Found this one at a local show here in Southern Indiana today. The serial number puts it in the 1938-40 time frame.
Back in the day, you joined the department, were issued a gun and a badge and went to work. All your training was OJT and you were "probational" for a set period of time. Mayors Trophy - Best act of police work while still in training. These were awarded in the NYPD.

This ones engraving reads:
The "Mayors" Trophy
Won by
Prob Ptl Samuel S. Herschfield
Sep-1940
There is one other marking on the butt, "18956". Unknown if this is a rack number or the officer's badge number. It's stamped, not engraved so I'm thinking rack number.
So somebody sold off great grandpa's revolver award for valor.....
This one will be getting lettered.

Attached Images

DSC00723.jpg (127.3 KB, 308 views)

Checked this thread out a second time. That is quite a find I would think.

That is absolutely cool! Wish I could find one of those... closest I could come is a shooting/marksman medal from KCPD (Mo) from shortly after the war. Congrats!

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Randy
Provenance nerd

Cool find. Member RM Vivas may have more information on the recipient.

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Alan
SWCA LM 2023, SWHF 220

Great find!!! The closest I have is this Chiefs Special:

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Richard
Engraved S&W fan

I would be interested in that gun should you wish to sell it.

Best,
RM Vivas

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RM Vivas
SWCA#1482L, SWHF#837

I'm a couple hours away from having something on this.

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RM Vivas
SWCA#1482L, SWHF#837

Not as much information as I had hoped for Probationary Patrolman Samuel S. Hershfield….


Samuel Steiner Hershfield was born28NOV13 and died in West Palm Beach, FL on 17NOV98.
In 1939 he was living at 2119 Valentine Ave. in Bronx. He was working as a clerk in the Police Department in 1939 assigned to Eighteenth Division – Detective Bureau – Main Office - 240 Centre St. – Manhattan. He was getting $1,320 per year, a shade over half of a Patrolmans salary.


This must have irked him a bit because he sat for the Patrolmans’ Exam, passed and was appointed a Patrolman on Probation on05JUN40 at $1,200 per year (This usually doubled after a year).


His draft card which has an illegible date but may be safely presumed to date from 1941-1945 lists his address as 2515 Davidson Ave Bronx and his emergency contact person is his wife, Ruth Altfater Hershfield. He listed his employer as Police Dept. NYC 44th Pct 167th St & Sedgwick Ave, Bronx. Hershfield was described as White, 6’ 1”, 180 lbs., Brown eyes, Brown hair and Ruddy complexion.


I haven’t turned up what act of police work he did during his training days that resulted in his award. I’ll look into it more as time and resources allow.


Best,
RM Vivas

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RM Vivas
SWCA#1482L, SWHF#837

RM Vivas

Thank you for the information. I posted this on one of my Facebook groups for vintage firearms and a member there actually has tracked down Samuel's two sons. It seems one is a psychiatrist with a practice in Maryland and one served as a Captain in the US Army at the Pentagon back in 1968.

I am in the process of taking some better pictures and getting a letter request out to S&W this week. Doubt it will explain much, I have a feeling this was a "rack gun" that they pulled to engrave for the occasion!

I suppose this would be a good time to discuss NYPD Mayors Trophy Revolvers.

First off, prior to around 1900 or so, most police departments in the US had no formalized training system. You signed on and learned on the job.

NYPD started formalized training in the 1890’s and ever since, you’ve had to do your training before being considered off probation and being a ‘regular’ cop.

The training was actually quite rigorous and while many names were hung on the NYPD training facility during its lifetime, it was often referred to as the Police College, giving some indication of how rigorous its curriculum was.

Trophy Guns started in 1917 with the Bloomingdale Trophy, which was awarded for being the top man in your class in ALL subjects. It was a valedictorians gun.

The Mayors Trophy didn’t come into being until 1936. At that time it was an award for having the second highest general average (first highest receiving the Bloomingdale Trophy).

There is a delightful urinating contest going on here between the Department and Mayors office. You see, the Bloomingdale Trophy was a privately sponsored Trophy; it was sponsored by Hiram Bloomingdale of Bloomingdales Department Store fame. It was paid for by Bloomingdale himself via a rather large (for that time) annuity. The City and Department really didn’t have much say in it. Bloomingdale was a CPT in the Police Reserve, a staunch supporter of the Department and PBA and, as his socioeconomic position would suggest, a man to whom politicians and would-be politicians would want to be on the good side of.

He had already secured the Number One spot, Trophy-wise; the best man in the class got a Bloomingdale Trophy.

The Bloomingdale Trophy garnered a great deal of attention at the different graduations and was frequently mentioned in Annual Report of the Department. You can see how the Mayor would want a piece of this action!

However, as the City of New Yorks “First Citizen”, the number one police graduate should be getting the number one citizens award, not something from some private merchant! Or so the thinking at City Hall went.

This is where the politics become so amusing. Since the number one spot was already occupied, lets give the Mayor the number two spot. Ok, done! But what about the -other- people who were jockeying for position?

In New York state, the position of Attorney General is abbreviated AG. It stands for Attorney General but also stands for ‘Almost Governor’; the implication being that the AG aspires to something more. The Department was no different.

The Police Commissioner is dubbed “PC’ and it’s always been understood that the term PC was shorthand for “Pretty Close” to being Mayor.

So, we also have the Police Commissioners Trophy coming into existence around 1939, very closely followed by the Chief Inspectors Trophy.

It’s interesting how the noble efforts of Bloomingdale were viewed by some other folks.

But I digress.

The Mayors Trophy was originally for second highest man. Shortly thereafter, the criteria for Trophy Guns was re-jiggered to allow for more types of Trophy Guns and a somewhat more logical sequence of criteria (based upon the sponsoring individuals rank).

Eventually, the Mayors Trophy had morphed into an award for Most Outstanding Police Act Whilst In Training.

Amongst Trophy Guns the Mayor’s Trophy has the distinction of being perhaps the most ‘colorful’; it’s recipients were men (no women received a Mayor’s Trophy) who had foiled robberies, engaged in dangerous undercover work, aided accident victims and otherwise distinguished themselves in what might be termed ‘heroic deeds’.

Since the Mayor’s Trophy was meant to recognize the most outstanding act of police work by a recruit, only one award was made per class.

On two occasions there were presentations of two Mayor’s Trophy guns in a single graduation ceremony. February 20, 1955 was a dual presentation to Probationary Patrolmen Ronald J. KELLY and Joseph KILANOWSKI. Two Mayor’s Trophy guns were presented at the May 12, 1969 graduation ceremony; the first was to Probationary Patrolman Francis T. HUNT, the second to Probationary Patrolman Douglas ODACHOWSKI. ODACHOWSKI had actually graduated in another class a month earlier but the presentation had been put off due to heavy snow.

The number stamped on Patrolman HERSHFIELD’s gun is his shield number and that bears some mentioning.

Regulations stated that all your gear had to have your shield number on it, including your piece. Fine, that logical.

Whats interesting about HERSHFIELD’s gun is that it’s one of the few Trophy Guns I’ve seen that have done this.

Back in the day, you got your gun and shield the same day you swore in; Day One! You showed up at police headquarters, swore in, then went to the Equipment Bureau and drew all your gear INCLUDING your on-duty piece and shield!

If you wanted an off-duty piece, you went and got one after you graduated. Look at the situation this created though; you got your on-duty piece on Day One. You do your training, you excel, you’re standing there at graduation in your blues with your white gloves, shiny shield and polished on-duty gun at your waist. They announce the Trophy Gun winner and, holy ****!, it’s you!!

You go up to the stage, shake the Mayors hand, pose for a picture as he hands you…………another on-duty gun!

Yea, it’s engraved, but what are you going to do with TWO on duty guns?

This is actually part of the reason most of the post-war presentations were off-duty pieces.

It also explains why most on-duty presentation pieces are in such good shape. The guy never carried it, as he already had an on-duty piece.

Best,
RM Vivas

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RM Vivas
SWCA#1482L, SWHF#837

Probationary Patrolman HERSHFIELD received the Mayors Trophy for an academic average of %91.93 on his training.

Best,
RM Vivas

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RM Vivas
SWCA#1482L, SWHF#837

That is great insight on not only the trophy history, but also the political pecking order present in all such competitions......Ben

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Cogito, ergo BOOM!...

Amazing information Robert, thanks for posting!

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Alan
SWCA LM 2023, SWHF 220

Very cool info! Now I'm kinda bummed out that he didn't carry it. It's got a turn line, but the area around the firing pin hole and recoil shield are still deep blue, not worn or scuffed. The action is incredible though. I wonder if they "slicked" them up along with engraving them?

Typically the only enhancement to the gun was the engraving. However, the NYPD gunsmiths had ---LOTS--- of experience with M&P's and were capable of doing some very good action tuning when called upon.

You'll notice that on ---almost--- all Trophy Guns the engraving was done on the side plate. This was so that the side plates could be removed and dropped at a local jeweler for engraving without needing to leave the whole gun with an unlicensed person. Similarly, I have heard that some families would detach the side plate to keep as a memento of their departed loved ones career and sell the gun off separately, this way they did not need to get a pistol license.

One amusing thing that I've noticed in some of the old photos is that the box the gun came in will have holes punched in the bottom. They would do this to wire the gun into place so that when the winner held the boxed gun up for the camera while shaking hands with the mayor, the gun would not fall out.
Note in the attached images that the guns are wired into the box. In the extreme close-up you can see the wire just ahead of ther grip and around the barrel.

This image actually says alot about Trophy Gun winners. These are Trophy Gun winners in 1962 at a graduation ceremony at the bandshell in Cnetral Park. The man third from right is Martin Turetzky who was head of the Equipment Bureau when I was there and still carried his Trophy Gun as his daily piece as he puttered around 1PP. Guy on the extreme left is Leake who went on to be head of either Transit or Housing, I can't recall. All the other guys went on to be bosses too.

Attached Images

	62winners.jpg (77.2 KB, 68 views)
	leake2.jpg (35.2 KB, 60 views)

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RM Vivas
SWCA#1482L, SWHF#837

Latest update...She still shoots! Very well also. This is 6 shots DA at 7 yds with the original Police load, a 158 gr RNL at about 850 fps.

I was also contacted by a retired NYPD detective who can access Samuel's badge number, assignments, career paperwork and even supply a replica badge for the gun!

Attached Images

1940 M&P with target.jpg (87.4 KB, 38 views)

It looks like Hershfield went on to be Chief Supreme Court Jury Clerk of New York County. His son was a US Army Captain, (as mentioned above).

His son's marriage from "The Standard Star" New Rochelle NY , Wed. March 6th 1968, Page 22:

Attached Images

Hershfield.jpg (25.9 KB, 34 views)

Got the factory letter from S&W. Looks like the NYPD simply went and bought their presentation guns from the local sports emporium. Shipped to Abercrombie and Fitch, Madison Ave, NY on February 25th 1935. So it's a bit older than I thought. Possibly set around the store for a couple years?

Attached Images

Mayor's Trophy letter.jpg (126.6 KB, 17 views)

Little thought provoking tidbits of data like this are part of the value of the SWHF letters......Ben

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Cogito, ergo BOOM!...

Actually I've seen this before.

Keep in mind that in 1940 the Department was having a hard time getting guns. During the 1941-1945 war years it was worse.

My experience has been that a rserve of 'nice' pre-war guns was kept on hand for old-timers who needed a new gun or new kids whose Dad's had some pull and wanted their kid to get a 'nice gun'. Presumably the Trophy Guns would have been drawn from this pile.

I had a 1948 Mayors Trophy Detective Special that was actually a 1933 gun that sat around for a while.

Best,
RM Vivas

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RM Vivas
SWCA#1482L, SWHF#837