S&W 38 Perfected Serial #?

That's a very nice example of a Perfected. My book is apparently the same as yours as it gives a serial number range of 1 to 59400, 1909 to 1920.
Just spitballing here, but I would agree that your 1496 is probably an early gun in the series.

One of the nicest Ive ever seen. Very cool!

Wow. That looks like new.

Great find!

Howdy

Very nice. First one I've seen with walnut grips. I have three of them, two with hard rubber grips and one with pearl grips. I suspect the pearl grips are not original. Most that I've seen have hard rubber grips, but SCSW does state that they shipped with walnut grips too.

If it is any help, the one on the left has a SN of 99XX and shipped in June of 1912. Bear in mind that S&W often did not ship in the order they were made, but it appears yours with a SN of 1496 is pretty early in the 1909 to 1920 manufacturing dates.






The last time I looked, it costs $100 for a factory letter from the S&W Historical Society. Might be worth it to you to know when it shipped.

http://www.swhistoricalfoundation.com/info.html

By the way, yours looks spotless. Really terrific condition. The case hardening on the hammer and trigger says it has not been refinished. If it has, it was a first rate job.

Mine was made in 1914. I've had this gun over 40 years. It's been carried, shot and carried some more. One of my favorite revolvers.

What you want is the Letter of Authenticity. That is what they are calling today what used to be called a Factory Letter.

This letter should list when it shipped, as well as who it shipped to, and the condition (barrel length, blued or nickeled) that it shipped with. It is a bit of a gamble to invest $100 and not know for sure what you are going to get, but I have several letters, some I sent for myself, some I got when I bought old revolvers, and they have always listed when and where it shipped, as well as what it looked like when it shipped.

By the way, I am interested in which auction house you got it from.

You can send me a PM if you don't want to publish that.

That’s a real beauty. A perfected is one that’s on my short list to pick up. Doubt I ever stumble across one that nice though, it’s a really nice one. Those grips are beautiful.

Lots of info here:

http://smith-wessonforum.com/forum.php

Beautiful gun

James K2020

Congrats on getting one very well preserved S&W Perfected Model! Well worth the wait!

James K2020 said:

Very nice PRM. Are those grips antler? Custom made I imagine. Like them.

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Sambar Stag, got them from Art Jewel back in the early 80s.