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LOT 1013
Extremely Rare Documented Winchester Model 1873 “One of One Hundred” Lever Action Rifle with Factory Letter - Serial no. 19011, 44-40 cal., 24 inch octagon bbl., blue/ nickel finish, deluxe fancy walnut checkered stock. The Winchester “One of One Thousand” and “One of One Hundred” Model 1873 and Model 1876 rifles are among the most desirable
of all antique American firearms and have held a legendary status among collectors for generations. The program was announced in 1873 and more
fully explained in Winchester’s 1875 catalog under the headline “Variety of Arms.” The program was short lived and was terminated quietly in 1877. Only around 132 “One of One Thousand” Model 1873s and just eight “One of
One Hundred” rifles were manufactured out of over 720,000 Model 1873s in
total. According to Winchester’s 1875 catalog, the factory tested batches of one hundred barrels. The best of each batch was to be set aside until they had tested one thousand barrels. Then, the best performing barrel of the batch of 1,000 would be used to build a “One of One Thousand” rifle costing $80-$100, and the other nine would be used to build “One of One Hundred Rifles” for $60-$75. Under this system, there should have been nine “One of One Hundred” rifles for every “One of One Thousand,” but there was evidently not much demand for the “One of One Hundred” rifles, so they are actually considerably rarer. Men willing to pay a premium for the best rifles likely would not accept
a “One of One Hundred” instead of a “One of One Thousand” even if a “One of One Hundred” rifles should still
have been more accurate than 99% of Winchester’s rifles. Only six of these “One of One Hundred” Model 1873s are known today, and this is certainly among the rarest and finest. It is one of just two documented with nickel finish and is the only known example with its combination of features.
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