The finest iron frame Henry lever action rifle in existence saw the top bids in Rock Island Auction Company's September 13-15 Premiere Firearms Auction in Illinois.
 The Henry rifle has always been in high demand, with the gun a source of pride for any civil war soldier |
The rarest and most desirable of all Henry rifle variations - with an estimated 200-400 ever made - the gun brought $662,750 to meet its $600,000-900,000 estimate.
The iron frame Henry lever action was sold concurrently with the more popular brass frame example, and was discontinued after just a few months.
Most of the remaining examples of the iron frame rifles retain less than trace amounts of the original blue finish, though this example has nearly all its finish intact. The hammer, trigger and loading lever retain much of the original case colours.
 If the new owner can shed any light on its authenticity, a huge profit is just around the corner |
Also featuring in the auction was a jacket and shirt that has been attributed to General George Armstrong Custer at the Battle of Little Bighorn, assumed to be the coat that he died in. It made $108,450, falling short of its estimate due to uncertainty over its authenticity.
The lot was accompanied by a letter from a John Dietzen, which reads:
"My father brought the coat back from the West when he returned in 1880. He told my mother, and the story was repeated to me in later years, that he had won the coat in a shooting match from a friendly Indian. The Indian was one of those employed by the U.S. Army for Scout work. He told my father that the coat had been taken by Sitting Bull from General Custer who was wearing it at the time he was killed."
As the auction house states, the jacket is certainly of the period and style, and many accounts by Native American warriors tell of a buckskin-clad officer at Little Bighorn.
For collectors of memorabilia from the Old West, Paul Fraser Collectibles is offering an authentic strand of hair from Geronimo, the great Apache leader, and this rare autograph from famed sharpshooter Annie Oakley.
