My Grandfather, father of my Dad was born in Hungary in 1900 and emigrated to the United States as a teenager. This was the only handgun he ever owned and in June of 1990, he gave this to me as a graduation gift -- perhaps mostly because of his five grandchildren, I was the only one that was really a dyed-in-the-wool gun guy. (as it happens, I am the youngest of those five)
He was 90 on that day that he gave it to me and of course, I asked him what he knew and remembered about it. He was pretty sure that he bought it in Fairmont, WV in 1923 and I want to say that he told me he paid $25 for it, but I'm not sure about that bit.
I asked him why he bought it (as he wasn't much of a gun guy at any point) and his answer was simple and this part I do remember as if it was yesterday... He said "well in those days, a man had a gun, you see?"
In 1999 it came to my knowledge that you could write to S&W and ask for information on an old gun, so I did that, and I sent along the $35 that it cost at that time. To this day, it is the only gun that I have ever gotten a factory letter on.
Roy Jinks replied that this revolver, SN 3572xx was a S&W Military & Police Model of 1905 Fourth Change and was shipped from the factory on May 31, 1921 and delivered to Emmons Hawkins Hardware Co, Huntington, WV. The nickel finish is original but of course the genuine mother of pearl is not, it was shipped with checkered walnut.
It was reassuring that the memory my Grandfather had of where and when he bought seems to line up with the letter. I'm left to wonder if my Grandfather purchased it used with the MOP grips on it or if it was old stock and still "new" and if perhaps he bought the MOP to put on there.
His memory of Fairmont could be accurate and the revolver would likely have made the trip across West Virginia by it's first owner.
