December 10-13, 2024 Firearms & Militaria
This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 12/12/2024
This 11mm M1871 Mauser most likely is one of a group of “old Mausers” that the Irish Defense Forces sold to arms dealer Sam Cummings (Interarms) in 1959, along with shiploads of Irish SMLE rifles, handguns, machine guns, and artillery. The story of the Mausers’ sale and acquisition can be found in two articles in Man at Arms magazine: “The Irish Howth Mausers: Where Are They Now” (August 2019), and “The ‘Howth’ Mauser Saga: An Update” (December 2022.) Both of these articles conclusively confirm the Irish provenance of many of the Model 1871 Mauser rifles that are now in American gun collections. This particular rifle has the telltale “M” (County Meath?) stamping on its wooden stock, underneath the bolt. This rifle was purchased from an advertisement (NY state) on Gunbroker in 2015. This Austrian-made rifle is marked “Steyr” and has some wear to its finish. As is the case with many of the Howth Mausers that ended up in the USA, it has a replacement bolt, numbered 5143. This Mauser rifle was carried (but not fired) briefly in two Living History programs that centered on the activities of the “Fingal Volunteers” (5th Bn, Dublin Brigade, Irish Volunteers) during the Battle of Ashbourne—the only tactical success on the part of the insurgents in the 1916 Easter Rising—and it was a focus of attention among the attendees at a number of these historical events. This rifle was discussed and featured in both of the Man at Arms articles mentioned above. The Irish Volunteers only smuggled 1,500 of these Mausers into Howth and Kilcoole from Germany in 1914. Many of them were destroyed during and after the 1916 Easter Rising. It is estimated that Interarms was only able to bring a few hundred of these guns into the United States from Ireland in the late 1950s and early 1970s, and less than thirty of them remain in Ireland, mostly in museums. Many of those rifles in private collections in Ireland have, by regulations, been rendered inoperable and they command exorbitant prices at auction. PROVENANCE: Kenneth Smith-Christmas collection. CONDITION: Metal is essentially a smooth dovegrey and soft brown mixture, with evidence of an old, possibly period refinish that has softened legends somewhat. Bolt with evidence of heavy corrosion in the past, now stabilized. The lower barrel band spring is broken. Stock very good, possibly with an extra layer of varnish added, with scattered handling marks and impressions, including a small grain check at wrist. Mechanically fine, bore excellent with strong rifling and some very mild frosting.