GUN FALL 2017
The live portion of this session begins on Tuesday, October 31, 2017.
EXTREMELY RARE WINCHESTER MODEL 1866 LEVER ACTION RIFLE ENGRAVED IN HIGH RELIEF BY JOHN ULRICH AND DISPLAYED AT THE 1876 PHILADELPHIA WORLD EXPOSITION.WINCHESTER186610446844 RF HENRYCal. 44 RF Henry. Extraordinarily beautiful example of the engraver's art, this rifle has 24-1/4" oct bbl, full magazine, Rocky Mountain front sight and 900 yd. Henry ladder rear sight. Mounted with uncheckered, nicely figured, about 3X shell grain buttstock and flame grain forearm with straight stock and crescent buttplate. Right side of buttstock is inlaid with small German silver bowtie-shaped plaque. Bottom of stock and forend cap have factory sling swivels. Left side of lower tang, under the wood is marked "V / XXXX". Top tang channel of buttstock is marked with spurious matching SN and inside toe of buttplate with orig matching SN. Trigger is of the narrow, pointed-toe style often found on special 1866 rifles. Receiver, forend cap and buttplate are gold washed. The rifle is incredibly engraved with absolutely full coverage. Relief engraving art by John Ulrich featuring a total of seven panels all surrounded by intricate, intertwined foliate arabesque patterns that have extremely fine pearled backgrounds. Left sideplate is engraved with the large deep relief round vignette of a bugling bull elk set in an extremely detailed forest scene. Forward of that panel is the small round vignette of a flying waterfowl over a marsh scene. On the left rear side is the small vignette of a running fox in a field scene. Left front flat is engraved with the large vignette of a deep relief regal bull elk in a detailed forest scene. Right sideplate is also engraved with the large round vignette in deep relief depicting a bull elk in a detailed forest scene. The right front side flat has the large vignette of a deep relief engraved skulking mountain lion and the right rear of the frame has the small vignette of a squirrel on a limb surrounded by foliate patterns. Remainder of receiver, sideplates, top and bottom tangs are covered in semi-relief foliate arabesque patterns with various small open accent panels. Forend cap and buttplate tang are engraved to match. This rifle was manufactured in about 1872 and was believed to have been part of the factory sample collection which was exhibited at the 1876 Philadelphia World Exposition. This rifle is very similar to SN 104463, which is pictured, both sides on pg. 146 of Winchester Engraving, Wilson with much of the same themes and the panels and nearly identical engraving patterns. PROVENANCE: Prestigious and lifetime Parker and Winchester collection of Dr. Tom Bouwkamp. CONDITION: Very good. Bbl and magazine tube retain a smooth blue brown patina with stronger blue in sheltered areas. Bbl has a few spots of blood pitting toward the muzzle. Receiver has been polished a long time ago, which removed some of the shading in the background of the larger vignettes. Edges of receiver and sideplates show light to moderate wear and overall shows traces of orig gold wash. Buttplate and forend cap are a medium to dark mustard patina which matches the patina of the receiver. Hammer retains strong case colors, bright in sheltered areas. Lever is a brown patina with fine pitting. The replacement buttstock has a repaired chip in the toe with some light wood filler and a few grain checks on right side. Otherwise wood is sound and retains an old refinish. Mechanics are fine. Bright shiny bore. 52170-29 JRL (100,000-150,000)