The question cannot be answered without the context of caliber, age, manufacturer, condition, and collector appeal. Since this is a collector's forum, I will offer an opinion on the early era of revolvers. Curio & relics have seen nothing but an increase in value over the decades if in high condition. By the 1930s, millions of revolvers were produced by dozens of manufacturers, which seems still is not enough to satisfy the current collectors' market for these vintage revolvers, but it is the variants and high condition guns that are commanding the highest prices. Target revolvers, military contract revolvers, scarce variations, those shipped to important people all positively affect value. History suggests that the revolvers in these categories should gain value forever. The rate of gain will only be affected by the economy. A study of historical values support the premise that values have risen significantly for high condition guns regardless of rarity.
From various published gun guides and books it seems that the post-WWII era was the beginning of interest in gun collecting. The first gun collector price guide I could find was printed in 1953 by Martin Rywell. He updated his book in 1963 with a guide mainly aimed at pre-WWI revolvers. Karl Leonhardt authored a price guide in SWCA journal, outlining prices that were relevant for the 1973 and 1983 market. 1993 to 2017 valuations were compiled by Supica & Nahas. Merging them together offers a progression of values for various early models of S&W. I have several models tracked, but will only pick the K frame Model 1899 as an example, using the resources above and extrapolating them to land on a 10 year schedule. The Model 1899 in excellent condition was valued as below:
1953-$25 . . 1963-$40 . . 1973-$100 . . 1983-$275 . . 1993-$650 . . 2003-$900 . . 2013-$1250 . . 2023-$1500
Over the last 70 years, a Model 1899 has gone up 60X in value. Of course, purchasing power of a dollar plays a part in actual value increase. It takes $300 in today's dollars to purchase what cost $25 in 1953, or 12X more. It can be accurately stated that the value of a Model 1899 has risen 50X over the last 70 years.
Current and recently manufactured revolver market is a totally different animal. By now, many more tens-of-millions of revolvers have been built and the used market seems to be flooded. I cannot comment on the value of recently manufactured revolvers, but likely no growth in value and perhaps a decline in demand for this market segment. The reason is likely that the "black plastic" semi-auto demand remains very strong.
From various published gun guides and books it seems that the post-WWII era was the beginning of interest in gun collecting. The first gun collector price guide I could find was printed in 1953 by Martin Rywell. He updated his book in 1963 with a guide mainly aimed at pre-WWI revolvers. Karl Leonhardt authored a price guide in SWCA journal, outlining prices that were relevant for the 1973 and 1983 market. 1993 to 2017 valuations were compiled by Supica & Nahas. Merging them together offers a progression of values for various early models of S&W. I have several models tracked, but will only pick the K frame Model 1899 as an example, using the resources above and extrapolating them to land on a 10 year schedule. The Model 1899 in excellent condition was valued as below:
1953-$25 . . 1963-$40 . . 1973-$100 . . 1983-$275 . . 1993-$650 . . 2003-$900 . . 2013-$1250 . . 2023-$1500
Over the last 70 years, a Model 1899 has gone up 60X in value. Of course, purchasing power of a dollar plays a part in actual value increase. It takes $300 in today's dollars to purchase what cost $25 in 1953, or 12X more. It can be accurately stated that the value of a Model 1899 has risen 50X over the last 70 years.
Current and recently manufactured revolver market is a totally different animal. By now, many more tens-of-millions of revolvers have been built and the used market seems to be flooded. I cannot comment on the value of recently manufactured revolvers, but likely no growth in value and perhaps a decline in demand for this market segment. The reason is likely that the "black plastic" semi-auto demand remains very strong.
