Winchester Model 1866 Saddle Ring Carbine

S/N 16761, .44 rimfire caliber, 20 inch barrel Winchester Model 1866 saddle ring carbine. Blue barrel, brass frame, original barrel sight moved from barrel to frame, walnut rifle butt stock, walnut forearm. Frame, wood and butt plate match. Circa 1867. Condition: good bore, mottled silver to plum barrel, smooth uncleaned brass frame, very good wood with use dings, excellent mechanically, very good marks.

From the Lott family. Includes signed letter from Mortimer “Junior” Lott, great grandson of Mortimer H. Lott.

Provenance: From the Montana History Collection of Jerry "Buzz" Nyhart.

From the Junior Lott letter:
“I only wish that gun could talk, for it was there through much of the history of Madison County. Where they acquired it, I can not be certain, but one of the Lotts probably bought it new in 1867 through the store in Nevada City.”

Lot 97, Sold $11,210.
Brian Lebel's Mesa Old West Auction - January 23, 2021. Mesa, AZ.

Winchester Model 1866 Musket used at the Battle of Liberty Place

Rare Winchester Model 1866 Musket used at the Battle of Liberty Place (also known as the battle of Canal Street) in New Orleans, a defining event in the post-Civil War Reconstruction period.

S/N 33351, .44 rimfire caliber, 27 inch barrel, Winchester Model 1866 Musket. Blue barrel, tube, hammer and barrel bands, brass frame, military style walnut stock and forearm, 3 barrel bands, early style barrel sight, sling swivels. Stock and butt plate number correctly, bottom tang marked “LSM” for Louisiana State Militia (known as the Metropolitans), also on bottom tang “9C3”, rack number for the rifle, “BA” carved on right side of stock. Condition: far better than these muskets are usually found, excellent bright bore with some oxidation in grooves, 80% barrel blue thinning and going to plum, smooth mustard colored receiver, wood is excellent and believed to have been refinished long ago, excellent mechanically, excellent marks.

Includes a copy of the book, "The Battle of Liberty Place," by Stuart Omer Landry.

Lot 344, Sold $32,450.
Brian Lebel's Mesa Old West Auction - January 23, 2021. Mesa, AZ.

Decorated Winchester 1873 Rifle

S/N 474080, 3rd Model, .44wcf caliber, 24 inch octagon barrels, original barrel sight with no elevator, original front sight, original dust cover, 1894. Stock is incised with standing buffalo and arrows on one side and stylized man in the sun on the other. The carved in line designs along the length of the forearm and butt stock are accented or decorated with spent percussion caps.
CONDITION: Bore has strong rifling with black powder oxidation the length of the bore, metal surfaces are dark brown with areas of surface oxidation, wood is solid and tight.

Lot 111, Brian Lebel's Mesa Auction - January 21, 2017
Sold $3,328

Possibly L D Nimschke

Lot 281: Winchester 1866 Engraved Rifle

S/N 36049, 24” barrel, Winchester 1866 Engraved Rifle. “XX” wood and so marked on tang, deep clean flowing engraving, possibly L D Nimschke; scroll “L” on tang, original 4-piece cleaning rod in butt, originally silver washed, correct “Sporting Leaf” barrel sight, very early exposed spring “Peep Sight” and globe front sight, 1870. CONDITION: Bore has good rifling with black powder oxidation the length of the bore, harshest at muzzle; barrel and magazine retain 60% blue turning plum and thinning with scattered pin prick oxidation; brass is smooth and mellow, engraving is in excellent condition, tang sight is very rough with broken spring, front sight has pin & ball post, mechanically excellent.

Very few engravers actually marked their work, Nimschke and the Ulrichs are the most seen. In Wilson’s “Winchester Engraving” he states that Nimschke has 13 recorded signatures but does not list them all. This rifle has been in a private collection for years and is new to the market.

Brian Lebel's High Noon Auction - January 23, 2016
Sold $12,980

Tom Horn's Winchester Model 1894 .30-30

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Tom Horn and His Winchester .30-30

This is the gun that Tom Horn was carrying the night he was arrested for the murder of Willie Nickell, the legendary crime he may or may not have committed. Horn gave the rifle to his good friend, Charles B. Irwin, just days before Horn's execution in Cheyenne, Wyoming. The rifle is well documented by scholars and historians, and has remained in the possession of the Irwin family. Other items from the C.B. Irwin estate are also included in the lot, including the guitar that Irwin purportedly played at Horn's storied hanging.

S/N 82667, Winchester Model 1894, .30 WCF, 26" round barrel, special order “button magazine,” three leaf express sight, Lyman front sight, standard crescent butt walnut stock and forearm.

Provenance: From the estate of C. B. Irwin 

Brian Lebel's High Noon Auction, Jan 24, 2015
SOLD $149,500

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C.B. Irwin's Guitar that he Purportedly Played at Tom Horn's Hanging.