Need help identifying an old gun

[crashdown]

Belongs to a friend, and he has no idea what it is.
Obviously I don't either, or I wouldn't be posting.
He says it is a 5 shot, and the caliber is just a bit bigger than a .22.
No serial number, or identifying marks he can find.
Any help on what it is, and of course what it could be worth would be great.
In his own words:
"it looks slightly better than home made"

[ChunkyMonkey]

Wasn't it alxone who posted the exact same type of pistol couple months ago?

[hghclsswhitetrsh]

Haha it looks slightly better than home made! Hahaha. Hopefully alxone will be along shortly to help! Or blaster bob.

[ChunkyMonkey]

H&R police auto?

[birddog]

I'm not sure what it is but my grandfather who was a former cop had one. He told me they were super cheap to buy back in the day so they got used for suicides a lot. That's how he got his, guess back in those days that's how it worked.

[crashdown]

Wasn't it alxone who posted the exact same type of pistol couple months ago?

Might be the same type, but not the same gun.

[Mazin]

H&R police auto?

That looks right to me.

[crashdown]

Ok...
So I come here for help, and now I think I got it.
I didn't notice the little sideways owl head on the grip.
Googled that and it looks like it's an Iver Johnson 32 caliber.

[brutal]

"it looks slightly better than home made"

I think that's the definition of an Iver Johnson.

However, they were apparently also good enough to kill President McKinley and Senator Robert Kennedy. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iver_Johnson

[FireMoth]

Frighteningly the cheap small copies of the Smith and Wesson top breaks were not culminated with Iver Johnson. I.J. was actually one of the best copies. Fly by nights such as U.S. Revolver Company made copies inferior to the quality of the cap guns of that era. Many were in now obsolete cartridges, such as the .32 rim fire. These were so poor in metalurgy that any modern cartridge would likely burst them open. Its strongly reccomended that they locate markings on the gun to be sure. Iver johnson grips could have replaced cracked factory stocks on a truly poor make of gun.