A Mother of Pearl Thread

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I don't have much mother of pearl, mostly because I don't much care for nickel guns where they seem to be most at home. I ended up with an interesting set of them recently that got my interested up in them a bit. They are are hard to photograph, and none of my K-Frame's don't really have the right shine to do them justice, but I thought you guys might find them interesting.

I would love to see some of your more interesting sets too. I know they are out there.


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This set has a couple minor issues, screw is too long for one, and the hole the positioning stud goes in it is a little too long. I expect they would take a little bit of love to make exactly right. I am however pleased with the age and condition, despite a few attractive cracks and discolorations they seem to be remarkably damage free.
 
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Recently shown in another thread but these MOP came on a 3rd model 44. They have the typical Wolf & Klar Roman numerals on back of the left grips. Plan on finding some jigged bone or period correct wood grips for shooting. Recently repaired the chip with a new product called Bondic and some white acrylic powder. Turned out pretty good!



 
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Here's a Triple Lock. Not original to the firearm, but still mother of pearl.
 

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Model 1905 .32-20 WCF with pearls.

From the SCSW 3rd Edition, only approximately 4,300 were made. I wonder how many of these came with pearls and were nickel. Anybody hazard a guess?
 

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I only have one example, a 38 Single Action Model of 1891. Of course, the non-medallion pearls were post-factory, as the letter verifies. I found a 38 target barrel and proper style hard rubber stocks and built the case I fit them in from an old silverware box.

I picked this up from one of our knowledgeable experts on the Forum and it is quite valuable information on factory vs non-factory pearl stocks.

Medallions on Pearl and Ivory stocks were not added to S&W stocks until after the Columbian Expo of 1893, but after that date all factory pearl stocks had medallions. Robinson was one of the suppliers of the pearl blanks to S&W and had been making pearl stocks as well as ivory going back into the 1860s. Around the late 1920s to early 1930s, S&W quit supplying pearl stocks as they stated they could no longer rely on obtaining quality pearl for stocks.
 

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Someone else wanted the "plain" revolver rather worse than I did, but the engraved one is still about. Condition isn't pristine, but it still shoots OK.
 
I have an old pair of thin K frame pearls, but only pictures of these two.

Cut down (maybe by a police armorer) police dept. marked Colt Police Positive .38 S&W, but pictured with Colt New Police .38 ammo. It's just a flat point .38 S&W cartridge that kept Colt from having to put "S&W" on their guns back then.


Renickeled 1890 Colt .44-40 with barrel cut to 5". Ten years ago I bought the grips for $80 after they sat in the gun shop for over a year at around $125. The markings on this gun are all crisp except the barrel where they are barely visible.
 

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