"MARLIN MODEL 1881 LEVER ACTION RIFLE. SN 1391. Cal. 45 Govt. (45-70). Beautiful & rare special order rifle with 28" oct bbl, full magazine, replacement Marbles No. 3 ivory bead front sight & a Marlin semi-buckhorn rear sight. It has dbl set triggers and is mounted with very highly figured, checkered French walnut with straight stock & semi-crescent smooth steel buttplate. Receiver is case colored & is beautifully engraved by Conrad Ulrich with rnd vignette of a running buck deer in a woodland scene on left side & a running bull buffalo in a prairie scene on right side surrounded by fine foliate arabesque patterns with simple line borders & arrowhead patterns at each end. Raised areas of each side of receiver also have matching patterns. Dust cover has a tiny vignette of a buck deer head with a chip-dash border & foliate arabesque patterns with additional patterns on each side of top edges & receiver ring of receiver. Top tang & bottom of receiver are engraved to match. Very few Model 81's have deluxe features and of those, extremely few were engraved. In addition the case colored receiver is a scarce feature. Consignor states this gun was from the Harold Club of Reno, NV display. CONDITION: Fine to very fine. Bbl retains about 90% thinning orig blue with some chemical spotting over front half. Magazine tube has thin blue in sheltered areas being mostly a plum/blue/brown patina, also with some minor chemical spotting. Receiver retains about 75-80% strong case colors with balance turned silver. Lever & hammer have dark case colors, faded to brown on outer edges. Stock has 2 or 3 tiny hairlines back of top tang, otherwise wood is sound with usual nicks, dings & scratches and retains about 95% orig strong varnish. Mechanics are fine, strong bright bore with a few scattered spots of pitting. 4-35371 JR44 (35,000-45,000)"
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