This exceptional special order Winchester Model 1894 Lever Action Short Rifle was manufactured in 1896 per George Madis’ serial number range and is the only factory mahogany stocked Model 1894 rifle known to exist. Adding to its rarity and desirability are the factory 22 inch barrel (does not mention 22 inch length in factory letter), engraving and gold finish. It is a museum quality Model 1894 showcasing Winchester craftsmanship at the end of the 19th century and a type of rifle that collector’s dream of owning! The accompanying factory letter addressed to noted collector C.W. Slagle lists this rifle with an octagon barrel in .30 caliber, plain trigger, checkered pistol grip stock, mahogany wood, gold plated receiver, $4.00 engraving, “I.M. Lawrence” on the left side and “monogram ring” when received in the warehouse on July 12, 1899, and shipped the same day. A copy of the factory ledger is included. This rifle is listed by serial number as the only Model 1894 on record as leaving the Winchester factory with a mahogany stock in a Model 1894 records survey conducted by Gael Oswalt and John Hawk. Copies of excerpts from the survey are included, and this survey examined Model 1894 records in the serial range 1-353,999. An accompanying letter from Tommy Rholes authenticates the short rifle configuration as original. Rholes notes that the rifle “has the shorter 8 3/8” forend found only on 22” or shorter rifles” and it has the proper barrel address for a 22 inch barrel. The receiver features a Winchester no. 9 engraving consisting of circular whitetail buck vignettes with the addition of the name “I.M. Lawrence” in script as part of the vignette on the left side. Flourishes of scrollwork are found on the forend cap, breech end of the barrel and buttplate tang. The no. 9 engraving is documented in Winchester’s “Highly Finished Arms” as reprinted in R.L. Wilson’s “Winchester Engraving” on page 229. The barrel is equipped with a dovetail beaded blade Lyman front sight and a three-leaf rear sight. The top barrel flat is marked with the two-line address and “30 WCF”, and the upper left barrel flat is marked with the two-line nickel steel information. The upper tang has the three-line model/patent date information. The underside of the receiver has the serial number. The barrel, magazine tube and bolt are blue, the forend cap, magazine tube band, receiver and buttplate are plated in gold, and the hammer and lever are casehardened. As noted, the forearm and pistol grip stock are checkered mahogany, making this the only known Model 1894 known to have left the factory stocked in mahogany. The buttstock has a factory hard rubber grip cap. The left side of the lower tang is marked “7962 XXX.” The butt of the stock is marked “94/7962.” The number “7962” is repeated on the back of the buttplate. In the accompanying letter to C.W. Slagle, Lloyd Barden provides background information on the rifle which was directly acquired from I.M. Lawrence’s grandson. The first initial stands for “Isadore.” Isadore Lawrence was born in New York and ran a store on the corner of San Francisco and Santa Fe Streets in El Paso, Texas, in the early 1890s. One day while running his store, Lawrence was held up at gunpoint. Unshaken by a gun being pointed at him, Lawrence managed to shoot and kill one of the robbers. The robber’s body was dragged out onto the street where it remained “for quite a long period of time.” He requested he be tried for murder to definitively prove his innocence and was speedily found not guilty though reportedly chastised for not killing the other robber. It was said that the incident had a positive effect on bringing down the crime rate, and in appreciation the police department presented Lawrence with a Burgess shotgun featuring a 2 inch gold Texas star inscribed “The Police Force of El Paso, Texas to I.M. Lawrence, Feb. 10, 1898” on the left side of the stock. Eventually Lawrence moved to Middletown, New York, where he died in 1950.