This Colt Detective Special #807994 was a direct shipment from Colt to the New York City Police Department.
    This particular gun has not been lettered yet, and it's serial number falls into one of the many gaps in Detective Special serial number records. However, I know it is NYCPD and will letter as soon as I get a chance.
    This gun is fitted with a grip adaptor; an authorized and common modification.
    Colt Detective Special sales go back to about the time the gun was introduced in the 1930's. Surviving records are largely incomplete.
    The Detective Special was a fairly popular offering. Although a 3 inch version was offered by Colt, the NYCPD (to the best of my knowledge) never purchased any of them. They did, however, purchase some Detective Specials in .32 caliber. These were purchased before the mandatory conversion to all guns being .38 Special in 1967.
    As with most firearms used by the members of the NYCPD, the Detective Specials were purchased, NOT issued, to the individual officer. Since this made the gun the personal property of the individual officer, the gun bore no markings to identify it with the NYCPD. Off-duty guns were exempt from the regulations that required one's shield number be stamped on the gun. Thus, it is very hard to  identify an NYCPD Detective Specials without either a factory letter or a check of the NYCPD records.
    This particular gun is shown in a Colt box (with a mismatched box top) with the seldom seen NYCPD inspection certificate. Each gun was inspected and certified by the Firearms Unit as being fit for service.
    Also, we note the presence on the back of the box (and the end of the mismatched box top) of an inventory number. This number corresponds to the line entry in the departments bound book.
    Detective Specials have pretty much faded off the streets as the users have retired. There are still a few out there though.
    Surviving Detective Specials records show sales of approximately 3.419 guns. Actual purchase figures are, by my estimate, approximately 25,000-30,000.