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EXTREMELY RARE HERMAN L. ULRICH ENGRAVED WINCHESTER MODEL 1866 LEVER ACTION RIFLE.

Currency:USD Category:Firearms & Military Start Price:15,000.00 USD Estimated At:30,000.00 - 50,000.00 USD
EXTREMELY RARE HERMAN L. ULRICH ENGRAVED WINCHESTER MODEL 1866 LEVER ACTION RIFLE.
SN 38549. Cal. 44 RF Henry. Wonderfully rare '66 rifle with 24-1/4" oct bbl, full magazine with special German silver Rocky Mountain front sight and 900 yard Henry ladder rear sight missing its slide. Mounted with uncheckered, straight grain American walnut with straight stock & crescent buttplate with trap containing an orig 4-pc brass & iron cleaning rod and has the matching SN inside the toe. Receiver and presumably the other brass parts were all originally silver-finished. Left side of lower tang is marked "S" and "XX". Left side of upper tang, under the wood, is hand engraved "H.L.U" (Herman Leslie Ulrich, 1846-1937). Receiver is beautifully engraved in broad, sweeping, intertwined foliate arabesque patterns with very fine pearled or punch dot background. Center of each sideplate has a large open panel with scrolled edges on left side and a chimera head incorporated into the scrolls on left side. Front side flats have matching fleur-de-lis and geometric patterns with all the engraving surrounded by a fine dbl chip border. Additional patterns extend over the top & bottom of the receiver, top tang, forend cap & buttplate tang. Lever is of the early style with small finger loop. Stock & forend cap have factory sling swivels. This rifle is pictured, both sides, on Pg. 65 of the 1985 edition of The Winchester Book, Madis with credit to Purple Sage Guns. Until very recently there were no known signed examples of Herman Leslie Ulrich engraving. Mr. Ulrich was one of the very famous Ulrich brothers, the son of Conrad & Anna Ulrich, who were all variously employed by Colt, Winchester & Marlin as engravers. According to The Book of Winchester Engraving and Winchester Engraving, both by Wilson, "Herman's firearms work has yet to be identified positively, because no signed examples are known". Mr. Wilson also states that Herman is the only one of the three brothers to return to Colt after joining Winchester and later again left Colt for Winchester. Herman's work, as seen here, has similarities to both John & Conrad's work but is slightly more bold with a finer background. Accompanied by a 3-page letter from renowned Winchester historian & author, George Madis, who details some of the above information and notes that the buttstock & forearm are replacements. Mr. Madis notes that this is only the third Herman Ulrich signed gun that he had seen.The Winchester Book, Madis PROVENANCE: Barnes Family Collection. CONDITION: Good to very good. Bbl & magazine tube retain thin orig blue in the most sheltered areas being mostly a mottled plummy brown patina with a few nicks, dings & scratches and some scattered fine pinprick pitting; receiver, forend cap & buttplate show moderate wear with a few nicks & scratches and retain traces of orig silver in the most sheltered areas. Lever & hammer are a light plummy brown patina. The replacement buttstock & forearm are sound with light nicks & scratches and retain most of their custom finish. Mechanics are fine, strong bore with good rifling with fine pitting and a few spots of deeper pitting. Cleaning rod is fine. 4-47655 JR211