The iconic Winchester Model 1873 has long been one of the most desirable American firearms, and the One of One Thousand Model 1873s are easily among the rarest and most valuable Winchesters. Only 132 One of One Thousand Model 1873s ever left the factory out of over 720,000 Model 1873s manufactured, and many of them have been lost to time leaving a fraction available to collectors today and very few of those in high condition like this stunning One of One Thousand. They were part of a special program designed to market highly accurate Winchester rifles to discriminating clients who wanted the best repeating rifles in the world. The One of One Thousand program was announced in 1873 and more fully explained in Winchester’s 1875 catalog under the headline “Variety of Arms.” The details of this section are covered in depth in Edmund Lewis’s book "The Story of the Winchester 1 of 1000 and 1 of 100 Rifles": “Every Sporting Rifle we make will be proved and shot at a target, and the target will be numbered to correspond with the barrel and be attached to it. When one hundred barrels are thus proved, the one making the best target will be selected and set aside, and another hundred proved in the same way, and so on until one thousand have been tested and ten targets selected with the barrels with which they were made. They will then be made up into Guns, in which each part is selected with the utmost care and finished in the finest manner. They will then be again subjected to trials for accuracy, and the best of the ten selected and marked ‘One of a thousand,’ the price of which will be $80.00 to $100.00. The other nine will be marked ‘one of a hundred,’ and the price will be from $60.00 to $75.00 each. Sportsmen will readily see that this severe process of gleaning will be a slow and expensive one, and the result be but a limited number of choice Guns, and that orders should be given in advance of their wants, or patience exercised with the necessary delay of filling them.” A regular Model 1873 for comparison cost $50 when the rifles were first debuted. Given their higher costs, many of these premium rifles were purchased by well-to-do businessmen in the West Midwest like Montana's Granville Stuart and Captain George Winans, the original owner of this rifle. The included factory letters (1967 and 1977) confirm this rifle as a 1 of 1,000 with a 30 inch octagon barrel, casehardened finish, checkered stock, and set trigger; was received in the warehouse on July 6, 1877, and was shipped from the factory on July 9, 1877. The factory letter from 1977 indicates the order had another 1 of 1,000 with a 30 inch barrel and nine additional guns. Eight 1 of 1,000s rifles from order 9369 shipped on July 9, 1877, including the current example, are recorded on page 377 of “Winchester’s New Model of 1873: A Tribute” by Gordon. Serial number 27086 was the other rifle in the order that had a 30 inch barrel per Gordon’s chart. The rifle's special order extra long barrel has the iconic "One of One Thousand" inscription on top at the breech, silver bands inlaid at the muzzle and breech along with classic scroll engraving with punched backgrounds, a German silver blade front sight, notch and folding ladder rear sight, and "WINCHESTER'S-REPEATING ARMS. NEW HAVEN. CT./KING'S-IMPROVEMENT-PATENTED-MARCH 29, 1866, OCTOBER 16. 1860." marked ahead of the rear sight. The casehardened first model frame has the dust cover sliding in integral rails on the top, a stippled "thumb print" near the front of the dust cover, an adjustable single set trigger, a rare thick base long range peep sight on the upper tang (a later replacement based on images of the rifle with different peep sights), and "27087" in script numerals on the lower tang. The fancy grade walnut stock and forearm have attractive figure, checkering, and the takedown cleaning rod in the stock compartment. This rifle was on the cover of "The Gun Report" from December 1977 (copy included) and pictured and discussed inside in the article "Back to the Beginning" by Roland A. Ogan. This rifle is also pictured and discussed on page 85 of R.L. Wilson's "Winchester: The Golden Age of American Gunmaking and the Winchester 1 of 1000" and page 213 of "Winchester Engraving" by R.L. Wilson. Per R.L. Wilson's survey, only 13 One of One Thousand rifles has 30 inch octagon barrels. Additionally, the rifle also advertised in the American Rifleman in 1952 (copy included) and appears on page 62 of the 1971 "Antique Arms Annual" on O.R. "Ray" Whiteside's page. A box of documentation related to the rifle is included. One of the items is an album listing the rifle as a the property of Earl F. Winans (1871-1965) of Prescott, Wisconsin, and indicating the rifle was displayed at the Kennedy Arms Company in 1951 and 1952. It states that the rifle was originally owned by his father, Captain George Winans (1830-1926), a riverboat captain who owned and captained steamboats on the Mississippi River from 1856 to 1916. The album includes images of both of the Winans and the family's riverboats, and letters about the family. The rifle is listed as given to Earl Winans for his 16th birthday in 1887 and sold it in 1952 through an advertisement in the "American Rifleman" to F.H. Benbow, a gun collector from Texas. A copy of the January 1952 issue with the ad on page 76 is included as are copies of letters responding to the ad. A letter from Winans to Benbow about the rifle is also included. Research also indicates Captain Winans was a Democratic member of the Wisconsin State Assembly from 1888 to 1890. His obituary in “Boating” magazine called him a “native son of the river” and one of the last surviving members of The Pioneer Rivermen’s Association and indicated he first began working on the river when he was just four years old and was the first man to tow a raft down the river with a steamboat. The raft was towed by the steamer Union on September 12, 1863. Other obituaries note him as the last of the “Old Navigators” of the Mississippi, and articles from late in his riverboat career note that he “made and lost fortunes” over 60 years working the river. His brother Captain Mahlon S. Winans was also a riverboat captain. The Gun Report article notes that Earl Winans told Benbow that his father had purchased the rifle "in either Red Bluff or Sacrament, California, in 1877 or 1878. He was fond of guns and would not have any but the best. He used it in the mountains not far from Red Bluff and killed many mountain lions and some deer (but not Indians)." He notes that his father ran logs and lumber down the Mississippi and was in Red Bluff on lumber business when he purchased the rifle. After receiving the rifle when he was sixteen, he "took the very best care of it" and "only used it for target practice." Benbow sold the rifle in 1967 to O.R. Whiteside and then the rifle passed to Leo Bradshaw, Ken Karnak, and then to Tommy B. Haas Jr. The article notes that "To date No. 27087 has won numerous outstanding and best of show awards at antique arms assemblages all over the country." At the time of Wilson's One of One Thousand book in 1983, it is listed as owned by O.W. Wickstrom Jr. and had a thick base peep sight with a medium range ladder installed. Letters to James E. Parker in the 1980s relating to the sale of the rifle to him by Norman A. Vegley are also included. Additional items include a copy of "Winchester Dates of Manufacture 1 of 1000" by and signed by George Madis, two copies of "The Winchester Book" by George Madis, and framed display items.

Fine. The barrel retains 70% plus original blue finish, crisp engraving and markings, dark aged patina on the silver bands, and light fading mainly at the edges in the front section. The magazine tube retains 30% plus of the original blue finish which is fading to an attractive plum brown. There are light patterns of attractive silvered out original case colors on the frame and other remaining metal mixed with an attractive mix of smooth gray and patina and minimal light oxidation. The brass elevator and buttplate door have natural mellow aged patina. The stock and forearm are both fine with crisp checkering other than some small spots of wear on the bottom of the forearm, attractive figure, some scattered small dings and light scratches, and smooth finish. Mechanically excellent. This is a stunning original One of One Thousand Winchester Model 1873 made even more desirable by its identified original owner who was a pioneering riverboat captain on the Mississippi River and used this rifle to hunt deer and mountain lions in the American West.