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LOT 1013
Exceptional, Documented Winchester Model 1873 “One of One Thousand” Lever Action Rifle Well- Documented in Several Winchester Reference Books with Factory Letter - Serial no. 25934, 44-40 WCF
cal., 24 inch octagon bbl., blue/casehardened finish, highly figured deluxe checkered walnut stock. No other Winchester name carries with it more public appeal or notoriety than “1 of 1000,” and these rifles, made in both the 1873 and 1876 models, are certainly among the absolutely most highly sought after rifles for Winchester collectors. Most collectors are “still in the hunt” for these rare rifles as there are far too few to go around. James D. Gordon wrote, “To the collector of early Winchesters, the Model 1873 ‘One of a Thousand’ has long been the epitome of desirable guns.” This Model 1873 example has everything a collector could want: immense rarity, extremely high condition, and exceptional quality.
The One of One Thousand program was announced by Winchester in 1873 and then more fully explained in Winchester’s 1875 catalog under the headline “Variety of Arms” which stated: “Every Sporting Rifle we make will
be proved and shot at a target, and the target will be numbered to correspond with the barrel and be attached to it. When one hundred barrels are thus proved, the one making the best target will be selected and set aside, and another hundred proved in the same way, and so on until one thousand have been tested and ten targets selected with the barrels with which they were made. They will then be made up into Guns, in which each part is selected with the utmost care and finished in the finest manner. They will then be again subjected to trials for accuracy, and the best of the ten selected and marked ‘One of a thousand,’ the price of which will be $80.00 to $100.00. The other nine will be marked ‘one of a hundred,’ and the price will be from $60.00 to $75.00 each. Sportsmen will readily see that this severe process of gleaning will be a slow and expensive one, and the result be but a limited number of choice Guns, and that orders should be given in advance of their wants, or patience exercised with
the necessary delay of filling them.” While the 1 of 1,000 and 1 of 100 rifles are thought of as incredibly valuable collectibles today, it is clear the program was originally specifically meant for serious sportsmen that were looking for deadly accurate rifles. Frontiersmen like Granville and Thomas Stuart sought out these rifles for use in hunting, target shooting, and defending their homesteads. Others were owned by wealthy hunters who appreciated these rifles increased accuracy over your standard Model 1873 or 1876.
Winchester only manufactured 132 of these highly sought after rifles as part of a brief sales campaign in the 1870s specifically advertising them to men seeking the most accurate repeating rifles in the world. Many have long since been lost. When Gordon published “Winchesters New Model of 1873: A Tribute” in 1997, only 57 were known to the author. The factory ultimately abandoned the program but not before it gained the attention of some of the pioneers in the West, including Granville Stuart who ordered at least five of the 132 One of One Thousand Model 1873s.