Are Letters Worth it? Yep!

[JSR III]

WOW, that letter was definitely worth the price!!!!

 

[sceva]

I believe that most letters will only say that they shipped to a certain distributor on a certain day. If a member of the S&WCA you can get a ship month and year from Roy Jinks and if there is anything special he will hint at it so you know to get a letter.

My K-22 shipped in August 1952; I was able to find it shipped to a Distributor in Columbus, Ohio and since Tracey-Wells was pretty much the only distributor there I have as much info as I would with a letter.

 

[mauser9]

Yep keep those boxes too! Most collectors want em bad! Glad S&W went with those plastic ones for quite a while.

 

[Walter Rego]

I have a Model 1006. When I asked Dr. Jinks for the ship date he also replied "interesting gun". Well, I had to letter it after that.

It shipped to the Sheriff of Buchanan County, Virginia as a single gun shipment in 1991. I assume for his personal use. The Sheriff had the distinction of holding that office longer than anyone else at the time he retired. It bears no markings other than the standard factory marks so if I had not lettered it I would not know of the law enforcement connection.

How it ended up in California is anyone's guess.

 

[pasound]

This thread is encouraging me to go ahead and join SWCA. I have lettered a few of mine, have a letter out on my "oddball" find of my .44HE at Cabela's. Now I have a second "oddball" find from there, my .38HE not lettered yet, maybe 110 years old. Discovered with a letter, my Pre-10 M&P .38 was my birthday gun.

 

[DARE]

pasound,
Consider joining the Historical Foundation also. Costs $100, goes to a good cause and gets you an extra discount on letters.
I you are a member of both organizations you get the letters for $75 instead of a $100

 

[ditrina]

Example of Dr. Jinks reply,

Sal, Model 28-2 serial S291700 was shipped in May 1967. It is an interesting shipment if it was mine I get a letter. Roy


So I got the letter

My letter came today

Model 28-2 serial S291700 was shipped in May 1967

ADDED..
AS SHIPPED PER LETTER WITH TARGET GRIPS





FROM WIKI..
Wesley Grapp served as head of the Los Angeles Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) office. He was the agent who carried out Hoover's orders to give FBI information to University of California senior regent Edwin W. Pauley. Pauley allegedly had a history of political connections with the Office of Strategic Services (OSS), forerunner of today's CIA, as well as a close association with Will Jenkinson, who was later to serve as director of the Central Intelligence Agency, (1953–1961).

Grapp left the FBI in 1972 and headed security for Flying Tigers Airlines.

Google his name he had a " Interesting career "

 

[pasound]

Follow-up on my earlier post. I got the letter for my .44 HE. It is factory nickeled, and is a year older than I thought, shipped as a one gun order on September 12, 1923, so it turns 99 in two months. The frame inside the yoke has the Springfield Armory "S2" mark and eagle stamp, so it is a leftover .45 HE frame proofed for WWI, and the cylinder was heat treated, as the treating started with #16600 (mine is #20943). No mention was made of the lanyard ring, so even though it has the hole, it likely never had the ring, and the hole was never plugged. It was shipped with gold medallion checkered square butt grips, which I have, they are not numbered, but now I think they are still original.

The letter is very much worth it. Thank you, Don Mundell!

 

[Cooter Brown]

I've only lettered one gun, a K22 Masterpiece. It shipped to Abercrombie & Fitch on December 12, 1947. Nothing super special about that, but Abercrombie's place in the lore and history of American sports made the gun's connection to it worth getting the letter to me.

Given A&F's clientele, I'd kinda like to know who THEY sold it to.

 

[kbm6893]

I would say some guns that letter can trace to a individual is worth the letter. I don’t feel that run of the mill S&Ws are worth a letter unless you feel a notable person owned them, ect. What is value of finding a model 10 went to certain distributor? None, at least to me.

I bought a post WW 2 M&P a few years ago. I figured it was an NYPD gun due to the shield number on the back strap . I’m retired from that department so I wanted confirmation. The letter confirmed it is an NYPD gun.

Then RM Vivas, an NYPD historian and member here, provided me with the name of the officer, the logbook page with the gun and officer name on it, and 4 newspaper articles about the officer. He used my gun in a shootout with 4 robbers and won the Medal for Valor. He was even assigned to the precinct I would be assigned to 38 years later. We walked the same streets nearly 4 decades apart. The articles provided to me have a picture of the officer shaking the mayor’s hand as he is presented with the medal. Officer Daniel C Hynes died in Florida in 2002. He was a master sergeant in the Army Air Corps in World War 2.

I’m glad I got the letter and the information from Mr. Vivas. It is my most cherished firearm.

 

[mrcvs]

Letters are like the lottery. Most are humdrum, but there’s that occasional spectacular letter.

But, you can’t win if you don’t play.

I letter all my Smith & Wesson revolvers.

 

[Ameshawki]

I've got a couple Smith letters that were nothing special. My one Colt letter however was very special. A Detective Special that went to the OSS in 1944.

 

[JSR III]

Folks are forgetting that it's not just the recipient but the configuration that makes letters valuable. Yes, once and a while you will letter a plain Jane gun and find out it went to Annie Oakley's husband. (The buyer eventually sold that gun for $42,000)

But the letter also tells you the configuration that the gun shipped in. For many collectors, knowing that a gun shipped in the same configuration as it presents today is worth the price of admission.

 

[DARE]

Another reason for a letter. You cannot order SWHF documents unless you have a letter 1st.
My registered magnum was shipped to a distributor. The SWHF documents revealed that the gun was owned by a Texas Ranger and fairly prominent FBI Agent. Would not know this unless I ordered the SWHF documents.
Have four other guns that went to distributors rather than to law enforcement or individuals. Was considering not getting letters, but think now I will.

 

[rct269]

Speaking of SWHF documents, I had a 22/40 shipped to Philip B. Sharpe----gratis---he who S&W credits with the development of the 357 Magnum cartridge----and he who S&W thanked with the gift of Registered Magnum #2. Now I figured there would be all sorts of documentation authorizing a freebie, simply because it's the boss's money they're playing with.

There was exactly one piece of paper---the invoice charging off the cost of the gift to the advertising account. The amount charged off was $14.55. I figured that to be the cost to make the gun (with grip adapter attached), plus whatever it cost to ship the gun to Maine----maybe 35 to 50 cents (based on such charges for similar items shipped similar distances).

That got me wondering about the cost to manufacture other models. The most interesting was that for the Registered Magnums---$17---and that got me to wondering about just how special were these very special models----Hmmmmmmmmmmm?

Ralph Tremaine

 

[HeloMt]

I usually get a letter on all prewar revolvers I end up with. There is a far better chance of finding something interesting than with later production. As mentioned above, a letter is the gateway to SWHF and usually that is well worth the inquiry. A case in point would be a RM from the New Hampshire State Police I purchased about 15 years ago. It lettered with a 6 1/2 barrel but came to me with a 5 inch tube that was starred and numbered to the frame...also refinished and basically unused since then. The SWHF documents show it being returned to factory by NHSP for a 5 inch barrel and refinish two years after it was originally shipped. Having the work requested by NHSP and returned to them was great information for me. It my mind far better than some unknown individual having it done. Just my two cents. Also, with SWHF you only pay for what they find. Nothing in the records, no additional charge. It's a great deal for certain.

 

[jcelect]

Letters

Many times a letter returns an unexpected gem! I bought a mod 25 model of 1955 Target at a little local gun show. At that time the request form had spaces for 3 letters. I was stuck for what to put in the third space, so I picked this mod 25. The letter stated the gun had been shipped to Borgarts Gun Shop, Sandusky, Ohio on 26 July 1961! Today the building is long gone but I had been in there many times as a youngster with my uncle and the date is the year I graduated from high school. The problem is this letter means something special to me only!
jcelect