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LOT 1546
Rare Documented Congressman Cecil R.
King Owned Factory Pinto
Smith & Wesson .44 Hand
Ejector Fourth Model Military
(Pre-Model 21) Double Action
Revolver with Bird’s Eye Maple
Grips, ATF Exempt Smoothbore Barrel, and Factory Letter - Serial no. S106284, 44 S&W
special cal., 6 1/2 inch round bbl., blue/nickel finish, maple grips. The accompanying factory letter
states the revolver was shipped on October 14, 1954, and delivered to Walter Lookenbugh, S&W’s
manufacturing representative for California (Los Angeles), with a 6 ½ inch barrel, red post front sight, rare
two-tone or pinto finish (bright blue and nickel), target hammer and trigger, and special order
smooth bird’s eye maple target grips. In the letter S&W historian Roy Jinks provided additional
information related to ownership: “This revolver was special built for Congressman Cecil R. King
from Englewood, CA. There were two guns in this shipment, the second was a .44 Target Model
of 1950 serial number S118087 that was equipped with a 4 inch barrel. Congressman King was a
close friend of Smith & Wesson’s President Mr. C.R. Hellstrom and the company built many special
unusual guns for the Congressman.” The included copy of the S&W invoice confirms that this
“Special Production Presentation Model,” as Jinks referred to it in the letter, was sold to Congressman
King while also confirming the rare, highly attractive bird’s eye maple stocks. Nicknamed pintos,
these special order factory blue and nickel finished guns are highly sought after by collectors. The
factory two-tone finish and bird’s eye maple stocks make for a rare combination of features that are
also just as attractive. The revolver is fitted with a smooth bore barrel featuring a threaded choke.
Although the threaded smooth bore barrel does not letter, the features are professionally done and
certainly have all the look of being completed by a highly talented employee at the S&W factory. The
Congressman’s close ties to Hellstrom strengthens the writer’s conclusion that this rare, unusual barrel
configuration is factory. In a 2019 dated email Jinks confided that if the S&W factory had performed
the work, it would not have been put on the invoice and the barrel would have been taken off the
production line before it was rifled. An included Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms letter exempts
this revolver from the purview of the National Firearms Act and classifies it as a curio and relic.
Congressman Cecil R. King (1898-1974) served as a member of the United States House of
Representatives from California’s 17th congressional district for 14 terms (1942-1969). He enlisted in the
U.S. Army during World War I and served as a private from 1917 to 1918. His first run
in politics came in 1933 when he became a member of the California
State Assembly where he remained until 1942 when he was elected
by special election to the U.S. House of Representatives. King
was one of the first members of Congress to get involved with
the issue of Medicare. Throughout the 1950s and 1960s King was at
the forefront for the push of Medicare legislation. As a member of
the House of Representatives, King was the co-author of the
King-Anderson Act along with Senator Clinton Anderson
of New Mexico laying important groundwork for
Medicare and was credited by President Lyndon Johnson
at the signing the Medicare & Medicaid Act into law on
July 30, 1965.
CONDITION: Excellent, retaining 99% plus original blue
and nickel finish with minimal handling marks and a
light cylinder drag line. The grips are also excellent
with very attractive grain pattern. Mechanically
excellent. A very unusual, very intriguing
documented ATF exempt smoothbore,
factory pinto Smith & Wesson Pre-Model 21
revolver documented to a member of the
U.S. Congress that will make a welcomed
addition to any collection no mater
how advanced.
Provenance: Congressman Cecil R.
King; The Mike Priwer Collection.
Estimate: 12,000 - 18,000 Congressman
Cecil R. King
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