$3181.00 Model 28

[g8rb8]

Here's the link to a $3181.00 Model 28:

Smith & Wesson Model 28-1 : Revolvers at GunBroker.com

There were three guys willing to go $2999 or higher.

John
Scoundrel and Ne'er-Do-Well in Training

 

[-db-]

This gun has been discussed extensively on the forum. It is an exceedingly rare piece.

 

[sodacan]

The buyer was lucky to get it for so little.

 

[g8rb8]

This gun has been discussed extensively on the forum. It is an exceedingly rare piece.

Sorry. My brief search to see if this had already been posted was obviously too brief. I found it an interesting piece and thought others would too.

 

[Art Doc]

Scarcity, condition, features, popularity, association.

Only one that really applies is scarcity. It's hardly pristine. Nothing special. Average popularity. Not owned by Elmer Keith or anything. But a 28-1 is very hard to find. That impresses some people. Not me. I wouldn't give more than $400 for it as a shooter. All my guns are shooters. I'm a shooter. Collectors think differently. To them an average condition 28-1 is a 3K gun. One of the many reasons I am not a collector. Way beyond my pay scale. Takes BIG BUCKS to be a serious collector. I'm out. I don't know what these guys do for a living with all the rare, exotic and fancy S&Ws posted on these forums, but I don't do whatever it is they do so I can't afford this stuff. Hell, I can't afford most plain Jane S&Ws at current prices.

The one time in my life I succumbed to the urge to buy a collector gun I got burned. I still like the gun, and I shoot it, but I learned my lesson. I do not have what it takes to be a serious collector. Not the patience, not the savvy, and certainly not the cash.

 

[bullmack]

Some guys have the $$$. Some guys have the savvy. Some have both. The guys that have both qualities are rare and collectable!

 

[bamabiker]

As far as I know it's the ONLY model 28-1 found to date. I'm suprised it didn't sell for more. Congrats to the member that got it.
I also am not in that pay grade so I'll just keep looking for that $400 shooter that SP mentioned.

 

[g8rb8]

Scarcity, condition, features, popularity, association.

Only one that really applies is scarcity. It's hardly pristine. Nothing special. Average popularity. Not owned by Elmer Keith or anything. But a 28-1 is very hard to find. That impresses some people. Not me. I wouldn't give more than $400 for it as a shooter. All my guns are shooters. I'm a shooter. Collectors think differently. To them an average condition 28-1 is a 3K gun. One of the many reasons I am not a collector. Way beyond my pay scale. Takes BIG BUCKS to be a serious collector. I'm out. I don't know what these guys do for a living with all the rare, exotic and fancy S&Ws posted on these forums, but I don't do whatever it is they do so I can't afford this stuff. Hell, I can't afford most plain Jane S&Ws at current prices.

The one time in my life I succumbed to the urge to buy a collector gun I got burned. I still like the gun, and I shoot it, but I learned my lesson. I do not have what it takes to be a serious collector. Not the patience, not the savvy, and certainly not the cash.

Mister, Doctor Pig,
Paraphrasing you, I agree it takes a certain psychology or mind-set to be a serious collector of anything. I can see both sides of an argument for a $3000+ model 28-1. I see your point that, although scarce, it's not really impressive otherwise. I also see the point of the serious collector that it's supposedly very scarce. A check of the SCSW makes no reference to the 28-1 being rare. There cannot be that many people who know it's rare? Anyways it's an interesting topic. I'll have to find the original thread to see if anyone posted production #'s on the 28-1.

My dad has an old saying he uses frequently, especially at a gun show when someone is full of it. "It's very rare. There was 10 made of which only 15 remaining examples exist."

John
Scoundrel and Ne'er-Do-Well in Training

 

[jsfricks]

Sold by a member of the forum, purchased by a member of the forum. Good luck in finding another 28-1.

 

[Göring's S&W]

My dad has an old saying he uses frequently, especially at a gun show when someone is full of it. "It's very rare. There was 10 made of which only 15 remaining examples exist."

Reminds me of another saying "There is only one thing more rare than that gun: the guy who is willing to pay for it!"

As far as the value of a rare highway patrolman vs a standard highway patrolman - if you really want to break it down with that logic, none of these guns are worth it. You can get a model 27 from the 80s for $700, so why pay $5000 for a Registered Magnum? Afterall, they are both 357 and N frame! The point is that when there is a rare variation of something, in a collector's world, it will nearly always be worth more money. Of course a 28-2 can be had for $500, but that has no impact on the value of a 28-1.

 

[Doug M.]

AFAIK, that is the ONLY ONE that has been found. That makes the situation pretty much unique, and certainly far different from the vast majority of collector desired firearms.

 

[pharmer]

Great auction! It was a 4 way fight until $1500, a 3way until $3000, mano-y-mano after that. Like a cage match, I'll watch from the stands. Joe

 

[arjay]

I wonder which way the price moves when (if) the next one appears ?

 

[G-Mac]

Scarcity, condition, features, popularity, association.

Only one that really applies is scarcity. It's hardly pristine. Nothing special. Average popularity. Not owned by Elmer Keith or anything. But a 28-1 is very hard to find. That impresses some people. Not me. I wouldn't give more than $400 for it as a shooter. All my guns are shooters. I'm a shooter. Collectors think differently. To them an average condition 28-1 is a 3K gun. One of the many reasons I am not a collector. Way beyond my pay scale. Takes BIG BUCKS to be a serious collector. I'm out. I don't know what these guys do for a living with all the rare, exotic and fancy S&Ws posted on these forums, but I don't do whatever it is they do so I can't afford this stuff. Hell, I can't afford most plain Jane S&Ws at current prices.

The one time in my life I succumbed to the urge to buy a collector gun I got burned. I still like the gun, and I shoot it, but I learned my lesson. I do not have what it takes to be a serious collector. Not the patience, not the savvy, and certainly not the cash.

Thou doth protest too much....

 

[Mike McLellan]

When that gun first appeared on this forum for discussion, I imagined that, if it ever went to auction, 5 figures would not be surprising. 3K is far less than I would have thought. One-of-a-kind means a lot to some people.

 

[G-Mac]

Mister, Doctor Pig,....

Come on, man....even I stopped calling SaxonPig that after I realized he didn't like it.

 

[G-Mac]

One-of-a-kind means a lot to some people.

In this case, it was worth $3,181.00. I think that's plenty for a Model 28.

 

[DWalt]

Value is in the eye of the beholder. Some guys collect fine art, sports cars, and women. Others collect rare guns. It takes deep pockets for any of them. And, more than anything else, you must have the ability to suspend your ability to reason.

 

[arjay]

If its the only one,its cheap [emoji4]

 

[Skeetr57]

I have a hard time believing that S&W made only one of a specific engineering change. I would think that there are at least several more, or it is a mis-stamp.

 

[DWalt]

Ditto - if there is one 28-1, it's virtually impossible that there aren't others. There may not be tens of thousands, but even a few weeks or a few months of production would result in hundreds, or maybe thousands, of frames being made. And it's very difficult that S&W would even bother to set up production for just a few to have be made.

 

[Wiregrassguy]

Congratulations, Mick! I, too, thought it would go for more. At least I got to fondle it .

 

[fat tom]

I wonder which way the price moves when (if) the next one appears ?

Well,the buyer of this one can always buy the next one also and destroy it. Back to having the only one known to exist. Don't laugh,it's happened before.
f.t.

 

[fat tom]

Thou doth protest too much....

And too often.
f.t.

 

[samandglove1]

I followed it closely at the time. I also thought it would go for more. Until another one is found, it's a one of a kind.

 

[S&WIowegan]

I have a hard time believing that S&W made only one of a specific engineering change. I would think that there are at least several more, or it is a mis-stamp.

I wonder if anyone who has been involved with this gun verified if the gun actually has the dash-1 engineering change, i.e. left-hand threads on the extractor rod. If the gun doesn't have the correct threads, it's just a mis-strike. I own several miss-struck revolvers and that kind of mistake generally doesn't vault a gun into stratospheric prices.

Just wondering.....

 

[VM]

I wonder if anyone who has been involved with this gun verified if the gun actually has the dash-1 engineering change, i.e. left-hand threads on the extractor rod. If the gun doesn't have the correct threads, it's just a mis-strike. I own several miss-struck revolvers and that kind of mistake generally doesn't vault a gun into stratospheric prices.

Just wondering.....

Bob - the man who found and then sold the revolver was very familiar w/ HP's.
The revolver had a "L" stamped on the cylinder.
Roy Jinks confirmed the dash one in a letter.

Can't be any more legit

 

[dotdsd334]

I wonder if anyone who has been involved with this gun verified if the gun actually has the dash-1 engineering change, i.e. left-hand threads on the extractor rod. If the gun doesn't have the correct threads, it's just a mis-strike. I own several miss-struck revolvers and that kind of mistake generally doesn't vault a gun into stratospheric prices.



Just wondering.....

Well I can tell you Mick verified all the changes and it letters as a 28-1 from Roy Jinks.

Not sure anyone would've spent $3k on a whim.... I am not rich by any means but I am a HP collector. I was in it to $2999. Congrats to the winning member, he got a great gun.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[chud333]

To those who believe "maybe hundreds if not thousands" were made
of the 28-1. Whens the last time you seen one? Or even seen
pictures of one? If it is indeed the (Only) 28-1 known then it went
cheap.
A mis-stamped gun ? Read the OP. It has been lettered and verified
by Roy. Good enough for me.

Beyond my reach but i would love to own it.

Chuck

 

[Göring's S&W]

Very unlikey that 1000s were made because surely they would come up more often. For comparison, there were 1067 K22/40s made, and many of us have seen several of those. I am fortunate enough to own one myself. Of course, the K22/40 is of target pedigree, and the 28-1 a service arm, but still, one would expect to see way more if 1000s were made. I never doubted their existence, but this one is the first one that I have ever seen, at all. I remember people on this forum stating that they never existed since no one had ever seen or heard of a confirmed 28-1. Think about how many rare guns have appeared on this forum, and how old this forum is, and yet this is the FIRST one to appear? Who knows, perhaps only 20 or 30 were made.

I was thinking about how and why regarding the rarity for these. A possible explanation: perhaps at the time the factory was slated to make the 28-1 variation, they had several hundred or more completed model 28s on hand, perhaps because they were not selling as well at that point due to the combat magnum, among other reasons. By the time S&W sells the stock of complete model 28s on hand, they start producing 28-1s, and after 50 or 100 are made (a more realistic production estimate), the plug was pulled on the "-1" variation all together.