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Rare and Very Fine Relief Engraved A. A. Kellogg Sharps Bridgeport Model 1874
Sporting Buffalo Rifle - NSN, 45-70 Government cal., 30 inch part octagon bbl., blue/
casehardened finish, deluxe checkered walnut stock. According to Sellers in “Sharps Firearms,”
Sharps manufactured approximately 6,400 Model 1874 sporting rifles in a variety of configurations
between 1871 to 1880. The Sharps Model 1874 was considered one of the best firearms of the late
19th century American West and was famously used by professional buffalo hunters, pioneers, and
guides. They were highly valued on the frontier, not only due to their firepower but because of their
long range accuracy. Outside gunsmiths in the period used Sharps rifles as the basis for their own high end
custom rifles, and this Sharps Model 1874 sporting rifle has excellent work performed by Alfred Andrew Kellogg
(1844-1910) of New Haven, Connecticut. “Leading Business Men of New Haven County” (1887) lists “A. A. Kellogg,
Headquarters for Sportsmen’s Goods, Nos. 506 State Street, and 3 Elm Street” and indicates that in 1867 he took over
the shop founded by Duntzee & Jaynes in 1810. “Mr. Kellogg is a native of New Hartford, Connecticut, and has long been
identified with New Haven, where he has built up a business, one of the largest of its kind in the State...He is also well known as
an expert on guns and is familiar with every detail of the business.” His shop was still advertised in “The Yale Literary Magazine” in May 1903.
His brother Henry Kellogg patented a breechloader on May 20, 1862, and “Sharps Firearms: Early Metallic Cartridge Firearms and Model 1874
Sporting Rifles” notes he “may have been connected in some way with the Sharps Rifle Manufacturing Company...” A. A. Kellogg’s work was
of the highest quality, and he was also an accomplished shot himself. The Meriden Daily Republican on Jan. 24, 1870, reported that Kellogg
shot five successive shots into one inch at 40 rods (220 yards). An ornate engraved A. A. Kellogg Sharps Model 1878 Borchardt rifle was sold
by Rock Island Auction in September 2007, and Sharps expert Frank Sellers wrote: “Their work was of the highest quality and they received
commissions from famous American and international customers.”
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