Interesting Factory Letter on my Pre 27

Mikebiker

Mikebiker

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This gun was recently posted and a letter was highly encouraged. The letter has arrived and it shows it was sold to General George Van Orden. While this was in a shipment of 55 guns it was the only one to show in the ledger as sent to General Van Orden by name. I was also told that while many other guns were sent to Evaluators none were marked to the General as this one is. Below are 2 interesting links to the general and the Store Evaluators. In the S&W Forum link I found post number 22 from his daughter to be very interesting

Big Thank You to RM Vivas for his encouragement to letter this one.

George O. Van Orden - Wikipedia


Anyone know Evaluators Limited Quantico ?

Original Post on this gun.

Need Some Help with a MFG Date for this PRE 27

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It looks like these guns were shipped by air. Was this normal for 1950. I would think shipping 55 guns by air to be quite expensive, especially for 1950.
 
22hipower said:
Nice! Every once in a while those letters pay off. Congrats on that one.

Jeff
SWCA #1457
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I beg to add that it's not just once in a while, Jeff, but each and every time...Each gun and each of its caretakers is a brick in the wall of history...Knowing each of those bricks only strengthens the wall...;)...Ben
 
NICE!


Mikebiker said:
The letter has arrived and it shows it was sold to General George Van Orden. While this was in a shipment of 55 guns it was the only one to show in the ledger as sent to General Van Orden by name. I was also told that while many other guns were sent to Evaluators none were marked to the General as this one is.
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Are you sure? The invoice has his name for all 55 guns.
How could the Factory know which of the five 357s he would keep personally?
Did you get a list of all 55 serial numbers? Did the historian check other guns by number?


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The lesson for today is anytime one who just might know a bit more than you do suggests getting a letter, get a letter.

Any other time, get a letter anyway! It just might say something like this:

"We have researched your Smith & Wesson K-22 Masterpiece Model of 1940 or K-22 Second Model, caliber .22 Long Rifle in company records which indicate that your handgun, with serial number 682435 was shipped from our factory on March 21, 1940, and delivered to Mr. Philip B Sharpe, South Portland, ME. This revolver had a 6 inch barrel, blue finish, and checkered walnut silver medallion grips with grip adapter attached. This revolver was shipped on an advertising account at no charge to Mr. Sharpe. This is a very important revolver."

It's little things like that that'll make you sit right up and take notice!

Ralph Tremaine

As an aside, Mr. Sharpe was the gentleman S&W credits with the development of the 357 Magnum cartridge --------and the recipient of Registered Magnum #2 and a few other goodies from time to time---not bad for a few days work, huh?!!
 
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This was posted by RM Vivas on the colt forum concerning this gun.

Quote from another member.
Even though the letter lists it as being addressed to him personally, the fact that the invoice lists another 54 revolvers indicates that the order was not for him but his business.



I pondered that for quite a bit as I went through the records. What makes me take this gun out of the "inventory' category is that this particular gun is the only one that appears in the records with his name and rank rather than the business name.

I searched a great many Evaluator records from their inception to just after the date of this guns shipment and all the guns were tagged Evaluators; this was the only one listed under the Generals name rather than the company name.

Is that concrete? No. Is it strongly persuasive? Yup.

Best,
RM Vivas
 
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handejector said:
NICE!



Are you sure? The invoice has his name for all 55 guns.
How could the Factory know which of the five 357s he would keep personally?
Did you get a list of all 55 serial numbers? Did the historian check other guns by number?


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I think he is referring to the copy of the page out of the S&W disposition book showing S78022 going to "Gen Geo. Van Orden Wash. DC."
 
spin132 said:
It is shown in the letter S78022

Mike

Sent from my SM-G996U using Tapatalk
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I understand the butt serial number is S78022.

What I’m asking for is the serial number that is stamped on the underside of the right side walnut stock such as pictured below…..
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The stocks on the OP’s Pre-27 serial number S78022 do not appear to have the sharp shoulder at the top as pictured here on this other 1950 vintage Pre-27 with serial number matching stocks…..
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Subsequently it is suspected that the serial number on the right side stock of the OP’s Pre-27 may not match the butt serial number S78022 and that the stocks are later vintage replacements. Thus the request for the walnut stock serial number.
 
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The grips are very recent eBay replacements. The gun came with later target style stocks when I purchased it. There were several S&Ws in the batch and all had been changed to target stocks. The box had a Model 19 in it as this one would not fit and was going to be sold that way until I saw them and sorted it all out. I may look for a set of the sharp shoulder stocks but the number still will not match. The guns all came from a wealthy collector located near DC. There was also a Gold Cup in the box with his name on the receipt from 1969.
 
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