Registration Certificates

[DARE]

Have read about how rare the Registration Certificates are for the Registered Magnums. I think maybe only a 100 or so are known.
Read in a Roy Jinks article about the guns that "a small registration card for the end user to fill out" was included with the shipment.
Have also heard that S&W, or maybe the Historical Foundation still have the un-issued Certificates. Is it known how many were issued?
If most people did not send in the registration card it seems like a bunch of those cards would be around.
Have seen a few packages in threads that have box, SAT, brushes, Registration Certificate, etc. but have never seen one of the registration cards.
Since we like threads to have pics, here is one of my RM. Do not have a Registration Certificate or a registration card.

Oh by the way, my REG #657. If anyone has my Registration Certificate, please send it along.

 

[lestert357]

Dave,

As of today (12/2/22) there are 121 certificates listed in the S&WCA Pre-war .357 Magnum database out of 1850 RM’s listed.

According to Dr. Jinks’ article on the Pre-war .357 Magnums in the Summer 2010 S&WCA Journal there were 5422 RM’s manufactured…..

I would extrapolate this to estimate that approximately 355 certificates were originally issued.

Only 11 cards are listed in the database. Here is the one for REG 1317 which is a gem indeed!

Photo credits - Nightowl

Dave, given the history of your REG 657, I would be thrilled to be its caretaker anytime - with or without a certificate or card!

 

[Doc44]

The S&WHF issued reproduction registration certificates a few years ago. Each certificate (a copy of an original certificate) was filled out by Jean Jinks and signed by Roy. These certificates, though not original, are a great accessory for a display.

An original, blank registration certificate was auctioned at our annual symposium in Tulsa in 2021 and sold for $300. An original, unused registration certificate request card in its envelope was also auctioned and sold for $450.

Attending the annual symposium of the S&WCA usually offers an opportunity to purchase S&W firearms and memorabilia found nowhere else.

Bill

 

[DARE]

Thanks Terry and Bill for the good info. I always learn something here.
So the cards are even more rare than the Certificates. I would not have thought that.

 

[Hoosier45]

Registration Certificate

This may be a good thread to clarify something about Registration #s for myself and hopefully others. My understanding is that S&W processed/tracked ordering of Registered Magnums by registration number more so than serial number, so were the 'new' .357 Magnums shipped largely in sequence by REG # as orders were received?

In 1935, a buyer could review the .357 Magnum brochure, complete an order form, and send correspondence/payment to order a Magnum. S&W would send the revolver/box/accessories including the above registration card with their new magnum. If the owner completed and sent back the registration card, then S&W would issue a matching certificate shipped inside the mailing tube, thereby registering your magnum. Is this process materially correct?

A few neat early Magnum documentation items I'd like to contribute:
REG #13: Mailing tube, Certificate, and letter dated April 30, 1935 in which DB Wesson stated "As this is an entirely new development in hand arms, we will be very glad if at a later date you will let us hear your experience with your Magnum".

Also, I acquired what I believe to be an earlier version of the 1st Magnum pamphlet in which the specifications ordering form is not included on the backpage, but came with a single full page order form (last photo).

A recent sale of a tube & certificate:
Just a moment...

 

[kwill1911]

Beau,
Thanks for those pictures! As a member you can access the database on RMs and Certificates through the official SWCA website here: Member Login – Smith & Wesson Collectors Association

I think you are correct that S&W used registration not serial numbers to track these revolvers. Neither number correlates perfectly with ship date, but the registration number is pretty close. Your understanding of how the registration process worked is correct, as far as I know. One of the purposes of the registration process was that S&W wanted to know who owned these guns. They looked at the Thompson SMG situation and hoped that the registration process would keep the new .357 Magnum revolvers out of the hands of criminals.

 

[Doc44]

S&W assigned the registration number to a Magnum when the order was received, and while the guns may not have been shipped 'exactly' in order, it was pretty close.

For a time, S&W sent a letter to the person or company ordering a Magnum stating the order had been received and telling them what registration number had been assigned to the arm.

I don't know about the registration process and keeping Magnums out of the hands of criminals (seems unlikely), but I know by registering your Magnum you were securing a lifetime warranty against defects. I think this was the purpose of the registration process.

Beau...I have the same version of the pamphlet and order form. I also believe it is the first one S&W issued.

Bill

 

[DARE]

Beau, a little off the subject but wanted to thank you for your great thread about N Frame Grips.
Here are documents from S&WHF for my RM.
They talk about the REG# but do not mention the SN.
Potchernick's order for two .357 Magnums is dated 11/15/1935
On November 21 S&W had already assigned REG#'s
The order form lists Potchernick's order number and the REG#
The invoice dated Dec. 24 lists the order number and the REG#

I don't know how to rotate images, so these will be sideways. Hopefully one of you geniuses will take care of that for me.

 

[kwill1911]

I don't know about the registration process and keeping Magnums out of the hands of criminals (seems unlikely)....

When the RM was introduced Police Science Notes said, "...the arm is available only on special order, and it is hoped that this may, to some extent, discourage the use of this arm by criminals."

 

[RKmesa]

Here is a package with the original certificate (and most all of the goodies, except the tube and the reg card, which presumably was sent back so that the certificate could be issued).





Here is one with the reproduction certificates filled out by Jean Jinks in her beautiful calligraphy:

 

[LLOYD17]

Another piece of the package not normally seen is the shipping invoice. No serial listed. Just the Reg number.

 

[Doc44]

The documents posted in #8 only show the REG. number. There is no reference to the serial number. This is the case for all of the REG. Magnums I have researched over the last ten years. I have not seen the actual shipping records, but I think they list the serial number.

Bill

 

[lestert357]

Another piece of the package not normally seen is the shipping invoice. No serial listed. Just the Reg number.

Detective Spencer apparently had the vision to realize that his guns and everything associated with them would be collector items some day.

 

[LLOYD17]

Detective Spencer apparently had the vision to realize that his guns and everything associated with them would be collector items some day.

Unfortunately, at some point after he sold it in the 70’s and then I bought it on consignment from that owner, the box, tools and spare sights were misplaced. The cert, tube and this invoice still remained with the gun. Weird splitting of the pieces over the years.