Always check under the grips

[LtDave]

Went to the small local gunshow yesterday. A dealer had what appeared to be a very clean S&W M&P 2” square butt with custom grips that were similar to Spegel boot grips but didn’t look quite right as Spegel. Serial had a “C” prefix, which I think made it a ‘60s vintage gun. The gun was priced at $675, which I felt was high, but I would consider buying if the grips were Spegels. I asked the dealer if we could pull the grips. He agreed and we did. The grips were made by Eagle not Spegel and low and behold, a previous owners name and SSAN was electropencilled on the frame. That made the asking price way out of my ballpark as I figured not having original grips was a $50-100 deduction and the “engraving” was worth another $100 off the asking price. Dealer wanted to give me a deal at $625. I passed. I once bought a Model 58 that had target grips on it. I didn’t remove them until I got home. Found an undisclosed large set of initials scratched on the frame that were hidden by the target grips. I always check now.

[APS-PF]

Timely post, I typically always check under the grips if it's a used revolver. Timely because last weekend I stumbled into a 6" S&W 14-6 full lugged at Cabelas of all places and the price was ~$100 less than what the local gunshop would have had it for. I checked timing, push off, cylinder gap, etc and finish was in perfect condition. Talked him down $50. Got it home and took off the original rubber Hogue grips, the previous owner must have been a sweater as there was quite a bit on the frame. Most of it wiped off but there are some small pits.
Most likely would have bought it anyway had I taken the grips off in the store as I have been looking for one for a while. But... it could have been a situation as you described where there was some ingraving or really bad rust.