Arms, Armor and Militaria

.257 Roberts. 26.25" barrel length. SN: 450. Blued finish to barrel with the remaining components exhibiting a casehardened finish set in a walnut semi-pistol grip stock with fine bordered multipoint checkering to the wrist and forend. Single shot falling block Farquharson action rifle richly engraved with Continental style deep relief engraving. Barrel address and caliber marking forward of the rear sight reads W. GLASER, ARMES, ZURICH / 257 Roberts, indicating it was made at the firm of Walter Glaser in Zurich. Founded in 1906, the company produced and repaired a wide variety of arms including autoloading pistols, military service arms, and sporting arms such as this lot. Left barrel is engraved below handguard A.A. WHITE-ENG, for the famous Colt Master Engraver Alvin A. White, whose work adorns some of the most beautiful and coveted arms ever struck COLT'S. Right barrel struck with German firing proofs and 257 R. caliber marking. Sights consist of a front brass bead on a matted island, and a rear folding notch island sight with three settings for 100, 200, and 300 meters. A German claw mount scope base is installed on the rifle, and features engraving matching the rest of the rifle. Scope rings are not engraved, and the currently mounted optic is a HENSOLDT/WEITZLAR/DIASTA/2 3/4 X 21 telescopic sight.

The rifle is richly engraved with hunting and game vignettes enclosed by floral borders with German black leaf flourishes to the barrel, buttplate, frame, barrel band, pistol grip cap, and muzzle. Right frame displays two bull elk battling in a clearing while doe elk look on. Left frame features a stalking hunter in traditional American hunting dress with a white tail deer buck rushing for the forest. A trio of mule deer traverse the top of the barrel. Buttplate features a trapdoor with three compartments to the butt, and a widow's peak. Its floral and black leaf scrollwork matches the remainder of the rifle. The majority of the screwheads are floral engraved with the action screw engraving continuous with the flanks of the triggerguard. Thanks to the scale and detail of the vignettes, it is possible to trace some of the style to the Western artwork of the post-war period. The leaping buck on the left frame resembles the posture of one of J.G. Wood's paintings that once advertised Western Winchester products. The exquisite details of the bull elks most likely take their cues from similarly fine works of art. The finely checkered and beautifully figured stocks were made by Thomas Shelhamer, whose signature appears below the buttplate beside the number 1216.

A fine collaborative work produced by two of America's most respected craftsmen. In particular, it is notable for serving as an ideal canvas for engraver Alvin A. White to indulge in a bold German and Austrian influenced style, a fine contrast to the more minute engraving necessary on a more compact arm, such as the revolvers he is most famous for engraving. Through the course of his sixty year career, White achieved recognition as both a Master engraver, and as the mentor to the next generation of fine American firearms engravers, including Andrew Bourbon, and Daniel Cullity.

Stockmaker Thomas Shelhamer's career began almost thirty years prior to Alvin White's, when he manufactured gunstocks for the Niedner Rifle Company of Dowagiac, Michigan from the 1920s. Though Niedner sold his company by 1940, Shelhamer continued his trade, demonstrating a keen eye and steady hand in his work. With this stock, Shelhamer elevated an already spectacular walnut pattern with uniform fine checkering featuring a slender double border. {C&R}