How Many Henry's survived?

[Tascosa Joe]

I wonder how many of the 14000 or so Henry's are still around.  I went to the Winchester Collectors Assoc gun show in Cody this past week end.  I would estimate 75+ specimens were on display and probably 150 '66's.  It is the neatest gun show I attend but the guns were all fairly high priced.

[ira scott]

Cody is awesome, I bet a stop at the Museum was part of the trip also! What was the average asking price of the Henrys, 25/30K?  I've only had 3 Henrys in my grubby paws, but I actually got to shoot one that was converted to C.F. by our mutual friend! he owns 2 of the 14000.

B.N. Scotty

[Tascosa Joe]

This year we did not make the museum.  We have been multiple times in the past though.  Yes, that is the price range.  There was at least one fully engraved rifle and the price on it was around $60K.  There were at least 2 iron frames.  Something else I learned was the early guns had a sight dovetail behind the ejection port on the frame as well as a dovetail on the barrel.

[ira scott]

A few years ago I remember seeing a beautiful, fully engraved Henry at the King Ropes Museum in Sheridan. Henrys and 1866s are a wonderful canvas for an engraver to work on. There is a fully engraved, modern Henry Repeating Arms rifle in the showcase at the Lavista NE Cabelas. Appears? to be hand engraved, Looks very nice, waaay under 60K!(also not nearly as collectable or rare, YET?)

B.N. Scotty

[Mogorilla]

Growing up, we had several car dealerships in town.  The guy who owned one was a huge Winchester collector.   When I was 12, I accompanied dad to a farm auction (I often had to as I was his porter for anything heavy).   I bought a nice wood box, lid, iron hinges, filled with hatchets, hatchet heads and a few hammer heads, all for $2.   That was Saturday.  I was excited as there was a hatchet inside stamped Winchester and it had a leather sheath/cover.   Got it home, dad looked it all over and told me on Monday to go to the hardware store and get handles for everthing, and start cleaning them up.   Sunday I saddle soaped the leather sheath/cover and oiled the Winchester hatchet, as it was in good shape and sharp.   Monday I do as I was told and at lunch, dad has the Winchester hatchet with leather sheath/cover in the kitchen.   I found out the Car Dealer had waited all day for that box, for the hatchet and his bladder got the best of him, so I won the bid.  Dad told me we were gifting it to him, as it would be a favour owed.   )-:    A few weeks passed, I cleaned/hafted 14 hatchets and 2 hammers.   Then dad told me we were going on a trip.  We went to the car dealer's house and I got a tour of his collection.   3 Henrys, 1866s, more 73s than I could count.   He had at least one example of every commercial gun sold by winchester and had a patterson, a 51 navy, and several peacemakers.    Also my hatchet!    3 years later my dad had handed out all but 2 hatchets to friends (he really liked having favors owed!!!!) and the cool box which is what I wanted somehow made it on the UHaul truck my sister loaded when she moved to Canada!!   I still have the 2 hatchets.   The Car Dealers collection was sold by his kids when he passed.   I heard, but it was never confirmed, one buyer swooped in made a generous offer on the whole thing, and walked away with it all.    In 1978 when I saw them, one of the Henrys looked nearly as good a shape as my 20 year old Uberti.   

[Tuolumne Lawman]

Back in 1994 or 1995, I actually handled the "Fahenstock" Henry that Wiley Sword shows in his Henry book.  A friend was an antique dealer in Jamestown, CA and had a chance to buy it from a man's estate.  He had me come and tell him what is was,  It had provenance, tintype of Fahenstock with the Henry and discharge papers.  He could not afford it, and it was sold to someone else.  Later it ended up in Sword's book. 

I also handled Ed Schieffelin's Henry at the Tombstone Historical Society back in 2000 when researching a a story on Tombstone for the Cowboy Chronicle.

It was really cool to handle those pieces of history.