Steve Santini 05 Mar 2008
#16Hi all!
Can anybody tell me about this this set of handcuffs?
I was told by the seller that they were used in the canadian prison system when presenting prisoner in court, but were discarded fast because of safety issues if a prisoner went amok attatched to a officer.
JBM
Hi,
Well, one would assume S&W knows their own history yet I did indeed see a thumbcuff that clearly had the S&W logo on it as well as the Marcas Registradas markings.
Also, I clearly remember that the thumbcuff was of a much better quality than similiar Asian cuffs and that the body or the restraint was thicker and the distance in between the thumbs was smaller meaning that the lock body was not as wide as on Japanese thumbcuffs (which BTW were the only other thumbcuffs I ever saw on the market at the time).
Further, the S&W thumbcuff I saw had 2 seperate keyholes with one to unlock each thumb loop and not the commonly seen figure 8 double keyhole often seen.
My buddy who also saw one in Toronto concurs with me that the one he saw also had the proper S&W markings.
His name is Randy Audas and he also knows the difference.
While he does not collect these days and no longer owns his once great collection he knows his cuffs and collected many from the time he was a young escape artist in his teens.
Of course I do not work for S&W and am not privy to their records or archives but based on the quality of the restraint and the markings it had on it I am convinced that what I saw was indeed a S&W thumbcuff.
Perhaps the S&W thumbcuff was made as an experiment of sorts with very limited numbers being produced.
As such it did not become a regular stock item and thusly did not make it into S&W catalogs or literature.
If the S&W historian can not find mention of it perhaps this is because he is consulting old catalogs in the S&W archives.
Hopefully one will eventually turn up and lay this mystery to rest.
Steve Santini
