EXTRAORDINARILY RARE, POSSIBLY ONE OF A KIND L.L. HEPBURN MADE LEVER ACTION RIFLE FROM THE REMINGTON ARCHIVE.

EXTRAORDINARILY RARE, POSSIBLY ONE OF A KIND L.L. HEPBURN MADE LEVER ACTION RIFLE FROM THE REMINGTON ARCHIVE. Cal. appears to be 38-40 WCF. Fabulous lever action rifle with 29-3/4″ oct bbl, full magazine, unusual wide dove-tail half nickel front sight & Remington style semi-buckhorn rear sight. It is mounted with uncheckered, very nicely figured, slab sawed American walnut with rnd knob pistol grip stock and smooth steel buttplate. Stock & forearm have small shoulders at the receiver precisely like Remington sgl shot Sporting rifles. Forearm cap is secured to the bbl through a hole in the bottom flat by a single screw. Receiver resembles a Marlin with it’s lever base on the bottom, top ejection with mortised dust cover attached to a rnd bolt. Loading gate is somewhat unusual, made of machined steel with a protruding radiused front nose which, when depressed allows cartridges to be fed into the magazine in a normal manner. Right rear of the magazine tube, under the forearm has a cutout to allow ease of loading. Receiver also has the Marlin model 1888/1889 hook latch for the bolt which is retracted with operation of the lever to allow the bolt to travel to the rear in a normal manner. Rifle is completely unmarked except on the rear face of the buttstock, under the buttplate where it has the inscription in India ink “MADE BY / Joseph Rider / Newark / Ohio”. This rifle was purchased in the 1950’s by Herb Glass Sr. from the Remington Museum when they apparently deaccessioned about 300 guns. Consignor states he purchased this rifle from Herb Glass about 20 yrs ago. It is interesting to note that Remington purchased all of Joseph Rider’s patents in the 1860’s in order to produce the rolling block rifle with his improvements to that design. Mr. Rider became a Remington employee & with a very lucrative contract negotiated at the purchase of his patents, became wealthy & eventually returned to Ohio. Of equal note, is the fact that L.L. Hepburn was employed at Remington around that time & later left to work for Marlin where he patented several designs for lever action rifles, many of which have the same features as this rifle, particularly the Marlin Model 1888 & 1889. A natural assumption would be that Rider & Hepburn, working together at Remington would have exchanged ideas which Mr. Hepburn apparently carried to Marlin. It is unclear if Joseph Rider or L.L. Hepburn designed this rifle or possibly it may have simply belonged to Mr. Rider, who simply marked it to designate that it was his property. Mr. Hepburn has several lever action patents to his credit, one of which was while he worked at Remington and was never assigned to either Remington or Marlin. Most of his other lever action patents are assigned to Marlin. PROVENANCE: Remington Arms; Herb Glass. CONDITION: Extremely fine plus. Overall retains about 98% crisp orig blue finish with only faint sharp edge wear & a couple of minor nicks & scratches. Hammer is polished bright on the sides with blue on the top & rear edges. Lever retains strong case colors on the sides, turned dark on the outer faces. Wood is sound with a very few, very minor handling nicks & scratches and retains virtually all of it’s bright, orig factory varnish. Mechanics are crisp. Brilliant, shiny bore, probably unfired. 4-47784 JR164 (12,500-17,500)

Auction: Firearms - Fall 2013

Please Note: All prices include the hammer price plus the buyer’s premium, which is paid by the buyer as part of the purchase price. The prices noted here after the auction are considered unofficial and do not become official until after the 46th day.

Image	Lot	Price	Description
	1151	$16,675.00	EXTRAORDINARILY RARE, POSSIBLY ONE OF A KIND L.L. HEPBURN MADE LEVER ACTION RIFLE FROM THE REMINGTON ARCHIVE. Cal. appears to be 38-40 WCF. Fabulous lever action rifle with 29-3/4″ oct bbl, full magazine, unusual wide dove-tail half nickel front sight & Remington style semi-buckhorn rear sight. It is mounted with uncheckered, very nicely figured, slab sawed American walnut with rnd knob pistol grip stock and smooth steel buttplate. Stock & forearm have small shoulders at the receiver precisely like Remington sgl shot Sporting rifles. Forearm cap is secured to the bbl through a hole in the bottom flat by a single screw. Receiver resembles a Marlin with it’s lever base on the bottom, top ejection with mortised dust cover attached to a rnd bolt. Loading gate is somewhat unusual, made of machined steel with a protruding radiused front nose which, when depressed allows cartridges to be fed into the magazine in a normal manner. Right rear of the magazine tube, under the forearm has a cutout to allow ease of loading. Receiver also has the Marlin model 1888/1889 hook latch for the bolt which is retracted with operation of the lever to allow the bolt to travel to the rear in a normal manner. Rifle is completely unmarked except on the rear face of the buttstock, under the buttplate where it has the inscription in India ink “MADE BY / Joseph Rider / Newark / Ohio”. This rifle was purchased in the 1950’s by Herb Glass Sr. from the Remington Museum when they apparently deaccessioned about 300 guns. Consignor states he purchased this rifle from Herb Glass about 20 yrs ago. It is interesting to note that Remington purchased all of Joseph Rider’s patents in the 1860’s in order to produce the rolling block rifle with his improvements to that design. Mr. Rider became a Remington employee & with a very lucrative contract negotiated at the purchase of his patents, became wealthy & eventually returned to Ohio. Of equal note, is the fact that L.L. Hepburn was employed at Remington around that time & later left to work for Marlin where he patented several designs for lever action rifles, many of which have the same features as this rifle, particularly the Marlin Model 1888 & 1889. A natural assumption would be that Rider & Hepburn, working together at Remington would have exchanged ideas which Mr. Hepburn apparently carried to Marlin. It is unclear if Joseph Rider or L.L. Hepburn designed this rifle or possibly it may have simply belonged to Mr. Rider, who simply marked it to designate that it was his property. Mr. Hepburn has several lever action patents to his credit, one of which was while he worked at Remington and was never assigned to either Remington or Marlin. Most of his other lever action patents are assigned to Marlin. PROVENANCE: Remington Arms; Herb Glass. CONDITION: Extremely fine plus. Overall retains about 98% crisp orig blue finish with only faint sharp edge wear & a couple of minor nicks & scratches. Hammer is polished bright on the sides with blue on the top & rear edges. Lever retains strong case colors on the sides, turned dark on the outer faces. Wood is sound with a very few, very minor handling nicks & scratches and retains virtually all of it’s bright, orig factory varnish. Mechanics are crisp. Brilliant, shiny bore, probably unfired. 4-47784 JR164 (12,500-17,500) Auction: Firearms - Fall 2013 Please Note: All prices include the hammer price plus the buyer’s premium, which is paid by the buyer as part of the purchase price. The prices noted here after the auction are considered unofficial and do not become official until after the 46th day.

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