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hunting dog behind the trigger guard. The upper tang has a blank inscription banner surrounded by scrolls and checkerboard patterns.
The May 6, 1878, date listed in the ledgers for these rifles appears to indicate they were all displayed at the Exposition Universelle of 1878, the third World’s Fair hosted by Paris, which began that month and is notable to Americans given the head of the Statue of Liberty was part of the fair’s displays. The hand and torch were displayed at the Centennial Exhibition. The
Herman Leslie Ulrich signed gold Model 1866 (no. 109651) sold by RIAC in June of 2020 is also identified as one of the Centennial exhibition guns, and there are several of the other relief engraved Model 1866 rifles featured in “Winchester Engraving” by R.L. Wilson and “Winchester Repeating Arms Company” by Herbert Houze engraved by the Ulrichs and believed
to be used as factory exhibition pieces including in 1876. Another closely serialized exhibition grade Model 1866 is no. 103671 which was signed by John Ulrich and sold by RIAC in our September 2014 auction. As demonstrated by the range of serial numbers, these rifles were not all manufactured in the same year and were manufactured well-ahead of May
1878. This rifle dates to 1872. Factory records are mostly available for Winchester Model 1866s in the 124995-170101 range, but these rifles are part of the limited number of earlier rifles in the records because they were retained by the factory for displays and were shipped later. These rifles would have been part of Winchester’s growing catalog of exhibition pieces and were almost certainly part of the factory’s grand display at the famous Centennial International Exhibition of 1876 in Philadelphia, a celebration of the centennial of the Declaration of Independence and the first World’s Fair held in the U.S. Several of these rifles, including the current example, may have been displayed at other major exhibitions in the early 1870s. At least some were retained by the factory after the 1878 World’s Fair before being sold or presented. The Soto presentation rifle, for example, is documented as
further embellished by the factory in 1881. In addition to these rifles engraved in house, Winchester also had factory exhibition pieces engraved by outside engravers such as the “Bust of Columbia” Model 1866 no. 28737 engraved by L.D. Nimschke in 1869 and the Gustave Young attributed Model 1866 no. 130255 both sold by RIAC in May of 2021. It is
disappointing that no images of any Winchester’s displays have been found as this array of incredible lever action rifles engraved by multiple members of the Ulrich family as well as L.D. Nimschke and other outside master engravers must have been a truly spectacular sight. Winchester reportedly had 200 guns in total on display.
As already noted, this rifle is most comparable to no. 103675. Both rifles have ten exquisite North American game scenes and mostly semi-relief cut scrollwork with the current example featuring additional checkerboard patterning amongst the scrolls. These game scenes are cut in semi-relief and flush. As cited in “Winchester Engraving,”
noted firearms historian and author R.L. Wilson proclaimed that ten panel scenes was “the most encountered by [him] on any Model 1866 Winchester” (page 121). The ten scenes on this example are the following. The left side has a bear scene at the front, separate woodcock and deer scenes on the side plate, and hare scene at the rear. The right side has bear scene at the front, separate buffalo and squirrel scenes on the side plate, and separate hare and beaver scenes at the rear. The tenth scene features a