Re: Iver Johnson Revolver Questions
rimfirerat,
the mother of pearl grips add to eye appeal so therefore do add to value but just how much is debatible. the 'defender 89' was manufactured between 1889 and 1899 as a replacement for the older defender series iver johnson manufactured between 1873 and 1888. these are considered brand name revolvers and were manufactured to be sold by large mail order companies. the majority of the the defender/defender 89s were sold by the j.p. lovell co. of boston. there is no way to date these revolvers other than the era of manufacture because there are no factory records available. one of the improvement in the defender 89 was the barrel of the 22 rimfire model was rifled and not a smoothbore like so many of the time. all the defenders & defender 89 were manufactured for black powder cartridge pressures and are not safe with modern smokeless loads and this includes modern 22 bb caps.
i also might add the holster in the picture with your safety automatic revolver is much newer than the revolver, and the box the defender is in looks very modern.
bill
|