Back in the early to mid-1940s, my dad was a teller at several banks in Arizona - parts of the statewide Valley National Bank chain. Around 1945, when I was roughly 6 years old, I remember visiting the Phoenix VNB with my mother. It was headquartered in what was then one of the tallest buildings in Phoenix. It was then known as the Professional Building - still there, but now abandoned and being converted into an apartment building.
We were there to visit my father, who worked there as a teller at the time. He later became the assistant Comptroller for the chain of banks. As we walked into the building, there was a bank guard standing inside, and he was packing a very shiny revolver in his holster. He noticed me staring at it and asked my mother if he could show it to me. He added that he would be very careful not to let me touch it. She agreed.
I can still see that revolver in my mind's eye. He carefully removed it from his holster. I know today that it was a nickeled S&W K-frame Military and Police with a four-inch barrel. It sparkled like a diamond, and I thought that it was one of the most intricate and beautiful pieces of machinery I had ever seen. At any rate, I thanked him for letting me see it.
Fast forward to the present time. Ever since I saw that beautiful gun, I wanted to own a duplicate. I didn't know the manufacture date, but it could have been in the late '30s or early '40s. It looked pretty new then, and I now know that nickeled M&Ps were not often made in the war years from 1941 to 1945. I fixed in my mind that what I wanted was the same thing, but it had to have been made in my birth year, 1939.
I searched for one meeting those specifications for years, but not long ago one of our forum members posted a picture - and there it was, clean as a whistle. By its serial number it had to have been a 1939 gun.
At any rate, I was lucky enough to purchase it.
To most folks, this would be just another revolver, but to me it was very special and brought to mind a memorable moment from my childhood. It lettered to August 30, 1939, just a few days before WWII was kicked off by the German invasion of Poland.
I think it's a beauty in more ways than one, and it's a real keeper.
John
We were there to visit my father, who worked there as a teller at the time. He later became the assistant Comptroller for the chain of banks. As we walked into the building, there was a bank guard standing inside, and he was packing a very shiny revolver in his holster. He noticed me staring at it and asked my mother if he could show it to me. He added that he would be very careful not to let me touch it. She agreed.
I can still see that revolver in my mind's eye. He carefully removed it from his holster. I know today that it was a nickeled S&W K-frame Military and Police with a four-inch barrel. It sparkled like a diamond, and I thought that it was one of the most intricate and beautiful pieces of machinery I had ever seen. At any rate, I thanked him for letting me see it.
Fast forward to the present time. Ever since I saw that beautiful gun, I wanted to own a duplicate. I didn't know the manufacture date, but it could have been in the late '30s or early '40s. It looked pretty new then, and I now know that nickeled M&Ps were not often made in the war years from 1941 to 1945. I fixed in my mind that what I wanted was the same thing, but it had to have been made in my birth year, 1939.
I searched for one meeting those specifications for years, but not long ago one of our forum members posted a picture - and there it was, clean as a whistle. By its serial number it had to have been a 1939 gun.
At any rate, I was lucky enough to purchase it.
To most folks, this would be just another revolver, but to me it was very special and brought to mind a memorable moment from my childhood. It lettered to August 30, 1939, just a few days before WWII was kicked off by the German invasion of Poland.
I think it's a beauty in more ways than one, and it's a real keeper.
John

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