GUN SPRING 2017
This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 4/11/2017
EXTREMELY RARE ENGRAVED WHITNEY-LAIDLEY STYLE 1 DELUXE SPORTING RIFLE. WHITNEY ARMS COMPANY NO 1 LONG RANGE 9611 45 Cal appears to be 45-70. Spectacular Whitney Sporting rifle with 34" tapered rnd bbl, Spirit level windgage front sight, no provision for a rear sight & vernier tang sight with 4-3/4" staff graduated to 800 yards. Mounted with spectacular shell grain European walnut with long, tapered, checkered forearm that has horn tip and raised side panels at the receiver and Sharps style checkered pistol grip buttstock that has smooth steel shotgun buttplate. Receiver & trigger guard are beautifully engraved by master engraver L.D. Nimschke. Engraving consists of full coverage on the receiver with the small round vignette of 2 quail on the left side and a bird dog on point on the top flat. The remainder of the receiver is engraved in Mr. Nimschke's typical, intertwined flowing foliate arabesque patterns with fine pearled background. The engraving is surrounded by very fine borders with feather patterns on top edges of the receiver by the breech block slot. Hammer, breech block & breech block safety are engraved to match with a variety of patterns including Mr. Nimschke's trademark diamond & dot patterns. Screw heads are all engraved and the breech block & hammer pins have an engraved rosette around each tip. Trigger guard is engraved to match. This beautiful rifle was originally gold washed and was evidently an exhibition piece for a World Expo, probably the 1876 Colombian Exposition. Serial number was observed on the bottom tang, bottom of the bbl, inside the forend barrel channel, inside top tang and inside toe of buttplate. The tang screws are gold washed also and it appears that the buttplate was nickel plated with nickel plated screws. Rear face of buttstock also has the hand written name "J. Deeks". Accompanied by 2 small museum acquisition tags from the Cody Firearms Museum. John Deeks was the consignor's brother and lived in Globe, AZ until the time of his death in 2007. The consignor purchased the rifle from his brother before his death. Previously, the rifle was loaned in 1996 to the Buffalo Bill Historic Center where it remained until transferred for auction in December, 2016. According to Flayderman's Guide to Antique American Firearms only about 5,000 sporting and target rifles were produced by Whitney 1871-1881. Obviously very few of that number were Deluxe and incredibly few were engraved, making this one of the most rare of all single shot rifles. CONDITION: Extremely fine plus, appears to be new & unfired. Bbl retains about 99% crisp orig blue. Receiver & attached small parts retain traces of gold wash being mostly bright nickel. Inside the receiver, under the wood retains strong gold wash. Buttplate retains about 50% orig nickel. Wood is sound with a few light nicks & scratches and retains most of its orig varnish. Mechanics are crisp, brilliant shiny bore, appears to be unfired. 51703-1 JRL (15,000-20,000)