WW1 Unfired S&W Triple Lock

That is just beautiful ! Virtually unmarked, as new. wow. Certainly puts mine to shame. Mine looks like it has spent the whole war rattling around in the bottom of a tank as was there when the tank blew up. (ok slight exageration)

But yours looks pristine.

tx.
jan.
 
The name in the holster could simply have been written in later by someone who wanted to keep the name associated with the holster and gun as provenance.
Nice find indeed.
 
WRITING styles change over time but it is pretty hard to change much when you are writing BLOCK letters. They haven't changed noticeably since Big Julie led the XIII Legion into Roma and made his sacrifice to Jupiter Capitoline.

One thing about that lettering: it was done with REAL INK and it is BLACK. And it was done with a REAL PEN and not a BALLPOINT. Ballpoint pens only came into use AFTER WW2. I remember my Father BORROWING one from his Boss to bring home to show to Mom and myself. It cost $5: a whole day's pay at Fairbanks-Morse in Edmonton.

When I started going to school (1950) BLUE ink was the thing; BLACK was considered terribly old-fashioned and every effort was made to keep it out of the schools.

Also, the term "CANADIAN ARMY" might not have appeared in a lot of official communiques, but it was certainly used by the MEN. I never met a First World War Veteran who said that he had "served overseas with the Canadian Expeditionary Force". To a man, they all said that they had been with the "CANADIAN ARMY".

FWIW.

Hope this helps.

BEAUTIFUL old piece!
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Oh, I think it is a pretty safe bet that this was one of the 691 guns that Smith produced when the military contract was ending as is outlined by Handejector in the S&W forums. As he stated, because these revolvers were not part of the contract, they were not numbered in the 455 series, and the numbers are a continuation of the regular Nframe (44HE) you already know the possible aproximate shipping date as outlined in the letter Jinks sent me.although mine went to England. My gun is British proofed - crown over V- barrel, frame, and all six cylinder flutes. Best have yours lettered... its fifty bucks American, but what the hell..... cheers
 
The printing on the holster looks to have been done with a fountain pen, and not a standard modern ballpoint pen. Note the differences in the widths of the letters, and the dots at the ends of the strokes where the pen paused slightly longer on the leather, applying slightly more ink. Based on the printing on the holster, I vote for genuine older printing.
 
jsmurd said:
Oh, I think it is a pretty safe bet that this was one of the 691 guns that Smith produced when the military contract was ending as is outlined by Handejector in the S&W forums. As he stated, because these revolvers were not part of the contract, they were not numbered in the 455 series, and the numbers are a continuation of the regular Nframe (44HE) you already know the possible aproximate shipping date as outlined in the letter Jinks sent me.although mine went to England. My gun is British proofed - crown over V- barrel, frame, and all six cylinder flutes. Best have yours lettered... its fifty bucks American, but what the hell..... cheers
Click to expand...

Sorry, there doesn't appear to be a caliber marking on the barrel and it is a high serial number.

Therefore this is a .44 Hand Ejector "triple lock" converted to .455 at the S&W factory and shipped before S&W began producing .455 "triple locks" in their own serial number range.

When S&W actually started to manufacture .455 triple locks, they caliber marked them, a late "clean up" gun would have been caliber marked.
 
Barrel Markings

Caliber is Marked on Barrel....Thanks

SW455008800x450.jpg
 
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