Century-Old .38 S&W

[wvayankees]

I have an old .38 S&W 5-shot that was my grandfather's. It has a fair amount of wear on it, but it stilll functions. It has a 3.75" barrel, a SN of 56912, and lists 5 patent dates on top of the barrel:

Aug. 4, 1896
Dec 22, 1896
Oct 8, 1901
Feb 6, 1906
Sept 14, 1909

It's DAO and is the "breakdown" style rather than having a cylinder that pops out to the side for loading. The handles appear to be original, some kind of egg-yolk yellow material.

I was wondering if anyone can tell me anything about it, model number, approximate value ?

Many thanks!
...........WVaYankees

 

[nalioth]

Got pix?

 

[Eightball]

Is it nickel, or blued?

 

[Jim Watson]

Several things don't jibe here.
You say "DAO". Does it have an exposed hammer that just does not cock or is it a "hammerless" revolver?
You say 3.75" barrel, S&W topbreak .38s usually had either 3.25" or 4" barrels.

The serial number and 1909 patent correspond to a Double Action Perfected Model made from 1909 til 1920, but those have hammers and are DA-SA operation. You might have one of those with the single action worn or broken.

A Double Action Second Model or a Safety Hammerless with that serial number would have been made long before 1909 and could not have that patent date.

The yellowed grips may well be aged ivory.

Going to take pictures to be sure, but if you have a Perfected Model with the barrel sawn off to an odd length and the single action lockwork not functional, the dollar value will not be high.

 

[wvayankees]

Nickel or blued ?

It was blued at one time....will try to post a couple of pics a bit later..