GUN FALL 2017
The live portion of this session begins on Tuesday, October 31, 2017.
EXTREMELY RARE WINCHESTER DELUXE SPECIAL ORDER FACTORY ENGRAVED MODEL 1876 LEVER ACTION RIFLE WITH FACTORY LETTER. WINCHESTER 1876 24685 50-95 Cal. 50-95 Express. Fabulous deluxe '76 rifle with 26" rnd bbl with full matted top, button magazine, express front sight & early style, short semi-buckhorn rear sight with platinum line & V-notch. Receiver is 2nd type, color case hardened with attached dust cover rail and 3rd type dust cover marked on the top "WINCHESTER EXPRESS / .50 CAL. 95 GRS.". Bottom of the carrier is marked "50-95". Mounted with 2-3 X shell grain American walnut with H-style checkered forearm & fleur-de-lis insert, serpentine grip buttstock that has full checkered hard rubber buttplate. Left side of lower tang, under the wood is marked with the assembly no. "410", "XXX" & an "S". Matching assembly no. is also found in top tang channel of buttstock. Rifle has what was probably $2.00 or $2.50 engraving which consists of fine foliate arabesque patterns on each side & rear edge of the hammer, each side of the forend cap and each side of the lever. Accompanied by a Cody Firearms Museum letter which identifies this firearm as a rifle in Express caliber with 26" matted rnd bbl, plain trigger, half magazine, checkered stock with shotgun butt & rubber buttplate, case hardened and "Engraved and etc". Received in warehouse Sept. 9, 1882 and shipped Sept. 12, 1882 to order #34086. It was shipped again Oct. 8, 1895 to order #21424. There is no record of it having been returned, leaving one to speculate that this may have been an exhibition rifle. CONDITION: Extremely fine, all matching. Bbl retains 96-98% strong orig blue with a couple of minor scratches & rubs and slight muzzle end wear. Matting is crisp & clean. Receiver retains about 95% orig case colors, brilliant in sheltered areas, lightly faded elsewhere and turned silver on bottom front edge at the carry point. Hammer retains virtually all of its bright case colors and the lever shows case colors turned dark which matches the forend cap. Dust cover retains about 88-90% bright orig blue with the loss areas flaked, not worn to a light patina. Stock has a couple small gouges with light nicks & scratches, wood is sound and retains about 98% crisp, orig piano varnish finish with the checkering showing only light diamond point wear. Mechanics are crisp, bright shiny bore with a few scattered spots of fine pitting. Altogether an extremely rare '76 with high orig condition. 52466-1 JRL (40,000-65,000)