Mia's grandmother, Lidya, stumbled across the gun. Stashed high inside a bedroom closet, the little red box was simply marked Smith and Wesson Hand Ejector - .32 - Blued - 3 1/4 Inch. She handed it to me and, sure enough, there was a small revolver tucked neatly inside, surrounded by loose lead bullets, flat wadcutter rounds, and nestled into impossibly old clippings from a t-shirt coupled with a section of pantyhose. A short section of metal coat hanger, found in the bottom of the box, served as a cleaning rod as best as we can determine. She hadn't known the pistol was there, hadn't even known it was in the house. Making it known that she wasn't comfortable with firearms, Lidya motioned for me to check to see if it was loaded. It was. Of the six rounds that were loaded, two had been fired. I emptied the remaining bullets and two empty brass shells into the box lid.She told me she didn't think the gun would have fired, anyways, if someone were to have pulled the trigger -- too old. Click, click, click. The hammer fell each time I squeezed, the slight amount of rust making the pull a bit difficult, but the gun would have gone off. Mia's grandmother shook her head, contemplating what would have happened had a visiting child accidentally stumbled across it, and insisted I keep it since I was comfortable with guns. As we cleaned up what remained of the room where Mia's great great Aunt Lydia had lived prior to her being admitted to a nursing home just days before, I tucked the gun safely aside and treated it like a treasure.
And it is, although we don't know very much about it. The tiny revolver's serial number is a mere six digits long, starting with "52". The lid of the box has instructions in both English and Spanish, the registration mark imprinted just below the cylinder reads, "MADE IN U.S.A. - MARCAS REGISTRADAS." We began to suspect the gun might not have been in the United States its entire life, and possibly was not even intended for sale here, originally. It belonged, we think, to Mia's great great Aunt's husband, who died sometime in the 1960's or possibly 1970's. The aging great Aunt, sadly, suffers from severe Alzheimer's and won't be able to provide any hints.
This all took place back in October of 2006. I've since oiled up the gun and removed most of the rust. The cylinder spins free, the action pulls nicely. The last time I checked into the age of the gun, tentative research revealed that, while it is not from the period of World War II, it is likely from just before or just after. We know that Mia's great great Aunt had lived, at one point during her life, in Cuba. Was this gun exported there, then re-imported again?
Smith and Wesson offers a serial number check for gun history for a small fee. I'll be sending away for that, soon.
It will be very interesting to see what that turns up.
