Page 23 - 4096-BOOK2

The combination of silver plating and engraving was a $10 special order
option offered from the New Haven Arms Company starting in 1862, and the
frequency of Henry rifles made with these options quickly declined due to the
company discouraging special order features during the peak of production
at the height of the Civil War in order to meet production demands per Wiley
Sword on page 13 of “The Historic Henry Rifle.” Many of these special ordered
Henry rifles are known to have been presented to officers and prominent
individuals. For example, sn. 1100 was inscribed for Major J. C. Smith of the 5th
Ohio Volunteer Cavalry. The engraving on this rifle is similar to Major Smith’s
Henry which is shown on page 21 of “Winchester Engraving” by R. L. Wilson,
and a few other early Henry rifles also featured similar engraving. Later Henry
rifles typically featured somewhat reduced engraving coverage. The engraving
consists of beautiful scrollwork with beaded backgrounds and meandering
line borders. The rifle features the early rounded German silver blade front
sight, the early notch and folding ladder rear sight with 1000 yard top notch
and no stop screw, a secondary rear sight dovetail on the top of the frame, the
two-line Henry patent and New Haven Arms Co. address markings ahead of
the rear sight, the serial number on top of the barrel at the breech, a tiny “W”
marked at the edge of the lower tang, early buttplate with rounded heel, and
an original early type Henry four-piece hickory cleaning rod with iron ferrules
inside the stock compartment.
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