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LOT 3028
Rare and Fresh Factory No. 1 Engraved, Gold Inlaid and Carved Winchester Deluxe Model 1895 Takedown Lever Action Rifle in Desirable Teddy Roosevelt .405 W.C.F. Express - Serial no. 84373, 405 WCF cal., 24 inch round bbl., blue finish, carved walnut stock. Designed by prolific firearms inventor John Browning, the Winchester Model 1895 was the first box magazine rifle Winchester manufactured. It The elongated receiver and box magazine provided ample steel canvas for Winchester master engravers to show off their skills, but a limited numbered of this model were engraved, especially when compared its predecessors. As Winchester author and expert George Madis pointed out, “Engraved Models 95 are very rare; by the time the model 95 was introduced
the cost of engraving had become quite high” (“The Winchester Book,” page 464). And then there was World War I and the wars that followed, which had, in Madis’ words, “created such a demand for Winchesters that the engravers were too occupied with die work to do much engraving” (476). Model 1895s are among the rarest of the factory engraved Winchesters.
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