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EXTREMELY RARE WINCHESTER MODEL 1873 '1 OF 1000' LEVER ACTION RIFLE.

Currency:USD Category:Antiques / Firearms & Armory Start Price:50,000.00 USD Estimated At:100,000.00 - 150,000.00 USD
EXTREMELY RARE WINCHESTER MODEL 1873 '1 OF 1000' LEVER ACTION RIFLE.
SN 25827. Cal. 44 WCF (44-40). First model, 2nd type '73, with 30" oct bbl, full magazine, German silver Rocky Mtn. front sight and early style, short, semi-buckhorn rear sight with checkered edges. Receiver is first type with second type impressed thumbprint mortised dust cover. Mounted with 3-4/X center crotch, flame grain American walnut that has early style checkered forearm and straight stock with crescent steel butt plate. Right side of buttstock is inlaid with an unusual shaped silver plaque that is mostly round with pointed ears front & rear, 2-1/4" wide x 1-5/8" high, secured with five pins and beautifully engraved in acanthus & foliate patterns, with a blank initial panel in the center. Center is hand-scratched with two sets of initials which appear to be "CGB" and "CDB". There is also an "R" on front ear. Receiver has sgl set trigger. Left side of lower tang is marked with assembly number "191" which number is also found in top tang channel of buttstock and inside toe of buttplate. Bbl, over the chamber area, is engraved in typical '1 of 1000' style, having foliate arabesque patterns on the top, side and side flats and in script "One of One Thousand". There is also a silver band adjacent to the receiver and another around the muzzle. Top flat and all exposed flats around muzzle are engraved to match. Accompanied by Cody Firearms Museum letter which identifies this rifle with 30" oct bbl, set trigger, checkered stock, case hardened, '1 of 1000', received in warehouse March 7, 1877 and shipped March 8, 1877 to Order #8474. The book The Story of The Winchester 1 of 1000 and 1 of 100 Rifles, Lewis, on p. 25 lists this rifle by SN with the above information. It also lists SN 25829 in identical configuration, shipped same day to same order. Pages 60 & 61 of the referenced publication discusses SN 25829 and pictures it with a windage adjustable Beech's front sight and thick base tang sight. The caption states that #25829 was found in a second hand store in Redding, CA "where it lay among numerous junk guns". This rifle, SN 25827, was similarly found, only very recently, in a small gun collection in Kentucky. According to a chart on p. 58 of Winchester The Golden Age of American Gun Making and the Winchester 1 of 1000, Wilson, of the 133 '1 of 1000' Models 1873, there were only thirteen with 30" bbls; 111 were case hardened, 112 were checkered, 120 had set triggers, along with other unassociated information. Page 84 of the Wilson book also pictures #25829. Both of the referenced publications state that there were 132 or 133 '1 of 1000' rifles produced out of the approx. 720,000 Models 1873 manufactured between April 1875 and April 1893. Only a few of the '1 of 1000' rifles out of that total are known today. CONDITION: Very good to fine, all matching. No orig finish remains being an overall mottled plummy/brown patina on the bbl, magazine tube & forend cap; receiver has been lightly cleaned with a thin mottled brown patina and traces of silvered case colors; lever, hammer & buttplate are also a dark brown patina with pitting on heel & tang of buttplate; set trigger needs adjusting and the dust cover may be an old replacement but, regardless, it is orig Winchester equipment. Stock has some tiny chips in the toe and a hairline in stock back of top tang, otherwise wood is sound showing heavy wear on the checkering with light nicks & scratches and retains a hand worn patina. Plaque in the right side is dark oxidized silver. Hammer will not hold at full cock when operated by the lever but will hold when cocked manually, otherwise mechanics are fine, strong, sharp bore with fine pitting. This is an opportunity for the collector to obtain an authentic & very real 1873 '1 of 1000' without having to mortgage the property or sell the first born. 4-47859 JR122