Howdy Again
I have only met Roy in person once, but I have had lots of conversations with him by email over the years. He is the ultimate authority on all things Smith and Wesson, and he is a very nice, friendly person too. Not a 'snob' in the usual sense of the word, but he does have some strong opinions, which he is entitled to. I have several of his books, and I often refer to them in all things S&W.
Anyway, here is what the Standard Catalog of Smith and Wesson, by Supica and Nahas has to say about 'Bekeartness' and what constitutes a 'true' Bekeart. SCSW ranks them in four levels, from 'Truest', to 'Still Sorta True'. According to SCSW these are the 'true' Bekearts.
1. The first Bekeart shipment, the 292 guns that were shipped directly to Phillip Bekeart in San Francisco in 1911. These are the 'Truest Bekearts'.
2. First Bekeart-Pattern production run: Apparently when the Bekeart order was received, S&W made 1,044 of them. Bekeart's shipment was in this batch, but they were shipped to other dealers too. This is the second level of 'True Bekieartness". Not a catalog item yet, serial numbers ran from 138226 to 139275 in the 32 HE serial number series.
3. Bekeart grip numbered revolvers: Apparently they all had a separate serial number stamped on the bottom of the wooden grips, starting with 1 and running up through 3,000. This is the third level of 'True Bekeartness'.
4. Bekeart shipped 22/32 HEs from later production: Any pre-war Bekeart that was actually shipped to Bekeart. This is the last level of 'True Bekeartness'.
So in his letter, where did Roy say yours was shipped? If it actually shipped to the Bekeart dealership in 1940, it is a True Bekeart of the last degree.
I suppose I should letter mine to see where it shipped.
Interestingly enough, I did a google search on Phillip Bekeart. He did not just deal in S&W revolvers, he was a Colt dealer too. Probably dealt with a lot of other manufacturers too.
I found this photo of Phillip B Bekeart and his crew on the web. Our man is on the far right, but it appears that Phillip K. Bekeart, possibly his son? also worked for him. This photo is in the Connecticut State Library, probably because Bekeart was also a big Colt dealer. Interestingly enough, Phillip B Bekeart died in 1936, but perhaps his shop was still in business in 1940 when your revolver shipped.
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