This is an exceptional Winchester Model 1873 Deluxe Lever Action Rifle with Buffalo Bill Historical Center letter that states this rifle was shipped from Winchester on August 14, 1879. The letter lists the rifle features as: "rifle, 1/2 Octagon barrel, case hardened, pistol grip, set trigger, sling and swivel" and "1/2 magazine". The rifle has Second Model receiver with central screw-fastened dust cover guide and a dust cover with impressed oval checkered "thumb print". The half-round/half-octagon barrel is blue and the forend cap, receiver, lever, front and rear sling swivels and crescent buttplate are color casehardened. The dust cover, loading gate, bolt, set trigger and lever latch have a niter blue finish. The forearm and pistol grip stock are highly figured fancy grain walnut with a high polish "piano" finish. The forearm and pistol grip are checkered and the pistol grip has an ebony inlay. The barrel has a sporting style front sight with nickel-silver blade and a sporting style rear sight with knurled edges. The upper tang is factory drilled and tapped for a rear sight. The buttplate has a sliding brass trapdoor. The top of the barrel is roll-stamped with the two-line legend "WINCHESTER'S REPEATING ARMS. NEW HAVEN. CT./KING'S-IMPROVEMENT-PATENTED-MARCH 29. 1866. OCTOBER 16.1860." in two lines ahead of the rear sight. The upper tang is roll-stamped "MODEL.1873" in fancy letters and the lower tang is stamped with the serial number "36006" in small script numerals between the lever latch and the tang screw.

Excellent. The rifle is all original and retains 85% of the original Winchester blue and color casehardened finish. Most of the minimal finish wear is concentrated on the top and side flats of the barrel between the rear sight and the receiver; the blue is thin and there is a small area (3/4-1 inch) of finish loss on the left flat. The forearm cap, sling swivels, receiver, hammer, lever, and buttplate retain more than 95% of the original case colors. The case colors on the forearm cap, sides of the receiver and side plates are vivid. The bolt, loading gate, set trigger and lever latch retain nearly all of the fire blue finish. The dust cover shows finish wear and has about 25% of the delicate niter blue finish intact. The stock and forearm are in excellent condition with around 95% of the high polish piano finish and crisp checkering. Wear is limited to a few minor scratches on the underside of the forearm behind the sling swivel and several very minor handling marks on the right side of the stock. The barrel and receiver markings are crisp. This is an outstanding example of a special order, Second Model 1873 rifle with very desirable "thumb print" dust cover. It would be hard to find a better example of this fully documented, high condition, special order early production Model 1873 rifle.