#227 • Fine Deluxe Antique Factory Engraved Model 1895 Marlin Lever Action Rifle Owned By Edgar Paxson

Part of The Ray Howser Firearms Collection, 1931-2026 (timed auction by Lewis & Grant Auctions)

Starting at $10,000.00

Status: Available

Live bidding starts Nov 20, 2026 10:00 AM EST

.45-70 caliber, 26 half octagonal to round barrel, S/N 141115. Rear tang sight with front blade. Deluxe figured walnut checkered pistol grip buttstock and checkered fore-end. Case colored frame with blued barrel and magazine tube. The frame is Marlin Factory engraved in Pattern number 3. Minor period cut out on comb for the tang sight.  Butt and fore-end with no finish but full dimension throughout. Frame with sharp engraving and fading case colors. Barrel and magazine tube with most of the original blue finish. Leather sling of the period 1900. In its form fitted leather rifle case with initials “E.S.P.” (Edgar S. Paxon). Bore rates excellent. Letters from Paxon’s grandson attesting to ownership by the famous Western painter accompany this significant piece of America’s Western history including one relating Paxon using his 45-70 Marlin on a hunt with the legendary Granville Stuart, “The Father of Montana”. Edgar Samuel Paxson (April 25, 1852 – November 9, 1919) was a premier American frontier painter, scout, soldier, and writer who stood alongside his close friend Charles M. Russell as one of Montana's most significant early documentary artists. Immersing himself in the landscape and changing indigenous lifeways of the northern Rocky Mountains, Paxson committed his life to capturing a raw, highly accurate visual record of the historic West. Born to a Quaker family in Orchard Park, New York, Paxson learned fundamental painting techniques from his father, a carriage maker and sign painter. Engulfed with dreams of the frontier, he moved to the Montana Territory in 1877 during the climax of the Nez Perce War. While establishing a life for his family in the mining boomtown of Butte, he supported his fine art ambitions by working commercially as a sign painter and theatrical scenic designer. Paxson fully lived the rugged frontier lifestyle he painted, working at various times as a ranch hand, stagecoach driver, scout, and military dispatch messenger. Throughout all of these dangerous ventures, he constantly carried a sketchbook, capturing the unfiltered reality of the early American West as it unfolded around him. He is best known for his masterpiece, "Custer's Last Battle on the Little Bighorn," a monumental 6-by-9-foot oil on canvas completed in 1899. A dedicated student of the historic 1876 clash, Paxson spent over twenty years meticulously researching the event and interviewing survivors from both sides to ensure an accurate and complete description. Today, this sprawling historic epic is preserved and on display at the Buffalo Bill Center of the West in Cody, Wyoming.