Very Rare Deluxe Engraved Robinson Model 1872 Repeating Rifle by Adirondack Firearms Co.

Serial #271, .44 RF, 24 1/2" heavy octagon barrel with a good bore that has mild pitting within the grooves.  This is a very handsome rifle, built on Orville Robinson’s April 23, 1872, patent, and utilizes a manually-operated toggle lock that rides in a mortise along the top of the receiver operated via a knurled handle on the right side.  The frame has retained 85-90% of the original nickel plated finish, with flaking to the underlying brass along the edges and projections, especially on the trigger guard bow and lower tang.  The frame has full coverage floral scrollwork with geometric borders, deer and dog motifs, and punch-dot background.  There are a series of small impact marks on the forward portion of the left side of the frame surrounding the end of the barrel pin.  Some faint traces of blue remains on the flip-open loading gate, with a mottled gray-brown patina on the balance.  The heavy barrel is fitted with an unusual full-length magazine tube and retains traces of the original blue finish on protected areas, with an overall plum-brown patina on the balance.  Gray fading is also present at the muzzle and along the edges of the barrel facets.  The front sight is a flip-up combination type mated to a V-notch rear sight, screw-adjustable for elevation.  The walnut buttstock has a graceful shadow-line cheekpiece with checkered wrist, and exhibits only some very minor handling marks in the excellent original varnish.  This is a stellar example of a high grade engraved Robinson rifle, and would make a splendid addition to any collection.  Antique

Orville Moses Robinson was an upstate New York gunsmith and inventor who received three US patents for breech-loading and repeating firearms.  In 1870 Robinson, in partnership with A.S. Babbitt and two others, formed the Adirondack Firearms Co. to manufacture rifles based on his patents at their manufactory in Plattsburgh, NY.  The firm is known to have employed Daniel Wilkinson (possibly J.D. Wilkinson, another upstate New York gunmaker and inventor)) and Robinson’s son, William (who would’ve been about 10 years old at the formation of the company!)  Adirondack Firearms Co. operated until 1874, ultimately producing what is thought to be slightly fewer than 1,000 rifles of all types, when it was purchased by the Winchester Repeating Arms Co. and permanently shut down.  The Adirondack Firearms Co., and Robinson’s repeating rifle designs, represent an interesting footnote in the then rapidly advancing field of repeating breechloading long guns.