Just recently lettered a 5" Pre 27 that shipped to Amarillo Hardware Co., Amarillo, Texas on October 18, 1954. Is this just a local hardware company, or a larger S&W shipping destination? -- I don't recall ever having seen this as a shipping destination.

Hey guy... put this question to the guys who haunt the correct S&W pistol board (pinned & recessed) here. You know the year it was shipped so this makes it easy. Go back to the main forum page.. that board is listed near the top, post this same question on it. My guess is that you will get a response from one or more of them pretty quick.

1), my congrats to you on earning your flash & thank you for your service.

2nd) congrats on picking up a swell old N frame... that can either be a great collectible... or derned good using pistol or both... but if she's in derned nice shape.. I'd be tempted to put her up,, reserving her for at most a little range time.... & getting a nice 4" 686 to use as a carry gun.

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be safe,enjoylife,journey well

I know nothing about Amarillo Hardware, but I think S&W would ship to about any retailer who ordered from them at that time. It's not unusual for guns to letter as having shipped to various hardware and sporting goods stores. I don't know anything about S&W's distribution network at that time. It also could possibly have been ordered by AH through some S&W distributor for direct shipment to AH.

Amarillo Hardware was a wholesale hardware company opened in 1904 at 403 Polk Street here in Amarillo, Texas. Amarillo Hardware moved to South Grant street and showed address of 600, 612, 622 south Grant street and was a large supplier around here. I don't know for sure when they moved to Grant Street but they were in the new building in 1938. I think they went out of business 5 to 6 years ago. Hope this helps.

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James
On the Llano Estacado

Out of curiosity I ran a search; Google results show them as still in business.

Andy

Smith and Wesson dealt with large concerns as well as mom and pop stores. Obviously, you will see more references to an Abercrombie and Fitch or an E. K. Tryon than you will to Joe's Hardware in Snodgrass, Kentucky.

The larger the concern the larger their market and the more folks would order from them. The smaller concerns might only get one or two orders a year.

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James Redfield
LM #497

Back in the days before Home Depot and Lowe's there were many small independent retail hardware stores scattered in large and small towns all over the country. There were a number of hardware wholesalers and jobbers which served regional market areas or nationwide to supply them with product. It seems like Amarillo Hardware may have been one of those wholesalers, and S&W (along with other gunmakers) probably did a lot of business through such wholesalers. Back in the old days, most retail hardware stores sold sporting goods, including guns and ammunition. A few still do. Near me in Del Rio, Texas, there is a fairly large True Value hardware store which serves as the local gun shop, stocks lots of guns, ammunition, and reloading supplies, and will order anything a customer wants if it's not in stock.

My 1939 Reg. Mag shipped to what I found was a "wholesale" Hardware Co. in Pittsburgh...........life was so much simpler back then!!!!

Have to 2nd DWalt........ when I was young (50s) remember several small local hardware stores with gun counters.........there was one still in operation in the Greensburg Pa. area into the late 1990s.

Looks like it was a pretty big operation back in the day.

Prior to 1968 you could mail order all sorts of firearms, including handguns, from the Sears catalog. Thats where I got my first 22 rifle.

Whenever the latest catalog came in, that was the first section that I always turned to.

Back in the early 80's I worked for a general mercantile store in Animas,NM.
Very remote, country location, 70 miles from Deming, NM and 70 miles from Douglas Az. About 35 to Lordsburg, NM.
We sold hardware, feed, lumber, livestock supplies, propane, windmills, everything you might need on a ranch or farm or home except groceries. Including guns, gun safes and ammunition. One of our major suppliers was Amarillo Hardware.They handled a full line of firearms and ammunition and accessories. The salesman came out every two weeks,as did the guy from Zork Hardware in El Paso.Or you could call them on the telephone and add whatever to your next bi-weekly order. Their big catalogs were a wonder, literally, if it wasn't in there, it doesn't exist. Very good company, but it was a different world then, I reckon.

One of my most prized possessions is a 1914 catalog from Hibbard, Spencer, Bartlett & Co. of Chicago, also a large hardware wholesaler. That catalog is immense - hard cloth covers and well over 3000 pages, with some color illustrations. It is actually unbelievable to see the range of merchandise they carried - virtually anything on earth you can imagine, including a huge selection of guns from all manufacturers of the day (they even had Lugers!!!) and ammunition (Peters only) , also explosives and blasting supplies. Most everything was priced based on 10, 12, or a gross of items, not much individually. I found that catalog in an abandoned barn in Southern Ohio back in the late 1950s, and have kept it ever since.

One of the color Peters plates from that catalog:


And a typical ammunition page:

What cha wanna bet that Skeeter Skelton graced the door at that store a time or two?

I used to go into Harris Hardware in Notasulga, Alabama, about 14 miles west of Auburn back in the 1970s. Back when M29s were going for double price, Harris Hardware sold them for MSRP, which was $283 IIRC. Unfortunately, they didn't get many.

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John 3:16
WAR EAGLE!

There was a large hardware store like this in St. Louis Missouri from the 1840s to the 1960s called Shapleigh Hardware. They must have dealt in firearms, or at least ammunition, because I have a couple of old wood ammunition crates with their name stamped on them. One is for .22 ammo and the other is for 16ga. These are great old collectibles, I use them to hold some of my other collectibles in my reloading room.

Life truly was simpler back then.

TRE

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Fine guns and fine smokes.

Google street view (sorry but I don't know how to capture an image of street view) shows that building virtually unchanged, including the Amarillo Hardware Company sign on the top, as of Dec. 2012, but it looks vacant and there's a For Sale sign in front of it.

My model 58 was shipped to the Amarillo Hardware Co in September 1964 as part of an order for the Amarillo Police Department.

Time were a lot different then. I recall when all local hardware stores sold guns,ammo, fishing tackle and just about anything you needed.
I can remember in the basement of our local hardware boxes of dynamite, and in the next room over the blasting caps.
Bought my 1st handgun at the same establishment, a Ruger MARK 1 for 41$, and a box of .22's thrown in the deal. The owner had grown up with my dad, and he always treated everyone fair and square.

Here ya go. Best view I could snip.

Attached Images

A H Co.jpg (56.1 KB, 96 views)

Correction: Sneaking around the back with Google Earth, as of 2013 there seems to be an active entrance with parked cars under a newish-looking sign.

Attached Images

A H Co 2013.jpg (105.0 KB, 81 views)

I think it was initially posted in the Lounge and the suggestion to move it to this forum was to improve the odds of getting info. Some of the lounge lizards stay there and don't participate in the revolver portions of the forum.
Ed

Belknap Hardware in Louisville was another large hardware wholesaler that distributed a lot of guns.

Of course .22s were available everywhere in those days, and IIRC, cost about $0.69 / 100 back then, so tossing in a box wasn't going to break the bank!

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You're shy a few manners.

I recently bought a S&W .22 from A F Boyer Hardware & Guns in Slatington, PA. Allan, the owner, told me his hardware store is the longest running family owned hardware store in the USA -- five generations. Sounds like he still does a bang-up gun business.

When I was a kid the Ace Hardware store in my hometown offered a nice selection of long and short guns. The owner had (probably still has) the best collection of turn-of-the-century S&Ws I've ever seen. Drool worthy.

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Wrangler of stray Chiefs
Bob

Winchester had its own chain of hardware and sporting goods stores all over the USA back in the post-WWI era. It didn't make it through the Depression. Advertising items and Winchester-marked non-gun products (such as tools) from the Winchester stores are very desirable acquisitions among Winchester collectors.

Just got my letter on my M&P. It shipped in April of 1926 to Shapleigh Hardware, St. Louis MO. Their history indicates they had traveling salesmen but did not indicate how far from St. Louis they went. I bought the revolver in SC which is a long way from St. Louis. Of course, it had 90 years to get here!

My "birthday" M&P was also shipped to Belknap in April of 47. I once asked if they were a S&W distributor, but never got an answer.

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Back to back World War Champs.