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EXTRAORDINARILY RARE HERMAN LESLIE ULRICH SIGNED DELUXE ENGRAVED WINCHESTER MODEL 1866 LEVER ACTION

Currency:USD Category:Firearms & Military Start Price:25,000.00 USD Estimated At:50,000.00 - 90,000.00 USD
EXTRAORDINARILY RARE HERMAN LESLIE ULRICH SIGNED DELUXE ENGRAVED WINCHESTER MODEL 1866 LEVER ACTION
SN 38542. Cal. 44 RF Henry. Spectacular and unusual '66 rifle with 24-1/4" oct bbl, full mag, half nickel front sight and 900 yd Henry style ladder rear sight. SN was observed on the bottom tang with last 4 digits of the matching number in the top tang channel of buttstock and inside toe of buttplate. Left side of upper tang is engraved with the initials "H.L.U." (Herman Leslie Ulrich, 1846-1937). Left side of lower tang, under the wood, is stamped with an "S" and "XX". Rifle is mounted with very nicely figured, center crotch, flame grain, uncheckered American walnut with straight stock and crescent brass buttplate with trap containing an orig 4-pc brass and iron cleaning rod. Bottom of stock and forend cap have factory sling swivels. Rifle is beautifully engraved with Near Eastern style motifs consisting of a panel depicting a prone hunter shooting at a crouching tiger on the left side and a Sambar stag leaping over a log in an extremely fine detailed woodland scene on right side. Both panels are surrounded by extremely well executed foliate arabesque patterns that have an extremely fine pearled or punch dot background. Front side panels are engraved in India or Moorish style motifs, also with the same fine background. Both sides are surrounded by a double chipped border. Engraving extends over the top of the receiver, top tang and bottom of the receiver with a small panel around the lower tang screw hole and around the SN. Both sides of the forend cap, along with the buttplate tang, are engraved to match. At one time this unusual rifle was silver plated. Herman Leslie Ulrich was a member of the famous family of engravers, the son of Conrad Ulrich. Herman, along with his more famous brothers, Conrad F. and John, were all engravers employed by Colt who later all worked for Marlin and Winchester as well as having their own enterprise. Some of the most famous and beautiful American engraving was accomplished by these brothers. According to Winchester Engraving, Wilson, Herman Leslie Ulrich is the only one of the three brothers who returned to engraving for Colt after having joined Winchester and in later years returned to Colt. According to the referenced publication, as of that writing, none of Herman's works had been positively identified because "no signed examples are known". Careful examination of the engraved initials on the upper tang of this rifle disclosed that they are authentic of the period and there is little or no doubt that these are the engraved initials of Herman Leslie Ulrich. This is believed to be the only known signed example of his work. CONDITION: Fine plus, all matching. Bbl and mag tube show light wear with only a couple of nicks on sharp edges and overall retain a smooth, dark plummy brown attic patina with clear, legible bbl address. Receiver retains 10-15% orig silver plating with the exposed brass a dark mellow mustard patina. Buttplate and forend cap are matching patina. Stock has a small band of damage near toe, otherwise wood is sound with nicks, scratches and dings and overall retains 80-90% strong orig piano varnish finish. Mechanics are fine, strong bore with scattered moderate to heavy pitting. 4-47345 JR129