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EXTRAORDINARILY RARE & SPECTACULAR ENGRAVED DELUXE SLOTTERBEK BALLARD SINGLE SHOT TARGET RIFLE.

Currency:USD Category:Firearms & Military Start Price:17,500.00 USD Estimated At:35,000.00 - 50,000.00 USD
EXTRAORDINARILY RARE & SPECTACULAR ENGRAVED DELUXE SLOTTERBEK BALLARD SINGLE SHOT TARGET RIFLE.
Cal. 22. Fantastic piece of American firearms art with 27-3/4" oct to rnd bbl, made without provision for sights, with a 28-1/2" Malcolm scope in target mounts. Top of the mounts have a tiny ivory bead hunting front sight and fixed blade rear sight. Top left flat of the bbl is marked, in a pyramid shape, "H. SLOTTERBEK LOS ANGELES / CAL" and the top right flat is marked "SILVER STEEL". Top tang is mounted with a sight base and also has a provision for a heel mount. Receiver is beautifully & delicately engraved with the vignettes of a buck & doe in a field scene on the left side and a running buck on the right side with a shell pattern forward of each vignette along with foliate arabesque patterns and an extremely fine border. Engraving extends over the top three flats of the receiver with a small sunburst back of the hammer slot. Rifle is mounted with extraordinary streaky & burl French walnut that is fantastically carved & checkered with relief foliate patterns on both forearm & buttstock with the large vignette of a buck deer on left side behind the European style cheekpiece and a phenomenal deep relief carved American eagle on right side back of the grip area. Mounted with a short prong nickeled brass Swiss buttplate. Receiver has dbl set triggers and a full loop finger lever. Consignor states that it is believed this rifle was built by Mr. Slotterbek for himself. CONDITION: Very fine to extremely fine. Bbl retains virtually all of its orig Slotterbek brown finish with only light sharp edge wear; scope tube retains virtually all of its orig blue turned a little plum; receiver retains brilliant case colors with shellac covering most areas; breech block also retains strong case colors; lever retains bright case colors on the sides and in sheltered areas with the outer faces mostly turned silver; buttplate retains 30-40% orig nickel. Wood is sound with a few very light nicks & scratches and retains about all of its beautiful custom varnish. Mechanics are crisp, bright shiny bore. 4-47751 JR350