1955 CLASS A ENGRAVED 3.5" Pre-27

[teesur]

Truly remarkable gun and photography. Thank you
for posting.
teesur.

 

[RKmesa]

Richard,
A very nice looking engraved 357! It seems like I have seen this one before!

Bill:

I believe that you are correct. In the not so distant past, it shared safe space with a certain pristine pre-war 4" HBH HD that I believe now mills around with your herd of wild and unruly Heavy Iron.

 

[Bill Bates]

The smell of smoke and BBQ is strong with this Pre-27.

 

[model70hunter]

One thing, DANGAWESOMEWOWWONDERFUL!

At some point my 27-2 in 3.5" became my preferred side arm. It eclipsed my Python's and 19's due to it's accuracy. An N-frame in 3.5" exudes beauty and to me exemplifies what a double action revolver should look like. The quality and durability ice it. I am retiring in 3 work weeks and have a Pre-27 in 6.5" I will carry quite a bit on the farm.

I use my guns, had a couple of engraved shotguns. Perhaps it is best collectors find beautiful specimens such as this before me. I've had a few, I started to take them hunting and ended up selling them to folks who can appreciate and preserve them. Yours is one extremely worth of preserving.

 

[rbswede]

I have to say that is a beauty! engraving is just outstanding. That one was shipped exactly 4 years before myself. I have seen a lot of fine arms shipped to Chicago from back in the day. 3.5" .357 Magnum is one of the best sidearms S&W ever made. Just want to say Thanks for sharing,this is what makes this forum so outstanding,

Rusty

 

[RKmesa]

Looks like Jarvis. Pretty gun.

Mike:

The gun came to me with two factory letters. In one of the letters, Roy states: "In my opinion this revolver was engraved by R. J. Smith and would have been one of the first engraving jobs completed by him after joining Smith & Wesson in May of this year."

I have another gun from this era that was engraved by RJ Smith and the engraving does look similar. I do not believe that I own any Jarvis carved guns, but I have not definitively identified the engraver of one of my early post-war 357's (some think LeBlanc, or Smith, or Jarvis...). One of these days, I need to snap some photos of her and post them for opinions of the forum members.

 

[pace40]

Far be it from me to question the boss.

I was looking at the 3 dot patterns going into some of the fleurs...commonly seen on known Jarvis guns of the era.

Regardless, its a spectacular gun.

 

[ditrina]

A while back I was able to pick up this beauty from one of the "class-act" local members of this forum. This class A engraved 3.5" .357 Magnum was shipped on December 28, 1955 to H.H. Harris Co., Chicago, Il. The package that I received included a beautiful box, all of the tools, the vapor paper and all of the other paper work. What a great New Years present to whomever purchased it!





Some closer-up shots:













And... What She would have looked like when you opened the box:





Thanks for letting me share,

Here is the difference between " OLD SCHOOL " in house Fatory Engraving.. and the modern " CONTRACT" Factory engraving..


No contest.. OLD SCHOOL WINS!!



RK.. Thanks for posting such a beautiful work of art.

MODERN CONTRACT CLASS "A" ENGRAVING..

27-2 Blue and Nickel shipped April 1980

 

[haris1]

pre 27 engraved

What a fantastic piece and your photos display it well. Enjoy a true example of the craftsmanship of the engraver and the factory coming together!! Enjoy!!!!

 

[Marshal Tom]

Just Magnificent! that may be the finest 3.5" pre model 27 I have ever seen.

Tom

 

[Joe Kent]

Beautiful,truly a work of art.

 

[tipoc]

Very nice looking gun.

tipoc

 

[RKmesa]

I was thinking that I had very few floral engraved guns (probably 2 or three) but when I was looking through some "old" photos, I realized that this one also had a floral component...

Sending the thread to the top, just for fun.