OP
1917 S&W Lemon Squeezer 1" barrel
- Thread starter milwlandrover
- Start date
Altered
I am very surprised that you posted those photos. I honestly appreciate your candor.
The gun has a nice polished finish appearance to it. The frame has, as I suspected, been heavily altered at the base of the grip where the original serial number would have been. I have no idea why anyone would do that except to "remove" the original number for some reason. I'll let you figure that one out.
I hope you didn't pay too much for this gun. I still recommend that you return it. By chopping the grips they now have little value. By grinding the base of the frame, the original number has been removed. There is little to no collector value in this piece. It might be a safe shooter but with all the alterations? I have my doubts.
Honestly, you can do much better than this piece. You should return it.
*** Also, the Factory Letter that you are calling a Certificate of Authenticity? Is not applicable nor would it be accepted as authentic since the frame serial number has been purposely removed. So, the letter doesn't help at all towards value.
Murph
I am very surprised that you posted those photos. I honestly appreciate your candor.
The gun has a nice polished finish appearance to it. The frame has, as I suspected, been heavily altered at the base of the grip where the original serial number would have been. I have no idea why anyone would do that except to "remove" the original number for some reason. I'll let you figure that one out.
I hope you didn't pay too much for this gun. I still recommend that you return it. By chopping the grips they now have little value. By grinding the base of the frame, the original number has been removed. There is little to no collector value in this piece. It might be a safe shooter but with all the alterations? I have my doubts.
Honestly, you can do much better than this piece. You should return it.
*** Also, the Factory Letter that you are calling a Certificate of Authenticity? Is not applicable nor would it be accepted as authentic since the frame serial number has been purposely removed. So, the letter doesn't help at all towards value.
Murph
Last edited:
OP
milwlandrover
Member
Original serial number?
Well,
Now I have seen it all.... You'd be hard pressed to convince any collector that someone would shave the "original" serial number off a gun only to later "re-apply" that number back on the same gun because????? That's called "alteration". That number could have been shaved off "any" gun and re-applied to this frame. I'd like to know what your opinion of why anyone would do this type of surgical alteration?
I honestly don't know what to say at this point. You don't seem surprised by any of this so I won't rain on your parade.
Murph
Well,
Now I have seen it all.... You'd be hard pressed to convince any collector that someone would shave the "original" serial number off a gun only to later "re-apply" that number back on the same gun because????? That's called "alteration". That number could have been shaved off "any" gun and re-applied to this frame. I'd like to know what your opinion of why anyone would do this type of surgical alteration?
I honestly don't know what to say at this point. You don't seem surprised by any of this so I won't rain on your parade.
Murph
Smith and Wesson did not to any of their revolvers add another piece to the bottom, however expertly done this is an obvious attempt to cover-up either severe damage or purposeful tampering with the serial number. I would follow the advice of those far more astute than I and return to your seller.
OP
milwlandrover
Member
reponse
I purchased this gun from an out of state dealer from an internet ad. The guy said it was a 1917 factory 1" nickel plate with pearl grips and a Smith and Wesson Letter of authenticity. I'm not a dealer nor did I buy it as an investment. I am just trying to find out what I have and to know if I should include it in my insurance plan or not. I agree that the barrel appears to be modified as part of the printing on the left side of the barrel appears to be missing. The serial numbers on the grip frame and the cylinder. The pearl grips do not appear to be shaved.
My candor is just that. I'm not trying to hide or prove anything. I buy guns that I like and are interesting.
Any help I can find is appreciated.
cheers!
I purchased this gun from an out of state dealer from an internet ad. The guy said it was a 1917 factory 1" nickel plate with pearl grips and a Smith and Wesson Letter of authenticity. I'm not a dealer nor did I buy it as an investment. I am just trying to find out what I have and to know if I should include it in my insurance plan or not. I agree that the barrel appears to be modified as part of the printing on the left side of the barrel appears to be missing. The serial numbers on the grip frame and the cylinder. The pearl grips do not appear to be shaved.
My candor is just that. I'm not trying to hide or prove anything. I buy guns that I like and are interesting.
Any help I can find is appreciated.
cheers!
I know nothing but what I learned reading the post here about these guns. But just being shipped to New Orleans at that time I wish it could tell me the stories of where it has been.
OP
milwlandrover
Member
Thanks for all your help and have a great Christmas!
Happy Christmas to you.
Same to you milwlandrover,
I've gone this far so lets take it to the finish line?
I think I have this figured out. Someone found a pair of original factory pearls that were damaged at the toe, base? So they decided to mill off the damage with likely a belt sander until all the chipped damage was gone.
Then, they decided to fit the shortened grips to the frame of a modified(shortened barrel) 32 S&W frame by shaving the serial number off the gun and milling off enough metal to get the pearl grips to fit. Then re-apply the original serial number back on the gun.
Do I get a cookie?
Would have been a lot easier to just have the Pearl grips repaired. It can be done and it turns out very nice. I had a pair of SAA pearls that were shattered and repaired by a jeweler. You can still see some of the lines but the grips are completely intact and solid. Polished smooth like a marble.
Murph
Same to you milwlandrover,
I've gone this far so lets take it to the finish line?
I think I have this figured out. Someone found a pair of original factory pearls that were damaged at the toe, base? So they decided to mill off the damage with likely a belt sander until all the chipped damage was gone.
Then, they decided to fit the shortened grips to the frame of a modified(shortened barrel) 32 S&W frame by shaving the serial number off the gun and milling off enough metal to get the pearl grips to fit. Then re-apply the original serial number back on the gun.
Do I get a cookie?
Would have been a lot easier to just have the Pearl grips repaired. It can be done and it turns out very nice. I had a pair of SAA pearls that were shattered and repaired by a jeweler. You can still see some of the lines but the grips are completely intact and solid. Polished smooth like a marble.
Murph
Some of you guys make it sound as if you've never seen a customized gun before. No, this is not a collector piece. It's an old gun that sometime in the last 100 years or so, someone has shortened the barrel and the grip frame. Professionals and bubbas both have done this since the beginning of guns. Pretty obvious that someone took an old top break (probably of negligible value at the time) and made it into an even more compact carry piece.
And they obviously didn't shorten the butt just to "remove" the serial number as they were conscientious enough to re-stamp it. The original poster did point out that the number on the cylinder matches. There is nothing nefarious or sinister looking about this. It's not an uncommon practice to re-stamp a modified gun, such as when converting a square butt to round.
And they obviously didn't shorten the butt just to "remove" the serial number as they were conscientious enough to re-stamp it. The original poster did point out that the number on the cylinder matches. There is nothing nefarious or sinister looking about this. It's not an uncommon practice to re-stamp a modified gun, such as when converting a square butt to round.
Gregmk
Member
Interesting to say the least. Now, is it just me, or does the (re-finish) actually look more like Hard Chrome than Nickel?
Thanks for this comment Tom. My thoughts exactly.
Original or not, it's a really cool gun. It was obviously modified to fit a purpose, which was self protection. In that role, it looks like it'll get the job done nicely.
I like it.
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Sorry to be late back to the post. I think if the barrel length in the letter request was listed as 1 or 1.5" that Roy Jinks would have commented on its originality. Also, he probably looked for the invoice to see if any of the 20 guns in the shipment were listed by SN and barrel length.
However, if the letter request did not list the barrel length, I would expect the letter to read as quoted.
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