I looked at a revolver today. It was fully engraved, had a 3" or 3 1/2" barrel in 357 caliber with no model number. I am assuming it is a pre 27. Did the factory produce such a revolver, or was it engraved by someone else? If not factory, how does engraving affect collector value?
I really have not been much of an engraved gun fan, but this one looks nice, and I can possibly get a decent deal on it.
Does anyone have an idea of what it could be worth? I realize I have not given much information to determine it's actual age if it is not a factory engraved gun. Condition is 95-98%

You would need a factory letter from Roy Jinks (LOA) to find out if it was engraved at the factory.I'll leave the value of engraving to someone who is more experienced.

anyone else have any info on this?

Depends on condition and who engraved it.

S&W Forum - pace40's Album: The .357 Hand Ejector

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Pace

Nearly all factory engraved guns have the small S&W logo on the left side of the frame. Non-factory engraved guns, or guns that were returned for engraving, usually have the large logo on the side plate, or no logo. Many of the Pre-Model 27s were engraved by Harry Jarvis who worked at S&W for many, many years, and a few were done by Russ Smith when he joined the company in the mid-50s.

A near mint, factory engraved pre-27 will be quite valuable and worth over $4000 (sometimes quite a bit over).

Bill

What type of grips does it have on it? S&W would frequently use some sort of "fancy" grips such as smooth rosewood grips like you see on my factory engraved 3.5" pre 27 shown here.

It is a .357 Magnum (pre 27) with a 3½” barrel. It is Class A factory engraved, and letters as such. It shipped in late December of 1955 to H.H. Harris in Chicago.

The letter from Roy Jinks refers to this gun as a Special Engraved Edition and indicates he believes the engraving was done by Russell Smith. He also mentioned in the letter that he feels this gun was probably one of the first guns engraved by Mr. Smith after he joined Smith & Wesson in May of 1955.

You are The King of the post-war 3.5" pre-27's. That is a real beauty. But then again, those engraved pintos are something to behold...

Thanks for posting,

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Richard
Engraved S&W fan

It does look similar to yours, but it does have the Large logo on the right side. The logo looks like the original factory logo and it is engraved around it. I has grips that I believe to be ivory. they have an "R" carved in the right side. I don't know what the R is for, but it happens to be the initial of my last name.

Bill,
Would a non factory engraved gun be worth more than a non engraved model? What is the approx value of each?

A non-factory engraved gun is usually worth quite a bit less than a factory engraved gun, although there are some exceptions. A gun engraved by Alvin White, or some other well known master engraver will often sell for as much, or more than a factory gun. It just depends on the collector and the type of engraving on the gun.

If the gun you are looking at is Class A-engraved (full coverage), it would be worth $4000 or more, but if the revolver has full coverage by a non-factory engraver and the engraver is unknown, it would be worth $2000-$3000 at most. These values assume there are no other factors that would increase the value of the gun (i.e. gold inlays, etc.).

Bill