| If you are looking for an early Model 41, here is your gun. Comparing this gun to a later 41 is like comparing a “5 Screw” N Frame to a “3 Screw.” These early guns are exceptional.
I’ve been collecting and trading Model 41 and 46 Smiths for 20 years. I’ve paid very close attention to the serial numbers for probably 18 years. In that time, I have bought and sold several hundred, and observed thousands, all the while looking for early serial numbers. I know there were a few guns made with T prefix serial numbers, and I guess we can conclude, from Jinks’ book, that at least one gun was made at serial number 1401. However, in all the looking around, and talking to other collectors, I’ve never found a gun with a serial number lower than 3xxx, and I’ve never talked with anyone who has seen one – excepting for a few individuals who have seen one of the “T” Serial Number guns.
What does all that mean? I think it means that the regular production run of Model 41s began at about serial number 3000.
This gun is absolutely original. This was my first Model 41. I was fortunate enough to get it from the original owner – a retired Naval Officer – who is still a very close friend. He acquired the gun new in early 1958 along with a boxed set of weights. He found that he preferred the High Standard to the Model 41. After shooting a few hundred rounds he cleaned the gun and put it away.
When I acquired the gun in 1989 it was absolutely Mint-As New, and the weights had never been out of the box. But I was a shooter, not a collector. I proceeded to shoot the gun, and to try the weights. So now the gun is 99% with a few scattered marks, and there are marks where the weights have been mounted. I absolutely guarantee that the, grips, magazine, box, and schematic are original to this gun.
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