My friend just gave me this S. & W. D.A. 45. On the butt is a lanyard clip and an imprint of " US ARMY MODEL 1917 No 54, 104". On the top of the barrel is printed "Snith and Wesson Springfield Mass, USA Patented Dec. 17, 1901. Feb. 6, 1906. Sep. 14, 1909" On the side of the barrel is printed 'S.&W. D.A. 45'.
It looks to be all original and in perfect working order (It Shoots). Can anyone tell me what the value may be? I don't think my friend knows exactly what he has given me. If this gun is of significant value, I would like to give it back to him.

We really need pictures here. Yes all are valuable but go way up depending on condition. Even rough ones are worth a couple hundred.

Don't have a URL to insert photos. I can send via email to anyone interested.

Help him out boys, ya all know I dont know nothing about machinery!

Welcome to the Forum.

You can e-mail me the pictures at:

[email protected]

and I'll post 'em for you.

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John 3:16
WAR EAGLE!

Here is a website where you can enter your serial number and get the month & year of manufacture for WWI M1917 Revolvers.

U.S. Military Dates of Manufacture

It says yours was made in May, 1918.

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You're shy a few manners.

"significant value" can be a very objective value, and the earlier replies are correct, pictures and condition level are pretty important even with non-collectibles. However, they are getting hard to find in any condition, and if in reasonable condition, I'd say your intuition is correct in that your friend didn't really know what he was giving away. An original 1917 in fair to good condition, even reblued would be worth $500-800 to me almost sight unseen, and they can realistically go a quite a bit higher for lots of reasons. I would talk it over with your friend, but if he's not too interested in it, I'd be very happy with your gift, and consider your friend a very good friend!

Thanks to Jack for that link; I had been trying to find that one for awhile.

If you click on "Quote" (posting a reply to your own message), in the second section below you will see "Attach Files" and another box, "Manage Attachments". Click on that one and you can attach a photo from your computer, no URL needed.

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Alan
SWCA LM 2023, SWHF 220

want to know value of gun

tfpblaster, Welcome to the Forum. The value of the gun depends on the condition, as said above. Photos needed to assess the condition, then value estimates will follow. Ed.