Tiffany and Company, Ornate Smith and Wesson New Model No. 3 Revolver, late 19th century

In 1885, the Smith & Wesson Company expanded their production program with the New Model No, 3, which introduced a variation of this revolver with a long cylinder capable of firing a .44 Winchester cartridge. Previously Colt had produced a revolver of this caliber which could be paired with the Winchester Lever Action Rifle. Smith & Wesson liked this idea; their factory eventually produced 2072 revolvers of this style.  

The sales of this revolver, however, did not meet expectations. In March of 1895, when the factory still had over half of the production unsold, Smith & Wesson transformed this model from the .44 caliber Winchester to the .44 caliber Smith & Wesson Russian. Retooling of the firearm was accomplished with a replacement cylinder. By 1896, forty percent of the inventory was retooled and sold to Takata & Company in Japan. In this way, the total number of New Model No. 3 was reduced to circa 1286 pieces.The company offered this model until 1908 when the revolver was replaced with the new Smith & Wesson Hand Ejector .44.

The Tiffany-crafted New Model No. 3 shown above is currently on display in New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art.