Here is a tough one to find nowadays; a nice Pre-1898 Smith and Wesson Double Action Pocket Revolver with Blued finish instead of nickel. .38 S&W Caliber, standard 3-1/4" barrel, 5-shot cylinder, checkered hard rubber grips. Once gun manufacturers discovered nickel plating and its durability, it quickly eclipsed other forms of finish on pocket revolvers including bluing and silver plating. You just don't see them as there were far fewer produced and when you do find one, it's usually lost most its original bluing OR it's not antique. However, most collectors prefer the blued ones and they want NICE ONES. To compound that, there is a strong market in Europe for ones made before 1890 so this is a tough one to find on the loose with so many combing the big shows looking for them. That said, it's been several years since I've found one like this but I can remember a time 20-25 years ago where they were a little easier to come by. I can even remember picking up a couple in the original green label boxes. The one though that eludes me is the .32 DA in a 2nd Model with the half flutes...I've heard they exist but have never seen one. This one is obviously the .38 and a 4th Model with a serial number in the 242,000 range and dates to around the late 1880's and well under the 382,000 serial number cutoff to be a Pre-1898 Antique. This one has no box but it's in a higher level of condition. I would say this one was a drawer surfer. It stayed safe and dry in someone's office desk drawer for many years and did some sliding back and forth as evidenced by a few of the high spots on the cylinder. I don't think it was ever fired as the front of the cylinder, bore, recoil shield look pretty minty. All Matching Numbers on the frame, barrel, cylinder, barrel latch, and grips. Overall Condition grades to NRA Antique Excellent with 92% original blue, great case colors on the trigger and hammer, and 99% of its factory correct nickel plating on the front sight and ejector star. The screws and pins are all excellent with perfect slots.
Item# 558
$1,195
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