GUN SPRING 2016
This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 3/14/2016
EXTREMELY RARE WINCHESTER MODEL 1876 1 OF 100 LEVER ACTION RIFLE. WINCHESTER 1876 1 OF 100 896 45-75 Cal. 45-75. One of only 8 of 1 of 100 Model 1876 rifles every produced by Winchester. This rifle has 28" oct bbl, full magazine, half-nickel front sight, early style semi-buckhorn rear sight with checkered edges & a thin base vernier tang sight with 3" staff. Receiver is 1st type, open top without dust cover and has single-set trigger. Mounted with about 3X, center crotch, flame grain American walnut with early style checkered forearm and straight stock with crescent buttplate that has thick toe & trap. Left side of lower tang is marked with assembly number "52" and "XXX". Matching assembly number is also found in top tang channel of buttstock & inside toe of buttplate. The chamber area of the bbl is engraved with the 4th style patterns consisting of the top panel engraved "One of One Hundred" with a fine chip & dot border and elaborate fleur-de-lis. The top side panels are very nicely engraved in foliate arabesque patterns with pearled background. The muzzle and around front sight is engraved on 7 of the 8 flats with matching foliate arabesque patterns. Neither end of the bbl has the usual silver bands. This rifle is listed, by SN, in the chart on pg 119 of The Story of the Winchester 1 of 1000 and 1 of 100 Rifles, Lewis. It is also mentioned on pg 124 of the referenced publication as having surfaced in Jan 1952 in Kansas and later was offered in an ad by renowned dealer Arnold Marcus Chernoff as appeared in the Fall 1984 issue of The Winchester Repeater. This rifle was received in the warehouse Nov 16, 1877 with oct bbl, case hardened receiver, checkered stock & set trigger, shipped same day to Order Number 10536. Being 1 of only 8 such rifles produced with an unknown number of them surviving today, this can be considered one of the most rare of all Winchester rifles. PROVENANCE: Virgil Hoops, Wichita, KS; Arnold M. Chernoff; Robert Watt Collection; Paul Tudor Jones II Collection. CONDITION: Fine, all matching. Bbl retains 70-75% thinning orig blue with sharp edge wear and a cleaned area about mid-point. Magazine tube retains strong blue in sheltered areas being mostly a plummy/brown patina. Forend cap is silvered case colors. Receiver retains strong case colors in the most sheltered areas with faded case colors on side plates and the balance silver patina. Lever & hammer retain faded case colors. Buttplate is a grey metal patina. Stock has a couple of hairlines by the top tang with some bruising in the checkering on the wrist and a chip & hairline by the bottom tang, otherwise is sound. Buttstock is lightly cleaned with possibly some oil finish added. Forearm shows moderate to heavy wear on checkering and shows a hand worn patina. Mechanics are fine. Bright shiny bore. 49941-4 JR69 (175,000-275,000)