Manufactured from 1872 to 1874, this S&W No. 3 American 2nd Model Revolver has an interesting story to tell. It has been period modified with a shortened barrel and added post front sight and is linked to the Texas-Mexico border. In his 1989 letter, previous owner John Curtis states: "This gun was a regular blued Smith 2nd Model American that came out of Mexico as I bought it from a North Dakota dealer, Douglas Janacke, who bought it back from Mexico with a bunch of Winchester 66s about 10 years ago...I was never able to totally substantiate the story that it was a 'post sight' conversion/barrel cut to 4 1/2" by either a Texas gunsmith or a gunsmith in Mexico but I do know that a number of them found favor with the Mexican bandits and revolutionaries following the ouster of Maximilian from the throne of Mexico in the late '60s early '70s. For almost forty years Smith-Wesson Americans and Schofields turned up in abundance in Mexico." Curtis notes a Schofield owned by Pancho Villa also had a cut down barrel. The gun certainly has the look of a well-traveled firearm that spent a lifetime in the harsh climate south of the border. Provenance: Douglas Janacke; The John Curtis Collection; The Supica Collection; Property of a Gentleman

Fair with all of the appearance of great working gun character right down to the barrel modification made by its previous owner to meet the needs of the day, most likely at the Texas-Mexico border. Mechanically fine.