I like it. I see lots of unusual touches. Does the letter say anything about "custom" engraving, or just call it Class A, or just not say?
The letter states that the gun shipped to HH Harris on March 7, 1955 as a, 8 3/8" blue class "B" engraved gun, with rosewood target grips. Roy's stated that the gun was engraved by Harry Jarvis and speculated that it was returned to the factory, where the barrel was swapped for a 3.5" barrel and the barrel and cylinder were nickeled at that time. There is a March 7, 1955 invoice to HH Harris for the gun described in the letter, but there are no SN's listed on the invoice. There are no date stamps or stars or any other re-work marks on the gun, which I would expect if the gun was returned and the barrel and cylinder replaced. The cylinder and barrel number to the gun and have the "N" stamped in all the right places.
However, the Historical Foundation
DID find a March
17, 1955 invoice to H.H. Harris for
* One - 8 3/8" Blue Class "B" engraved 357
* Two - 8 3/8" Blue Class "C" engraved 357s,
AND
* Three - 3 1/2" "Bright-Nickel" (a.k.a. "Pinto" or "Two Tone") Class "A" engraved 357s
My belief is that possibly the records that the letter was produced from missed a "1" in front of the "7" and that the date shipped was 3/17 and this is one of the three Class "A" engraved 3.5" 357s that were shipped to HH Harris. But Roy looked again and assures me that the the records support the Letter. And I appreciate his extra effort. He also said "In doing the history letters all I can state is how the revolver is listed on the factory filed original invoice. I cannot speculate if there was an error in making out the invoice or if other guns were involved in a similar shipment." I very much understand his stated limitations and respect the integrity of the letter process.
Either way, the gun was factory engraved and factory "pintoed" and I like it.
Do any other of your Factory guns have an engraved sight ramp? I do not recall seeing one.
Yup - I have at least a couple of others with the sight base engraved both of which letter as Class "A" engraved:
SN S101339:
... and SN S133919:
I've had this one for a while and, I don't think I've ever posted a spread on it. So to share a little "good news" in the Covid 19 world of depressing news, here is SN S129654:
