GUN FALL 2015
This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 10/5/2015
EXTREMELY RARE VERY EARLY TRANSITIONAL MARLIN 1891 SECOND MODEL LEVER ACTION RIFLE.MARLIN18927434732IVORYCal. 32 CF. Very rare Marlin 1891 Second Model with 24” rnd bbl, full magazine, Lyman "certifiable antique ivory" bead front sight, semi-buckhorn rear sight and Lyman combination tang sight. Mounted with uncheckered straight grain American walnut with straight stock and crescent buttplate. Buttstock & buttplate are matching numbered to this rifle. Receiver, lever, forend cap and buttplate are nickel finish. Bbl & magazine tube are blued. Hammer is color case hardened. This rifle has the screw-attached ejector with 1-pc trigger. This rifle was designed to fire either rim fire or center fire cartridges simply by changing the firing pin. The firing pin found here is for center fire cartridges. Accompanied by a Cody Firearms Museum letter which identifies this rifle in Cal. 32 with 24” rnd bbl, shipped September 26, 1892 with an additional date of July 16, 1895 (probably a return & repair date). Rifles in this caliber were not considered serious hunting rifles and were usually relegated to use by boys and ladies. They most often saw very hard service with little maintenance and are rarely found today with high orig finish. It is possible that this rifle may have been the property of a showman or trick shot artist. CONDITION: Extremely fine+, all matching. Bbl & magazine tube retain about 98% strong orig blue with only slight muzzle edge wear. Receiver, lever & forend cap retain virtually all of their orig nickel plating. Hammer shows bright case colors on left side, top and rear edges, right side is faded. Buttplate has a cleaned area on the tang, otherwise retains virtually all of its orig nickel. Wood is sound with a very few, very small nicks & scratches on the buttstock, a series of scratches & a bruise on the forearm and overall retains about 98-99% bright orig varnish. Mechanics are crisp, bright shiny bore. 49121-16 JR (5,000-8,000)