Silly original box question

[The West Virginian]

Good morning, all.

A friend of mine is considering an excellent condition 3913 Ladysmith. Seller states original box and papers. Ok, groovy. I asked my friend if it was maroon soft case or blue plastic box. He says it's the cardboard style. I have only seen a few Ladysmiths with original packaging and none of them were cardboard. Did Smith ship some of them that way? Just curious, and trying to get a handle on what my friend should offer.

Thank you much.
Aaron

 

[824tsv]

To the best of my knowledge, the 3913 came out in 1990 when the 1pc blue cardboard box was still being used. I believe the blue plastic boxes started in 1994.

 

[The West Virginian]

Thank you, 824tsv. The asking price is high but if the box is original I may jump on it if my buddy doesn't.

 

[jsbethel]

My girlfriend's LS came in the blue cardboard box.

Poor pic

 

[kraynky]

Just ran across this thread and wanted to add for posterity's sake, my 1994 3913NL came in a cardboard box.

I was actually searching to find out when they transitioned to plastic. Perhaps 1994 was a transition year, however my pistol was released day 306, which was November 2nd, which doesn't leave a lot of transition days.

 

[vigil617]

Well, since we're asking "silly" questions...

Did the cardboard boxes have S&W labels on one end like the later plastic boxes do, identifying all the particulars of the gun? If so, and if that label matches the numbers on the gun, I'd say that was a pretty good indication that the box is original and for that gun....

 

[grif684]

It appears the switch to the plastic box happened in 1995. This is based only on the julian dates of the pistol boxes I have, or have looked at. Every 1994 dated pistol box, even very late 1994, is cardboard, while anything after the start of 1995 is blue plastic, even those with very early 1995 julian dates.

 

[Vectorxw8]

Well, since we're asking "silly" questions...

Did the cardboard boxes have S&W labels on one end like the later plastic boxes do, identifying all the particulars of the gun? If so, and if that label matches the numbers on the gun, I'd say that was a pretty good indication that the box is original and for that gun....

This is a "silly" box statement I guess. While we are on the subject. I am so surprised how much the original box raises the price of weapons. On many of the older Smith's and I would think all brands would fall in to this category as well the price will go up somewhere between $300.00 to $400.00 for a cardboard box?? This is at least I have seen. Scott