About ten year ago I sold a gun collection for a lady here in town. Her late husband was a Major with a law enforcement agency and he passed in 1976. He had an "in" at Smith & Wesson. Her and her brother kept some of the firearms, especially the ones with his name engraved on them. The lady has since passed and her brother contacted me, inquiring about the value of some of the remaining firearms. He has not yet decided to sell them but would like to know the value. I am unsure of what to tell him on the engraved revolvers. I blurred the name out on the revolvers.

First up is a 1965/66 Model 60. It is in the correct serial number (4102XX) range to be polished with a polished hammer & trigger.




Next up is a nickel Model 42 (yes, nickel). It has the high horn grips but may have a replacement trigger.





Next is a nickel Model 36 3 inch square butt that was won at a shooting match in 1963 and appears unfired.





And last, I believe, is a shooter. It is a nickel Model 15 that has been modified. It has a smooth combat trigger, rounded rear sight blade, thinned trigger guard. It appears to be a re-finish from S&W because it has a star stamped after the serial number under the barrel.






Any help would be appreciated.

Lynn
[email protected]

i dont know what to tell you on value, but those are really neat...i'm sure it would be worth a slight premium as a whole collection, especially being engraved with the same Major's name

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Kris
OGCA, NRA LM

Beautiful guns all! Customized or personalized guns usually suffer a price reduction, but if the major was a character of some note, and the work performed at the factory, I don't believe it will hurt value at all. I would strongly encourage the brother to write a brief bio on the Major, along with any history relating to each gun he may be aware of. Factory letters might well be worth the investment on these as well. That done, I believe that they would bring roughly what an un-altered specimen would bring. Prices are just my humble opinion.
60@$500 This is a real old one. Pretty desirable I'd say.
42@$500
36@$400
15@$450
Best regards

Such nice guns with great family history, hopefully someone in the family will keep them.

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Jim
Many K and N Frames

I would think that unless he's someone of importance it will likely have a negative affect on the value of the revolvers whether it was factory done or not. To determine if it was factory done I would think a letter on one my tell you and if the engraving looked the same on all of them then it might at least make them all factory done.

I have a 27-2 with 3.5 in barrel that looks nearly mint but has a name engraved under the grip area. It certainly kills any collector value and the overall price but I bought it as a shooter so I didn't really care.

I guess I need to shake a leg and do some world shakeing event pretty soon! I had the factory engrave my name in a gold oval when I bought this 27-2 around 1970. I do have a daughter and son in law that will be okay with it though, I hope. Wonder how much it would cost to have the factory fit up a new side plate on them, if possible? If I recall, it cost me $66s for the job back then. I bought the gun NIB back then, It was bare bones and I sent it back, had it engraved, wide hammer and trigger, presentation grips, red ramp, wo rear sight and wood presentation case done all at the same time.

That 36 is beautiful!!!!!

I LOVE guns with documented history. I wonder what the factory letters would say. Major X could have had a courtesy/memo account.

I agree with fyimo, guns engraved with a name will suffer in resale value, unless the individual was of some note. Your best bet is to advertise them within the department he was with, and possibly members there would know the history and be open to paying a little above current market.

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H Richard
SWCA1967 SWHF244

feralmerril, I wouldn't consider changing a thing on that gun. Hopefully it will stay in the family with the documented history. Sure wish I had something like that in my family.

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John. SWCA #1586

The rosewood stocks on the last two are worth quite a bit.

I see $350 worth of wood on those four revolvers.

Box & docs?

GF

Actualy, I have a matched pair. The 27-2 and a 29-2 also in 5". I had a beautifull river belt and holster for them made up by don hume many years ago that got stolen. I need to treat myself to a new rig made up by alphonso or el paso two toned floural engraved!

I suspect the brother is asking you in the most polite manner, would you like to buy these.

I think do the honourable thing and say yes thanks I'd like to buy the lot

The old lady would have liked to have know they all went to you, stayed as a set, are appreciated, and will be looked after. Enjoy

Edit: Nice pics and thanks for sharing.

Thanks for the info guys. I will pass it on.

Lynn

Hello Lynn.

I have purchased 2 different guns now with names engraved on the side plate.
One is a model 16 and the other is a transitional 1917 Army.
I bought both because of the scarcity of each gun.

Given the opportunity to buy a model 36, or 49,even an early one
with a name engraved on it I would probably pass, unless it was at
a shooter price. Read that as about $300. or so dollars.

Documentation will go a long was toward valuing these, especially as a set.
The Major was evidently a shooter and won one of the guns in a match.
That is pretty cool in and of itself.

Good luck
Allen Frame

__________________
NRA cert.instructor&R.S.O.

With the engraving they are all now shooters with no value to collectors.

My $.02

I inquired about the possibility of having my wife's nickname "Luscious" engraved by the S&W Custom shop on my snub-nosed M64. For eight letters with a scroll I was quoted a minimum of $1500. That's more than three times the cost of the gun.

Uh, no thanks, I'll pass. I'm sure there's a bowling trophy shop around that'll do it for less than $50.

$1,500s? That isnt inflation, it`s a nuclar explosion!!!!! My 27-2 that I showed I am quite sure s&w charged me $66s in about 1971 to do!!
That was 11 letters in a long oval gold filled!!!! I know there is a thing called inflation, but something like 25X ???

I know, I was speechless. This I was told was the minimum charge. I would be charged for the Class "C" basic scrollwork whether I wanted it or not and there would be an upcharge for the letters.

Apparently they don't want to be bothered with my little request.

"...my wife's nickname "Luscious"..."

I think that's worth more than $1500, in itself.

I have a nickname for my wife...it's "ma'am" usually preceded by "yes".

Thread drift, sorry.

GF

In the era of 1980-1982 I had my vehicle broken into outside a LGS.
A case with six revolvers plus a Mini-14 stolen. Each weapon had my name engraved on it. None of the weapons were ever located. I would imagene that the names can be taken off without difficulty.