Letter of authenticity - missed the cut!

kikokat

kikokat

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Submitted a request 2 weeks ago for letters of authenticity on (3) Victory models I recently bought. In accordance with the S&W web site, est time frame was 8-12 weeks, cost per gun $30.00.
Received my request & check along with a letter from Roy Jinks today. Bad news is they've suspended this service until 10/15/08, and all requests must be re-submitted with the new fee of $50.00 per request, after that date. Disappointing to say the least, particularly since the S&W site/public information still says $30.00 ea. I didn't mind $90 too much, but I will not spend $150. Too bad.
 
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Submitted a request 2 weeks ago for letters of authenticity on (3) Victory models I recently bought. In accordance with the S&W web site, est time frame was 8-12 weeks, cost per gun $30.00.
Received my request & check along with a letter from Roy Jinks today. Bad news is they've suspended this service until 10/15/08, and all requests must be re-submitted with the new fee of $50.00 per request, after that date. Disappointing to say the least, particularly since the S&W site/public information still says $30.00 ea. I didn't mind $90 too much, but I will not spend $150. Too bad.
 
Check what a Colt letter costs. Makes it look like a bargain and you get a document that is signed by Mr. Jenks. Colt's research is hit or miss and the price is different for each gun.
Twenty bucks for the keeper of S&W info is not much to pay extra, in my opinion. From what I understand he bought and paid for all the old records so give him his due.
 
Actually S&W is long over due for a bump in their letter prices. I just got one on a Parker Shotgun and it was $50.
And Colt, yes, check it out.
 
I sent my money on 4/8t and the check was cashed on 5/15 i havnt got my letter yet so i called S&W to see if there was any way to see where it was or how it was coming along the oparater said she would put me on hold for a bit the phone rang and MR .Jenks was on the other end i said i was trying to check on my letter i must have got him on a bad day he said that thay cut his staff and he was doing the letters by himself with no help i tryed to say i was sorry for calling he said that thay cash the checks before he ever sees the request and he was gest starting on the stuff from april and he was gone all of july and it mite be 20 weeks or more till i see my letter i tryed to tell him i didnt ask to talk ot him i gest was wondering about the letter (it was around 20 weeks) when i called
 
Excuse me, but his name is Mr. Jinks, not Mr. Jenks. Probably that is the reason why it takes a little bit longer.
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this has been talked about for weeks. i have several to be done but being a s&wca member i have knowen about this for a long time.
 
Howdy

I agree, $30 was dirt cheap. I was wondering how long it would be before they raised the price. I had a Colt SAA lettered several years ago. Cost $100 and took about 5 months to get it. While the jump from $30 to $50 is awfully big, it is still a bargain compated to Colt. The difference is, now I won't get every single Smith I buy lettered. I can find out the dates for most of them myself in the SCSW. The really good ones, that are worth it, I will still letter.
 
Thanks for the input fellows. That Colt info does put the S&W cost in perspective. As Driftwood mentioned, I may just have to selectively letter the more "important" ones.
 
The letter service has been suspended until October to give the poor man a chance to whittle down the huge backlog of requests.

Folks need to realize that there is no S&W "letter department" with staff running around processing requests, it's a one man show. And if wasn't for Roy saving the old factory records there would not be a letter service to begin with. And... these records are not computerized, he has to manually search through them for your gun's invoice.

The man deserves a life too, like taking vacations and other time off. Plus S&W sends him on promotional trips, which puts him behind on doing letters. Demand has been particularly high, one has only to observe the amount of activity and interest on this forum alone regarding S&W's.

So cut the guy some slack about how long it's taking to get a letter, after all there is always the alternate reality were the service is discontinued because S&W no longer wishes to offer it, or Roy finally gets feed up doing it... like the rest of us, he isn't getting any younger.

I for one am very grateful that Roy Jinks is willing to provide his time and efforts in supporting the collector community, and we all owe him debt of thanks.
 
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Kikokat, Did S&W send you your check back or one of their checks?...in others words did S&W cash your check?
thanks
th
Originally posted by kikokat:
Submitted a request 2 weeks ago for letters of authenticity on (3) Victory models I recently bought. In accordance with the S&W web site, est time frame was 8-12 weeks, cost per gun $30.00.
Received my request & check along with a letter from Roy Jinks today. Bad news is they've suspended this service until 10/15/08, and all requests must be re-submitted with the new fee of $50.00 per request, after that date. Disappointing to say the least, particularly since the S&W site/public information still says $30.00 ea. I didn't mind $90 too much, but I will not spend $150. Too bad.
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A big part of the problem is that a lot of people want a letter for every S&W that they buy and are willing to pay for them. This means that a lot of time is spent sending letters letting people know which distributor their 625 was sent to in 2003. This delays processing the letter requests for the older guns which may have historical significance. Perhaps the price increase will help.
 
Originally posted by Gary:
A big part of the problem is that a lot of people want a letter for every S&W that they buy and are willing to pay for them. This means that a lot of time is spent sending letters letting people know which distributor their 625 was sent to in 2003. This delays processing the letter requests for the older guns which may have historical significance. Perhaps the price increase will help.
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Better get your steel pot and flak vest out- you're gonna draw fire with that one.....
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Originally posted by handejector:
Originally posted by Gary:
A big part of the problem is that a lot of people want a letter for every S&W that they buy and are willing to pay for them. This means that a lot of time is spent sending letters letting people know which distributor their 625 was sent to in 2003. This delays processing the letter requests for the older guns which may have historical significance. Perhaps the price increase will help.
Click to expand...
Better get your steel pot and flak vest out- you're gonna draw fire with that one.....
icon_biggrin.gif
Click to expand...

I don't letter even older guns when I know that it will come back as shipped to Springfield Armory or shipped to this and that distributer. If I have no feeling that it wasn't sent as a PD gun, a Victory, etc. why waste my money and his time. I'm afraid I agree with Gary. Who gives a rat's tail that someones model 29 was shipped to Lew Horton. I've paid for my share of letters and none has not proven to be pedestrian as I pick and choose which guns to have checked.
 
TH,
S&W sent my check back, uncashed. I was just a bit late, I guess.
At this point, I will only "letter" the USNavy Victory when Mr. Jinks starts accepting requests again.
 
I happy that they are rising the price so people will stop lettering every Smith they own especially military revolvers and normal revolvers made after the seventies. But I think they have a lot of balls returning checks. Bad Business.
 
Originally posted by jjones33:
Originally posted by handejector:
Originally posted by Gary:
A big part of the problem is that a lot of people want a letter for every S&W that they buy and are willing to pay for them. This means that a lot of time is spent sending letters letting people know which distributor their 625 was sent to in 2003. This delays processing the letter requests for the older guns which may have historical significance. Perhaps the price increase will help.
Click to expand...
Better get your steel pot and flak vest out- you're gonna draw fire with that one.....
icon_biggrin.gif
Click to expand...

I don't letter even older guns when I know that it will come back as shipped to Springfield Armory or shipped to this and that distributer. If I have no feeling that it wasn't sent as a PD gun, a Victory, etc. why waste my money and his time. I'm afraid I agree with Gary. Who gives a rat's tail that someones model 29 was shipped to Lew Horton. I've paid for my share of letters and none has not proven to be pedestrian as I pick and choose which guns to have checked.
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I have to agree with the above posters.
However, if a person has a reason to letter a recent manufacture firearm- by all means do it.
For instance, if a gun was sent directly from the factory to a dealer with a special "C/O" or "Attention to:" that will show up on the letter as being shipped to a certain famous/historical person...such as a country singer, statesman, etc., I think the letter is well worth it.

That is, of course, if you have the $50.00 to send in for the letter.

Let's see...for the price of ten letters, you could get a very nice pre-war something.
For the price of 20 letters, you could have a nearly a down payment on a Registered Magnum.
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I'll letter some of mine, older ones and newer ones. I have a factory DAO Model 64 that's a bit of a mystery serial number (CAFxxxx) that I'll probably letter. Not all of the later guns are boring.

Edit to add: I'll, for sure, letter my recently aquired M14 Dayton Gun Headquarters Hanen Special.
 
I agree that the price increase will probably slow down the incoming letter requests. However, many folks considering a letter request may look at the cost of a letter as a percentage of the firearm's value. So, as prices keep rising, $50 won't look too bad percentage-wise.

I currently have 8 letter requests in with Roy that I mailed over the past four months. I read somewhere on this forum that the backlog is around 800 requests. So, I guess I account for 1% of the backlog. And, you know, I don't feel guilty at all. I paid my money and I'm willing to wait for however long it takes, 8, 12, 16 or 24 weeks, whatever. Now, a rise in the price to $50 will slow me down significantly. However, to pretty much stop me, it would have to go to $75 or more.

I'm glad I lettered my two 3913s that came back as shipped to the LAPD. I'm also very happy that I letted my non-historical 4576 and found out from Roy that only 1389 units were produced; no wonder you don't see them very often. That information isn't in 3rd Edition.
 
I'm glad I lettered my two 3913s that came back as shipped to the LAPD. I'm also very happy that I letted my non-historical 4576 and found out from Roy that only 1389 units were produced; no wonder you don't see them very often. That information isn't in 3rd Edition.
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Well, there you go.
I, too, sometimes wish the guys lettering all the late guns would back off a bit, but who is justified in telling someone what to collect? Today's guns ARE tomorrow's collectibles.
 
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