"MARLIN MODEL 1881 LEVER ACTION RIFLE. SN 22583. Cal. 38-55. Beautiful & rare '81 with 28" tapered oct bbl, full magazine, ivory bead front sight, Marlin semi-buckhorn rear sight and a Lyman loop tang sight that appears to have been altered from a longer base to fit this tang. Mounted with very nicely figured French or Italian walnut with checkered forearm and serpentine pistol grip stock with smooth steel semi-crescent buttplate. Receiver is very nicely factory engraved, by Conrad Ulrich with the vignette of a standing buck deer on left side and a reclining doe deer on right side, surrounded by very well executed foliate arabesque patterns. Top of receiver & dust cover have small patterns to match and top tang has light border patterns with a small arabesque pattern. Serial number was observed in the usual location on bottom front of receiver surrounded by an engraved panel with light arabesque patterns. The number was also observed on left sides of top & bottom tangs under the wood, on the right front edge of buttstock under the metal and inside the toe of the buttplate. No further disassembly was attempted to check for other numbers. Accompanied by the book Lever Action Magazine Rifles, Maxwell, which shows this exact rifle, pictured on pp. 269 & 270. Page 235 of this book is a serial number table which indicates that only about 16,385 of these rifles were produced in period 1883-1903 with the vast majority being produced before 1892. Consignor states that this is the only Ulrich engraved 1881 with an antlerless deer. The 1881 small frame rifle is fairly rare with only a few produced and of those very few were deluxe and then extremely rare are the engraved examples. In addition the case colored frame is also a rarity with only a very few engraved small frame rifles known. CONDITION: Fine plus.ááBbl retains 85-90% strong orig blue with only edge wear and some thinning about mid-point.ááMagazine tube is mostly a plum/blue/brown patina.ááReceiver & lever retain about 75% faded orig case colors with balance turned silver.ááWood is sound with minor nicks & scratches and a small gouge in buttstock and retains most of its strong orig factory varnish.ááMechanics are crisp, strong bore with light to moderate pitting. 4-35372 JR45 (55,000-75,000)"
Back to the index
|
