This c. 1840s rifle and the rifle in the following lot were formerly in The Pardee Home Museum in Oakland, California, as shown in the included inventory of firearms from the museum. They were owned by Dr. Enoch H. Pardee (1829-1786) who came to California during the Gold Rush, settled in San Francisco, and was a prominent Republican serving in state and local office, including as mayor of Oakland in the 1870s. In "California Gunsmiths 1846-1900," Lawrence P. Shelton notes that "Dr. Enoch Homer Pardee became the most noted marksman with" telescopic target rifles "in the 1860s-1880s. No man in California had a more profound knowledge of the mechanism of the rifle, the laws of trajectory, the science of loading, or in fact, of all that relates to the philosophy of the rifle. Though Dr. Pardee was not a gunsmith you will find he has been included in the gunsmiths' biographical section of this book because no other one man contributed as much as he did to the knowledge and art of rifle shooting in California during this period." The biographical section discusses his collection of 35 rifles and his nation-wide reputation for marksmanship after winning a match against Warren Loud in 1866. He worked on his own guns and even made his own gun powder and invented a repeating rifle. George C. Pardee (1857-1941) followed in his father's footsteps and became mayor of Oakland as well as governor of California. Edwin Wesson's (1811-1849) shop in Northboro, Massachusetts, produced some of the world’s finest target rifles and pistols. His younger brothers Daniel Baird Wesson (1825-1906) of Smith & Wesson fame and Franklin Wesson (1828-1899) were trained in the shop and may have even worked on this rifle. D.B. Wesson continued to produce rifles in his brother's shop briefly after his brother's death in 1839. Edwin Wesson also held the rights to Alvan Clark's patented false muzzle seen on this rifle and licensed its use to other gunmakers. Rifles like this were designed for shooting matches, but Wesson "telescope rifles" are also known to have been used by sharpshooters during the American Civil War, including by Edwin J. Stanclift of the 8th Company of the 1st Battalion of New York Sharpshooters (see Smithsonian collection accession number 164794). This classic Wesson target rifle features a false muzzle with four posts and a sight cover, a 38 1/4 inch long scope, removable palm rest, eagles flanking "WESSON/NORTHBORO/MASS" and "CAST-STEEL/521" on the top of the barrel along with two small holes, sculpted breech plug with pierced gold plug, nice engraving, "WESSON/NORTHBORO/MASS" on the lock, adjustable double set triggers, and walnut half-stock with German silver furniture consisting of a spurred trigger guard, cap/patchbox, toe plate, buttplate with small compartment in the heel, and an inlay. The rifle comes in a modern case with a variety of accessories, including a bullet starter and mold. Provenance: The Pardee Home Museum; Norm Flayderman, Inc.; Property of a Gentleman