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Frontier Firearms from the Lifetime Collection of Larry Ness
|
- Sale 1987
Live
| Cincinnati
Jun 8 | 10:00 AM EDT
Live
| Cincinnati
Sale 1987
| Cincinnati
| Cincinnati
Estimate$5,000 – $8,000
.54 caliber. 34.5" heavy octagon barrel secured by two wedges. SN: NSN. Browned finish, iron and brass furniture, double-keyed half-stock with raised cheek rest. A prototypical "Plains Rifle" in the style of the Hawkens and other St. Louis makers. Percussion lock is marked "J HENRY/& SON" and is equipped with double set triggers. Barrel is also marked in two lines with the same die. Heavy barrel measures 1.1" across the flats at the muzzle and is equipped with a half-length lug underneath. Dovetailed fixed-notch rear sight, dovetailed brass Rocky Mountain front sight blade. Iron buttplate and toe plate, iron triggerugard with finger extension, brass wedge escutcheons. Stock broken completely through the wrist and poorly secured with a very old rawhide wrap identified as buffalo hide in Mr. Ness' notes. Numerous tack holes are present around the periphery of the buttplate, with the tacks now missing. Mr Ness' notes further comment that he acquired the gun from the late Paul Weisburg in 2009, Paul had purchased it when at the CGCA Show in Denver in 2008 when it walked in. Additional notes mention that the consignor considers this the rarest of his Indian rifles and says that it is much rarer than a Hawken. For a nearly identical example see page 245 of Volume II of Great Gunmakers for the Early West by Jim Gordon. Void of ramrod, but a small piece of period red wool trade cloth is rolled up in the upper ramrod pipe.
The Collection of Larry Ness
Good. Heavily worn and used. Retains no finish with a moderately oxidized brown patina with patches of surface roughness and some pitting. Due to the broken wrist and loosens of the trigger plate in the stock, the lock is not really functional, but would be after the wrist was properly repaired. Wrist is loose and barely held in place by the old hide wrap and should probably be professionally stabilized for long term preservation. Forend with splintered loss, nose cap loose and bent. Bore fair, heavily pitted with good rifling.
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Tim Carey
Associate Vice President, Head of Department, Arms, Armor and Militaria
