Hello folks. New to the forum. S&W 357 mag, nickel, 3 1/2" barrel. This gun came in a gold box with blue lettering. On the bottom of the box it shows these numbers.....S138711, and D1722. Both are hand written. What is the manufacture year for this pistol? This gun "mysteriously disappeared". I still have the box, and would love to find another CORRECT pistol to go in it. My gun was absolutely perfect. Any help?
Age of old 357
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Welcome to the forums from the Wiregrass! I'm confused. If you bought the gun in the box, you know when it was made in 1955.
Thanks Wiregrassguy. This gun was passed down to me from my Grandfather. He was the original owner. Relative to 1955......that's when I was born, which makes me want to replace it even more.
I was pretty sure it was from the fifties from the research I've done. Thanks for the info.
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Well, I'm sorry you lost the gun. It is quite valuable especially with the box.
Yes.....I've been told that it will be quite expensive if I can even find one. A S&W collector at a gun show offered $500 for my box.
THANKS!
Don't know Jim. It looks like black wax pencil or black crayon. And there is an N marked on each end of the box. The blue box guns I've seen have all that info marked on a label on the end of the box. This is the only gold box gun I've ever seen.
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S&W wrote the serial number on the bottom of the boxes in either black or white grease pen.
Guy
Guy
There ya go............thanks Guy.
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You lost a 3.5 inch nickel .357 magnum? Odd.
Had a home break-in.....the gun is all they took. I haven't described the gun as "lost".
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Misinterpretation, sorry for your loss
Guy, can you tell me what the D1722 represents?
S&W wrote 2 numbers on the bottom of the GOLD box back in the fifties. S138711 which I believe is the serial number, and D1722. What is D1722? They also marked an N on each end of the box which I believe is the frame designation. All of the markings are in a black grease pencil. Looks like a black crayon. I'm just confused what the D1722 means. Too short to be a serial number.
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I can speculate. S&W had Model 10's with D series serials but that wasn't until 1968. They often used whatever boxes were on hand to ship guns. Perhaps your Grandad sent a Model 10 to them for some repair work in that box because it is unlikely they shipped a Model 10 to him in that box. Is the handwriting the same?
I have seen some shorthand codes that were written on the box by the distributor or retailer that provided pricing information.
S&W didn't write the frame designation on the box. But they did often write N or Nickel and B or Blue on them.
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