[James K]

IMHO, Jim Watson has hit it. The gun is an S&W Perfected Model without the side thumb latch. The only known serial number for that rare gun is 52108, per Neal and Jinks. It was not intended to be DAO; the hammer spur is broken or ground off.

The total production for the Perfected Model was only 59,400, from 1909 to 1920. Only a handful were made without the side latch. Neal and Jinks speculate that they might have been made during WWI when shortcuts were taken with other production so as to increase production of the Model 1917.

I have no idea what such a gun would be worth, but unfortunately the condition of that one reduces the value by a lot. Still, an advanced S&W collector might like to have it even in that condition if the price were right.

The history of that revolver is a bit obscure, since it is a top break yet has the center lock and thumb latch of the hand ejector models. One story is that there was a report of a police officer who was killed when a criminal grabbed the top latch of his break top revolver and broke it open, making the gun useless. Supposedly, S&W decided to prevent that from happening again and the Perfected came into being.

Doubt is cast on the story because, contrary to one gunzine story, the Perfected was not a transition model between the top breaks and the hand ejectors. S&W had been making hand ejector models for 15 years before the Perfected was produced. Could it have been an attempt to answer those who thought the hand ejector was too slow to eject empty cases? Maybe. I doubt at this stage we will ever know.

P.S. Neal and Jinks list the Perfected as being available with barrels of 3 1/4". 4", 5" and 6". It would be reasoable to think that any of the standard barrel lengths might be put on that variation as well. I do not have a Perfected, but again it seems reasonable that the barrels might have been regular .38 DA Fourth Model barrels, perhaps with some minor modifications.

Jim