S&W letter of authenticity?

You will, at the least, recieve the following information: the gun's original date of shipment, to whom the gun was shipped (usually a retailer or distributor), and the gun's original factory configuration (barrel length, sights, stocks, etc.). The primary value of the letter, other than to satisfy one's curiosity, is to authenticate the gun's vintage and configuration. This is particularly valuable to collectors who are buying, selling, or trading rare or desirable models.
 
Before anyone asks, a factory letter (except in rare circumstances) will NOT identify who owned the gun. So unless the factory shipped the gun directly to Wyatt Earp or Buffalo Bill, that name will not appear on the letter.

This may seem self-evident but on one site a man was highly perturbed because he paid for a letter and it didn't show the full list of owners of the gun.

Jim
 
That's good news for the OP! :D

When I did this for the grandfather's gun from Winchester, I got a letter from Olin that simply stated the year of manufacture, and thanked me for the inquiry.
 
"This may seem self-evident but on one site a man was highly perturbed because he paid for a letter and it didn't show the full list of owners of the gun."

Wow. Just wow.

I wonder where he thought that S&W was going to come up with that information over the years, especially on a revolver that is most likely being lettered due to its age.
 
Well then - welcome to the brave new world of personal privacy laws.

State DMVs block the same info on prior owners of vehicles - such as who previously owned my '61 Corvette when I inquired. Get over it.
 
Sometimes (depending on model I guess) you will get a little history of the particular model. I got a letter (came with the gun) on one of my Model 53's and there was a paragraph about the history of the 53 and .22 Jet.
 
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