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151

Battle of the Little Big Horn associated Sharps

Currency:USD Category:Collectibles / Western Americana Start Price:7,500.00 USD Estimated At:15,000.00 - 30,000.00 USD
Battle of the Little Big Horn associated Sharps
Approx. 400+ items to be sold. Watch for new items uploaded weekly.
HELD AT The Lodge at Deadwood
Event Center
877-393-5634
DEADWOOD, SD. 57732
hotel, bar,casino attached

carbine from Colonel John G. Worth to the Green collection of American Indian Art. New Model 1863 .50-70 cal. SN 79706 standard 22” barrel Sharps Hartford Conn. Barrel address stamped New Model 1863 at breech end, RS Lawrence rear ladder sight, receiver with standard Sharps markings. Walnut forend with moderate even wear, carbine rear stock shows coat of old varnish, no visible cartouche, NO cracks, breaks or repairs. Sling bar inspector stamped HDH on saddle ring bar, bar with reattached Indian ornaments as described in Greens letter, including white center reds and brass trade beads, bone, hoof, tin cone and hair drops. Also attached is a partial early collectors inventory tag. The Green family collection started in 1870’s by Jack Green’s grand father Colonel George Green a noted civil war surgeon who left practice to start a successful patent medicine business traveling in his private railroad train car, he and his wife collecting along the way. Their collection grew to more than 3000 items, later family members adding to it including Jack and his father who purchased early pieces from early collectors and dealers including Colonel John G. Worth a scout during Indian wars who rode with Custer. After Jack’s father passed in 1971, a majority of the largest private Indian collection ever sold was consigned to Sotheby's Parke-Bernet Galleries in New York. The multiple auctions were written up in the New York Times boasting record prices establishing a new trend for Native American collecting as art. The 1971 auction highlight was the sale of a baskets fetching a whopping $6,000. In contrast and to further the established trend, in 2010, another basket from the Worth-Green collection sold for $272,000. As stated in a letter by Jack Green he held back some of the items including this Sharps carbine 50-70 cal. SN 79706 which he later, in 1980, sold to Thad Scott. The letter further describes the carbine by serial number having been purchased in 1938 from Colonel John G Worth “Who informed me that he picked up the rifle after the Battle of the Little Big Horn from an Indian who used it during this skirmish”. In 1933 Milton Hershey purchased a portion of Colonel Worth’s collection and under Hershey’s direction Worth put together The Hershey American Museum, next to Hershey's chocolate factory. Included with the carbine are original letters to Thad Scott discussing the sale of the carbine and copies of the NY Times Newspaper, Man at Arms, photograph of carbine referenced in Jack’s letter, portions of the 1971-1973 auction catalogs and 1953 book Firearms in the Custer Battle by John DuMont. Excerpts from the letter dated Jan 1980 reads: “I’d like to mention that the Indian trade beads and various decorative bone pieces attached to the rifle and wrapped where the saddle ring had originally been, unfortunately, over the years this rawhide has deteriorated. I put the balance of the pieces which can be restrung and attached once again to the rifle in a separate box. Also with this letter I am enclosing a picture taken several years ago showing the rifle, but, unfortunately, it does not give to clear a view of the ornaments.” Man at Arms gives detailed study of Indian used weapons at the battle including 25 Sharps in 50-70 caliber.
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