The gun itself is in excellent conditon. It doesn't appear to have been fired a whole lot.

The rifling is strong. Cylinder lock-up is excellent with no play.

The top-latch is tight with no wiggle. The nickel finish seems to be original and I wouldn't hesistate to call it 95%.

Only thing affecting asthetics is a small chip on the right bottom underside of the handgrip.

The fellow I got it from said his grandfather had it in a safety deposit box since he could remember.

So my question is what should I look for if I was to sell this smith?
Thanks in advance for the help.

Welcome to the Forum. You have a .38 Safety Hammerless, 4th model. Judging from the photo. it appears to have been refinished at sometime in it's past. The chipped grip is common, caused by a person removing the hard rubber grip incorrectly. As is the gun is a shooter, not a collector item, and valued accordingly, at approx. $250, give or take 20% depending on the market where you live. Ed.

thanks for the info makes me feel better about shooting it if I decide to keep it around.

The "Tell" about re-plating is the trigger guard. They were not plated at the factory, nor the trigger either.

thanks to you as well sir, good to know

Small chips are easy to repair. Clean the chip area with a Q-tip and acetone, then use masking tape to make a dam. Use some 2 part epoxy mixed with Testor's black paint and fill the chip. Make a trial batch to see if it will cure hard and have an opaque black color. Might take some experimenting, but you will quickly find a mixture that works well. After curing, you can carefully sand the epoxy back to the original outline of the grip. Maybe rub some black oil based paint on the area to blend to original look.

wow awesome suggestion thanks I will definitely give this a try.