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Exceptionally Rare Indian Used Custer Battlefield 1874 Sharps Rifle

Currency:USD Category:Firearms & Military / Long Guns - Rifles Start Price:100,000.00 USD Estimated At:300,000.00 - 500,000.00 USD
Exceptionally Rare Indian Used Custer Battlefield 1874 Sharps Rifle
Contact Brian Lebel's Old West Events prior to bidding if you have a lot inquiry.
Forensically proven to have been used at the Battle of The Little Bighorn

S/N C54586, .50-70 caliber, 1874 military model Sharps, 30 inch round barrel, full military style stock and forearm, standard Lawrence barrel sight, manufactured in Hartford, Connecticut in 1874.

Condition: Consistent with a rifle that was exposed to the dry, arid weather of the Montana prairie. Some legible markings, wood is dry with a few cracks, tang is cracked at top screw, metal shows surface oxidation overall but no deep pitting, action still operates.

Literature:
“Sharps Rifles at the Little Big Horn: Part Two” by Dave Thorn, pp. 18-20, pictured p. 20, in “The Sharps Collector Report” Volume 18, Number 2.

“Archaeological Insights into the Custer Battle: An assessment of the 1984 Field Season” by Douglas D. Scott and Richard A. Fox, Jr., 1987, page 62.

“A Sharps Rifle From the Battle of The Little Bighorn”, by Dick Harmon and Douglas D. Scott, pp. 12-15, pictured p. 13, in “Guns at the Little Bighorn: The Weapons of Custer’s Last Stand”, Man at Arms, 1988.

“The Peacemakers: Arms and Adventure in the American West”, by R. L. Wilson, 1992, page 24, pictured pp. 24-25.

“G.A. Custer: His Life and Times” by Glenwood Swanson, 2004, page 295, pictured pp. 294-295.

The following items are all included in the lot:
Binder: Includes: computer CDs and DVDs of scans, photos and images of the forensic evidence collected on the Battlefield, including scans from the National Park Archives and the Nebraska Highway Patrol Forensics Lab; a rare Martin primed shell in .50-70 caliber for illustrative purposes; Letter to Glen Swanson from Douglas Scott and Dick Harmon; Affidavit from Torrey Johnson, descendant of the Spear family, attesting to the chain of ownership through the family; Sharps Rifle Company gun letter; and other related ephemera.

Book: “Archaeological Insights into the Custer Battle: An assessment of the 1984 Field Season” by Douglas D. Scott and Richard A. Fox, Jr., 1987. Complete with pull-out, double-sided, 31” x 42” survey map of the archeological identification points of artifacts.

Book: “The Peacemakers: Arms and Adventure in the American West”, by R. L. Wilson, 1992.

Book: “G.A. Custer: His Life and Times” by Glenwood Swanson, 2004. Signed by the author.

Original Publication: “The Sharps Collector Report”, Volume 18, Number 2.

Original Publication: “Guns at the Little Bighorn: The Weapons of Custer’s Last Stand”, Man at Arms, 1988.