factory by a factory engraver). These guns are also "factory engraved", but they will not letter as originally shipping as an engraved gun, as they originally left the factory as plain guns. Records for repair work or engraving projects on customer owned guns either do not exist, were not kept or are not readily available for historical searches.

3) It would not be unheard of for some factory engravers, like Russ Smith to "moonlight" and take engraving projects on his free time - essentially engraving these guns at home for friends or known individuals. These guns, although engraved by a factory engraver, would not be "factory engraved".

So, if you request a Letter of Authenticity from the S&W Historical Society, the Historian (Roy Jinks) will research your gun by serial number to see how it originally left the factory and send you that information in a letter, along with a copy of the invoice if it is available. If your grandfather ordered the engraved gun directly from the factory (scenario 1 above), it will letter as shipping as a "factory engraved" gun.

As to your grandfather going to dinner with Russ Smith before the gun engraving was completed - engravers have to eat, and I'm sure that if your grandfather paid for dinner, it was a pleasant experience for Mr. Smith, regardless of how the gun came to be engraved (factory or moonlight).

Here is a link to request a Letter of Authenticity if you would like to get one.

http://smith-wessonforum.com/SWCA-Do...quest_form.pdf

Once again, thanks for sharing that beauty with the rest of us, and please feel free to post some more photos.

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Richard
Engraved S&W fan