I've mentioned in other threads about my Grandfather's revolver, a Hand Ejector Military & Police Model of 1905, 4th Change. I got the factory letter from Mr. Jinks back in 1999, IIRC, and Jinks told me that this revolver with sn 357xxx was shipped in 1921 to Huntington, West Virginia.
My Grandfather was 90 years old when he gave it to me and to the best of his recollection, he had paid $35 for it when he bought it in Logan, WV in 1923. It does not wear the original issued wooden stocks, it has genuine mother-of-pearl and without any S&W emblems on it. From my Mother I have learned that this sort of "outfitting" does sound exactly like something he would have done.
My question for those who know these kinds of things is quite simply...
What might this revolver have been priced at when it was new in 1921? 1923? Or if it was a lightly used/pre-owned revolver in 1923?
I have no idea how the gun trade worked in the early 1920s. Jinks said in the letter that it was shipped to "Emmons Hawkins Hardware Company" in Huntington, roughly 65 miles from the city of Logan. I wonder if this place was a distribution for the area?
Basically, I'm curious if it's possible that my Grandfather purchased this revolver new, as two-year old stock... or if all the evidence seems to suggest that it was purchased as a used revolver.
Any ideas, discussion, conjecture or simply chatter on earlier days of gun trade would be interesting.
My Grandfather was 90 years old when he gave it to me and to the best of his recollection, he had paid $35 for it when he bought it in Logan, WV in 1923. It does not wear the original issued wooden stocks, it has genuine mother-of-pearl and without any S&W emblems on it. From my Mother I have learned that this sort of "outfitting" does sound exactly like something he would have done.
My question for those who know these kinds of things is quite simply...
What might this revolver have been priced at when it was new in 1921? 1923? Or if it was a lightly used/pre-owned revolver in 1923?
I have no idea how the gun trade worked in the early 1920s. Jinks said in the letter that it was shipped to "Emmons Hawkins Hardware Company" in Huntington, roughly 65 miles from the city of Logan. I wonder if this place was a distribution for the area?
Basically, I'm curious if it's possible that my Grandfather purchased this revolver new, as two-year old stock... or if all the evidence seems to suggest that it was purchased as a used revolver.
Any ideas, discussion, conjecture or simply chatter on earlier days of gun trade would be interesting.