Great looking and RARE. I'm  anxious to watch your replies.

The John T. Amber collection was auctioned off by Richard A. Bourne Co. November 11-13, 1986. 261 pages of items. Being in jail here I spent some time going thru my copy and did NOT find this rifle listed. Not that he may have sold or traded it at an earlier date.

In the earlier discussion on this oddball Pope cartridge referenced above, what has to be this rifle was described in detail, attributed to having been in Ron Peterson's shop at one time, and also attributed to being the one made for Carey and eventually owned by Amber.  HOWEVER, I must point out that while two of the three Popes in this caliber were said to be "target rifles", Carey's, though supposedly the only high-wall, was also supposedly made for hunting.  Therefore, since I personally can't see anyone toting this rifle around in the field, and since it's not listed in the Amber Collection catalog, I'd guess it's more likely one of the two target rifles than Carey's.  In any case, being one of only three and in such great condition would be enough bragging rights for me.

And perhaps Peterson still has records.

Bill Lawrence

Very interesting proof marks on the receiver.  The WP proof was being applied to barrels in July of 1905 and then added to receivers in 1908.  The circle P was applied to barrels that were sold to outside customers in 1913 but I've never seen a circle P on a receiver.  The proof marks are quite heavy.  Could either Harry or Lucien Carey been tight enough with the factory that they would have sold a raw receiver to one of them?  I know Harry was buying barrel blanks from the factory to be rifled by himself.  I wonder if that is an original highwall hammer that Harry ground down and re-checkered.  Also, the barrel seems to be set back a little farther than usual.

This subject was brought before and you might try doing a search. I posted some information about it and Lucian Cary. But I don't recall what it was or which ASSRA Journal I got it out of. I might have made note of it in the discussion at the time.

Here's the description from the Amoskeag web page when the gun was placed at auction in June of 2016:

Lot 158: Winchester Pope Model 1885 Thick Side High Wall Rifle

serial #118464, .308-405, 32" round barrel with a bright excellent bore. The top of the barrel is marked "H.M. POPE" and the bottom of barrel is marked "595 / W.I. / H.T. / 14/0 / 11/11/21 / H.M. POPE" and the barrel has five groove right hand twist rifling. The .308-405 is a 405 WCF cartridge necked down to .308 caliber, Pope made three barrels in this caliber, two sporting rifles and one Winchester single shot which he made for Lucian Cary. The barrel retains 97% original blue finish while the action retains 98% restored blue finish. The top tang shows an extra hole with filler screw which partially obscures the Winchester address. The top of the action interestingly shows a standard Winchester proof along with a mail order proof. This would make perfect sense for a rifle ordered directly from Pope on a High Wall action. The rifle is equipped with a standard Winchester plain straight grip buttstock with checkered steel shotgun buttplate. The forend is a large custom checkered beavertail threaded for a palm rest and with a sling swivel mounted at its tip, there is no corresponding swivel to the rear. The stocks rate excellent with lots of original finish remaining. The rifle is equipped with factory adjustable double set triggers and a Winchester style Schuetzen spur lever. The rifle is sighted with a globe front, no provision for rear and no tang sight; the barrel does wear a pair of target blocks. This is presumably the rifle that Pope made for Lucian Cary, however there is no provenance with it. A neat custom Pope High Wall.

The hammer price was $1725.00

Another interesting note on this gun.  Although this is a slab-side Highwall, it's a coil spring action.

The information we can gather will be going to Tom Rowe for his book on Pope.

Thanks for all the comments.

(and it could be a Martini forend, except there's no trap for the sight inserts...)