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Exceptional and Historic Deluxe Providence Tool Co. Peabody-Martini Rifle, Exquisitely Engraved by C

Currency:USD Category:Antiques / Firearms & Armory Start Price:1.00 USD Estimated At:10,000.00 - 20,000.00 USD
Exceptional and Historic Deluxe Providence Tool Co. Peabody-Martini Rifle, Exquisitely Engraved by C
Exceptional and Historic Deluxe Providence Tool Co. Peabody-Martini Rifle, Exquisitely Engraved by C.F. Ulrich for the Philadelphia Centennial Exhibition of 1876. Serial no. 2, .45 Turkish cal., 33 ¼-inch round barrel with folding ladder military sight and fixed front sight, Henry-style rifling. Barrel marked: Manufactured by the Providence Tool Company, Providence, R.I., U.S.A. Action exquisitely and profusely engraved, featuring on the right side a Goddess of Victory motif, her left hand holding a miniature figure of Mercury. The finely detailed riband beneath inscribed with Peabody and Martini patents. The left side shows a finely detailed miniature depiction of "The Death of General Warren at the Battle of Bunker Hill", from the John Trumbull painting [Yale University Art Gallery]. Exquisitely detailed borders are engraved on both sides of the frame to accentuate the finely engraved pictorial scenes. Loading lever pin on the left side of frame engraved with miniature shield motif; cocking indicator on the right with small laurel wreath motif and border. Profusely engraved detailed scrollwork with stippled background on the frame, breechblock, triggerguard, breech lever, barrel with flat-topped breech, barrel bands, fore-end cap and steel buttplate. Buttplate cross- hatched with line border; checkered trigger and finely checkered thumbrest oval on tip right of frame. Finish is of bright polished steel, selected to reveal the extraordinary degree of detail in the engraving. Checkered straight-grip stock of varnished highly figured walnut, with checkered fore-end. Panels of very fine checkering at head of stock and underside of fore-end. Illustrated and described in, "A Century of Engraving" Guns and Ammo Annual, 1976, by R.L. Wilson. The rifle was one of the featured exhibits in the Philadelphia Centennial Exhibition of 1876, along with exceptional Colt, Winchester and other make firearms. Although for some years attributed to the hand of Gustave Young, a detailed examination of all features of the engraving suggests this to be the work of Conrad F. Ulrich. The border motifs on the frame panels, as well as the scrollwork and the panel scenes, point to an Ulrich as the artisan responsible for the exceptional embellishments. Compare to that shown in Winchester Engraving, pp. 105 through 124, by R.L. Wilson. This rifle exhibits not only similar and often identical scrollwork, but a variety of intriguing, precise and varying borders.Condition: Excellent with light storage and handling wear overall.