November 3-4, 2017 Firearms & Militaria
This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 11/4/2017
On April 13, 1886, 240 shotguns were ordered by the US Army ordinance department and were delivered on May 15th. On December 5, 1887, 10 additional shotguns were ordered and were delivered on January 24th. According to Roy Marcot, in his book entitled “Spencer Repeating Firearms” on page 277 – “On December 24, 1887 (This is prior to the ten shotguns shipped 12/5/87 and delivered 1/24/88) another ordinance board met at the Springfield Army and tested 10 recently delivered Spencer shotguns. (These would appear to be from the April 13, 1886 shipment. The book lists these 10 shotguns as being delivered on 1/24/88 but we think it was on 12/24/87 and the record had a date typo and this shotgun is from the December 24th order of ten guns). Minor problems were noticed… but ten guns were accepted. Serial numbers… 1876…”. This shotgun (serial no 1876) is one of the ten documented shotguns accepted by the ordinance department. According to the book, these shotguns were used for guarding prisoners. It’s interesting that this model is referred to as the model 1887 because these shotguns were delivered in 1886. This is a secondary US government accepted martial arm. This shotgun is a standard Model 1887 in 12 bore with a 29” round barrel, single bead, slide action, with walnut stocks. The barrel is stamped “Spencer Arms Co Windsor CT. U.S.A. P.A.T. A.P.R. 1882”. Fine Damascus pattern. The forend on this weapon is a replacement. The butt stock has been refinished with some hand checkering and a military eagle button set into the left side of the stock. Metal is basically patina. Given that this shotgun is one of only ten known U.S. accepted weapons, it is so rare that the likelihood of seeing another is quite slim and for a collector of martial arms, finding a surviving example of this shotgun may be impossible. Includes a copy of the book SPENCER REPEATING FIREARMS by ROY MARCOT with chapter 15 dedicated to the Spencer Slide Action Shotgun.
Manufacturer
Spencer Repeating Arms