GUN SPRING 2017
The live portion of this session begins on Tuesday, April 11, 2017.
VERY RARE WINCHESTER FIRST MODEL 1873 LEVER ACTION RIFLE.WINCHESTER1873161744WCFCal 44 WCF (44-40). Standard grade rifle with 24-1/4" oct bbl, full magazine with 1866 style nose-plug threaded into the magazine, combination front sight having its pin mostly missing, altered orig bbl sight that has been filed flat on top and narrowed on the sides with beveled edges over the dovetail and with incised lines. Tang is mounted with a series 62B "lollipop" sight which was added at a later date, post 1881. Receiver is 1st type with mortised dust cover rails and a first type dust cover with raised checkered thumb-print. Receiver has single set trigger. Top tang has the "MODEL 1873" marking and the bottom tang has the SN engraved. Mounted with uncheckered, nicely figured, slab sawed American walnut with straight stock & crescent buttplate that has a trap containing an orig 4-pc brass & iron cleaning rod. Left side of lower tang, under the wood is marked with the assembly # 102 with matching number in top tang channel of buttstock and inside toe of buttplate. Accompanied by a Winchester Gun Museum letter which identifies this rifle with 24" oct bbl and set trigger shipped August 3, 1874. Letter is a rarely encountered original 1968 Winchester Gun Museum letter on Olin Mathieson Chemical Corporation stationary and was addressed to Mr. Jack W. Dexter, Sr. of Colgate, WI. These old gun letters make for a nostalgic touch on a nice gun, as collectors did not get letters that often back in those days. Also accompanied by a 4-page letter from renowned Winchester historian and author George Madis wherein he relates most of the above information. This Model 1873 is certainly one of the last, and may be the very last verifiable gun with a George Madis letter, as supported by the accompanying original retained shipping box with a FedEx label used when George Madis shipped this gun to Scott Soles in Anchorage, Alaska, as well as a separate envelope postmarked December 10, 2003 for the Dexter letter and second Madis note. George died on December 22, 2003. He was known to be very methodical (slow) to write his wonderful handwritten letters, so it is unlikely he wrote many letters, if any, after this gun was lettered, and likely that would not be evidenced in the manner presented by this gun package. This history of George Madis is written about in a Summer 2015 The Winchester Collector in an article titled, "By George, We've Got It." In addition to the above, the lower tang and serial number of this gun are pictured in the Fall 2012 The Winchester Collector and this article also has a story about serial number 1617. Few of these very early '73s survive today. This being the first of Winchester's center fire repeating rifles, they were immediately purchased by the public for use on the American frontier to replace the less powerful and difficult to reload rimfire cartridges. As such they usually saw continuous hard service under extreme conditions most often with little or no maintenance and are rarely found today with any orig finish and in orig configuration. CONDITION: Very fine especially for such an early '73. Bbl retains 60-65% thin blue/brown patina with sharp edge wear. Magazine tube retains about 95% strong orig blue. Receiver & sideplates retain about 70-75% orig blue, strong in sheltered areas, thinning & turning a little patina on the front side flats and sideplates. Top of the receiver & dust cover show strong orig blue. Bottom of the receiver shows strong blue behind the carrier opening with the bottom edges and front recess in gray patina. Buttplate & forend cap show case colors turned silver. Hammer retains faded case colors, strong on left side. Lever retains faded case colors on the sides, turned silver on outer faces. Wood is sound with a few nicks, dings & scratches and shows a hand worn patina. Mechanics are crisp, very bright shiny bore. Cleaning rod is fine. 51742-4 JRL (20,000-25,000)