Winchester Model 1895 Takedown Rifle (serial no. 81851) 1913 Winchester Repeating Arms Company This highly customized Winchester Model 1895 sporting rifle exemplifies the apex of luxury American-made big game hunting guns available in the first decades of the twentieth century. In addition to its premium factory decorations, the gun is also distinguished by its unique combination of special-order features that is not to be found on another Winchester rifle of this type. Winchester made the rifle in 1913 to the specification of Bernard H. Matthies (1892–1974), the American industrialist, philan
Winchester Model 1895 Takedown Rifle (serial no. 81851) 1913 Winchester Repeating Arms Company This highly customized Winchester Model 1895 sporting rifle exemplifies the apex of luxury American-made big game hunting guns available in the first decades of the twentieth century. In addition to its premium factory decorations, the gun is also distinguished by its unique combination of special-order features that is not to be found on another Winchester rifle of this type. Winchester made the rifle in 1913 to the specification of Bernard H. Matthies (1892–1974), the American industrialist, philanthropist, and outdoorsman perhaps best-known today for his sale of a large parcel of land for a fraction of its value to the town of Beacon Falls, Connecticut, for the creation of a public park, today named Matthies Park. The rifle survives in very good condition and appears to have seen little use. It is one of three deluxe factory-decorated Winchester rifles given to the Museum by the Robert M. Lee Foundation in 2018 (acc. nos. ; –j)—the first factory-decorated Winchesters to enter the the production of firearms became increasingly industrialized in the United States in the 1850s, customers seeking to personalize their machine-made guns could hire an independent gunsmith to add original embellishments, or, alternatively, choose from a variety of customization options executed by skilled decorators employed by the firearm’s manufacturer. This rifle was decorated by a Winchester factory engraver, possibly John Ulrich (1850–1924). If by Ulrich, it may have been a private commission or executed as a Winchester contractor, as he is believed to have retired from full-time work at the company in 1907. Some Winchester decorators, including Ulrich, maintained independent workshops while working at the company and after leaving rifle’s blued receiver, box magazine, finger lever, and barrel are engraved with scrollwork and in
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