Interesting S&W 38 special.

[kleiss1]

My neighbor found this while cleaning out his mother’s house. 38 S&W Special. Beautiful piece. The grips are amazing.
Any ideas what model it is?

 

[MetalMan]

That's simply beautiful...wonderful find!

I'm certain that someone will be by shortly to provide you with more substantive details.

Meanwhile, please excuse me while I wipe the drool from my chin.

 

[DWalt]

It is a late 1930s .38/44 Heavy Duty, built on the N-frame. A nice find. I can’t comment on the engraving . It might be worth getting a historical letter.

While it is a .38 Special, it was designed for use with a more heavily loaded and more powerful version of that cartridge called the .38-44 and several other trade names, such as the .38 Hi-Speed, .38 Super Speed, or the .38 Super-X.

 

[quinn]

That is stunning! It appears to me to be a pre WWII 38/44 Heavy Dury. I have no idea who engraved it or made the grips.

 

[DCWilson]

That's a .38/44 Heavy Duty (.38 Special revolver built on the large .44 caliber frame) that probably shipped in the mid-1930s. I can't give you thoughts about the engraving, but S&W did have company engravers available for special orders. Other engraved revolvers were shipped in standard configuration, and owners would take them to local engravers for adornment after taking receipt.

Nice gun!

EDITED TO ADD: Oops, Quinn and DWalt got there first with the basic data. I would think the lone star grips might mean the revolver went to someone in Texas.

 

[Kansasgunner]

That is very cool old 38/44 Heavy Duty and the grips are spectacular! I see in the barrel shroud what looks like a B just forward of the serial number. That indicates it left the factory blued.
I would guess bone or horn for the grip material.

 

[handejector]

OP, I fixed the pics for you cause I thought the gun deserved it.

I would think the lone star grips might mean the revolver went to someone in Texas.

Yep- That gun screams TEXAS, BY GOD!

The engraving is not Factory. It is rather amateurish and about medium quality. I think it might be cut through the nickel? Can you tell if it is? See any rust down in the engraving?
Pre War nickel Heavy Dutys are fairly rare. There appears to be a B in the barrel shroud, indicating it shipped in Blue, BUT, the nickel looks Factory to me from what I can see. Very rarely, the Factory is known to have pulled a blue gun from inventory and nickeled it to fill an order. I own such a gun that is lettered as nickel but has the B mark.
Please take the grips off and show us a pic of the left side grip frame under the grip. The left side has the thumb latch.
The grips appear to be fossilized pachyderm ivory- mammoth or mastodon.
The gripstraps appear to be checkered. Please show us pics of those also.

 

[kleiss1]

It’s hard to tell what critter that is in the tree. Almost looks like a beaver.

 

[handejector]

It’s hard to tell what critter that is in the tree. Almost looks like a beaver.

It is a black bear.

 

[ezb57]

As far as blue gun getting nickel, a much later example, this 586 was destined to be nickel but switched to blue.

 

[kleiss1]

They only let me post 5 pictures

 

[Jim Watson]

It’s hard to tell what critter that is in the tree. Almost looks like a beaver.

If you are going to have your gun engraved with a portrait of a wild animal, your dog, or yourself; you need a master engraver. Scroll and shrubbery is much safer.

 

[kleiss1]

Here’s a few more pictures. The strap has some work on it.

 

[kscharlie]

They only let me post 5 pictures

You could have added 5 more pics to your reply. You can add replies and include 5 pics per reply.

 

[Xfuzz]

Stocks look like Mastodon ivory...??

 

[kleiss1]

You could have added 5 more pics to your reply. You can add replies and include 5 pics per reply.

I just figured that out. Thanks. What about a value?

 

[DWalt]

I just figured that out. Thanks. What about a value?

The value could be greatly influenced by what a historical letter has to say. Probably about $1K on the low end. Early .38/44s have fairly high collector interest.

 

[DWalt]

One other Item. It was not unusual for .38//44s to have elongated chambers to accept .357 Magnum ammunition. If you can find a .357 cartridge or even a fired case check to see if it can be fully chambered. If so, that may negatively affect its value some.

 

[kleiss1]

It doesn’t look like it has been fired much. He also has a box of ammunition from the same time frame. I haven’t seen that yet. And no it’s not for sale. Yet.

 

[AudieMurphy]

The value could be greatly influenced by what a historical letter has to say. Probably about $1K on the low end. Early .38/44s have fairly high collector interest.

$1000 ?? I think the grips are worth close to that....come on dude! if it was yours ?