Mystery Solved: Very early Quality 1 gun. Got letter.
Posted by Sam Carpenter on August 16, 2020, 1:29 pm
I had posed previously about what I thought was a "0 Grade" gun. It wasn't. It did have an 'o' stamped in but it turns out it was the letter not a number zero. It also had no markings on the rib or bbls. The bottom of the receiver had odd sculpting and the bbl lug had the wrong shape. The serial number came back to 1892 well before the the '0 Grade'. I had considered that it could be that early but it did not have the small engraving that the early advertising showed. I just got the letter and all of the weird things make sense. When I picked it up, someone had taken steel wool to the locks and bbls presumably to obscure the lamination and colors. It was really dirty but seemingly undamaged. No cracks inside or out. It is being restored now by Matthew Begley at Black Diamond Gun Works. He says it shows no signs of shooting or wear inside. I just got the letter and things are making a lot more sense now. It is a pretty cool very early Smith. I will post pictures when it comes back. https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/i/samoci1/20200816_141107.jpg
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