Acquired these two M39s from a consignment at one of the LGS; I had passed these over for a couple of years, opting instead to buy a rather nice 952-2 from the same collection. Both are steel frames, the blued one appears unfired and has the correct box and accessories. The nickel 39 has the correct box, but no end label, but does have a curious date stamp on the interior of the lid, maybe a special order completion date?

Attached Images

	20210603_163836.jpg (74.1 KB, 169 views)
	20210603_163853.jpg (88.0 KB, 146 views)

Just to be clear, are you saying that the nickeled pistol is also one of the steel frame variants? And it is factory nickel as shipped?

If that is the case, I was not aware that such a pistol was in existence. That’s got to be a rare pistol.

Yes sir, it is a steel frame. It has almost all the same attributes as the s/n #39 factory nickel SO pistol referenced in one of the other posts, with the exception of that example having maple grip panels. If the date on my box lid is indeed an order reference, this one would have shipped about 4 months after the #39. Somebody (Mike?) in the same thread indicated they had seen 2 or 3 others that were also in the 600xx s/n range.

Additional pics.

Attached Images

	20210521_142816.jpg (62.4 KB, 123 views)
	20210521_142802.jpg (88.2 KB, 124 views)
	20210521_142753.jpg (82.8 KB, 132 views)
	20210521_142705 (1).jpg (93.5 KB, 123 views)

Pls. post full serial numbers of both steel guns. Mike

__________________
Mike 2796
SoFo Bunch member

Thanks for responding Mike!
Blue is s/n 62943, nickel is s/n 60096.

You should pull the left grip on the nickel gun to see if the frame is stamped with the letter 'N' (designating an originally nickel-plated example) or 'R-N' (factory refinish in nickel). If R-N, there should be a date code at the forward lower corner, commonly referred to as the 'toe' of the frame. Examples of the date code, as stamped by the service department during the refinishing process, will read as 8.68 for August 1968, 2.71 for February 1971, 11.75 for November 1975, etc. and so forth. Sometimes the period (.) wasn't stamped.

Original nickel steel 39's are incredibly rare, only a very few were produced and there are no more than 6 known to exist.

David

Sounds like a gold strike! Must be worth a pretty penny now. Glad to see em

Hello Mr. Tnt, I checked my long list of known 39 steel frames and both fall
into the range. I urge you to contact Mr. Roy Jinks and get a letter for each.
I cant believe that two steel 39s sat in a gun shop for years. If the two do
not interest you, pls. PM me.

__________________
Mike 2796
SoFo Bunch member

Thanks for the help Mike, I'll be submitting the application to join SWCA this weekend then contacting Mr. Jinks for his expertise on their origins.

Funny story on the 39 acquisitions, I passed on these and several other very nice pieces several years ago when I purchased a VERY low s/n 952-2 from the same consignment. This LGS is more of shooting range than a gun store, so they don't keep a lot of inventory (usually < 15-20 guns) therefore they don't generate a lot of buyer traffic. I had recently sold of few of my other guns to be able to redirect my focus to my Smiths, using those proceeds I actually went in and bought the blued 39 first. I considered the nickel for a moment, but not really being a fan I passed on it. I didn't realize until after I started researching the steel frame history that I should have brought them both home. I went back the following week and corrected my error. I was told by one of their personnel that the consignor was thought to have been a salesman or field rep. for S&W, which might explain the rarity of some of the collection pieces.

Hello Tnt, glad to hear it and welcome. I will say, you are the luckiest gun guy I have heard about in a long time. Thank goodness you went back and got the second one. Again, welcome. best, Mike

__________________
Mike 2796
SoFo Bunch member

Thanks Mike! I've been extremely lucky over the past year, as long as you don't count my losses on Texas Lottery tickets! I also scored a nice 4505 and a cased 952-2 last year for about what you'd expect the 4505 to have gone for!

Finally added a photo album for the Nickel steel frame M39, will add more for some of others in my collection soon.

__________________
Trey Gorbett, SWCA #3676

I noticed the white outline sight, and the orange front ramp. These look like special order items,not sure, these guns were before my time there.