Crates of pre 64 model 94’s & 95’s|Winchester Rifles|Forum|Winchester Collector

I’m sure this has been discussed before but some newer members might find this a very interesting read from a past auction sale in 2012. I can only imagine finding these crates of rifles today 70 yrs later, not to mention two consecutive pairs.

EXTRAORDINARILY RARE ORIGINAL CRATE OF TEN “UNISSUED” WINCHESTER MODEL 94 SADDLE RING CARBINES. SN 924224, 924599, 924761, 924762, 924783, 924829, 925026, 925502, 930960, 930961.. Cal. 30 WCF (30-30).

Standard carbines with 20″ bbls, full magazines, square base front sights, carbine ladder rear sights with a stud & ring in each receiver. They are mounted with uncheckered straight grain American walnut with straight stocks and carbine buttplates. Eight of the ten carbines have an orig 50th Anniversary gray paper stock band with green edges & red & white “WINCHESTER” logo. All ten carbines have their orig hang tags. This fantastic set of carbines is housed in its orig dovetailed pine wood crate with orig felt-lined dividers and its orig lid. The ends have orig stenciling with a large red “W” trademark. Top edge of one end of the crate, under the lid, has a small paper tag listing the SNs of all ten carbines. The history of this crate of carbines is detailed on pp. 120-121 of the book Winchester Model 94 A Century of Craftsmanship, Renneberg, and in a 4-page article published in an unknown magazine on pp. 26-29, also by Mr. Renneberg. It seems that in 2001 Mr. Renneberg was invited to fly to Oregon to examine this case of carbines, which he did, and discovered them as we find them today. His subsequent research into the history of this rare find led him to discover one other complete case of Model 94 carbines and a complete case of Model 95 carbines.
All trails then led to Herb Glass, Sr. who offered that in about 1950 or 1951 he had been contacted by an individual in New York City who had contracted to clean out a warehouse prior to its being demolished. During the cleaning process this fellow discovered 13 crates of Winchesters about equally divided between Models 94 in cal. 30 WCF and Models 1895 in cal. 30-06. Realizing that he had a significant discovery he called Mr. Glass with the idea of selling them. Mr. Glass immediately traveled to New York and purchased the entire find. He related to Mr. Renneberg that he began selling individual carbines for about $150 each and in fact sold them all except two cases of 94s which he retained intact and later sold, one to a collector in New Jersey and the other to a cattleman in Texas. The Texas collector kept his crate of carbines for about 15 years and then sold it,intact, to a lumber man in southern Oregon who also retained it for about 15 years and sold it to another private collector in Oregon. This collector, after about 25 years, in September 2001, took his crate of Winchesters to a gun show in Washington state and then to the Las Vegas Gun Show where he sold it to Wes Adams. Mr. Renneberg, in his articles, states that he is now aware of two crates 94 carbines and one crate of 95 carbines and that he has personally examined all three. He also offers a speculation as to how they came to be in New York City. He relates that after WWI the U.S. Government not only re-stocked their military arsenals but also stockpiled civilian firearms and that this crate, along with those others sold by Mr. Glass were part of that government stockpile. Mr. Renneberg speculates that the government stockpiled civilian arms remained in storage until the outbreak of WWII when the United States shipped tens of thousands of government owned and donated civilian arms to England for the British Home Guard. The invasion of England never came to pass and when the war was over a large portion of the donated civilian arms were simply destroyed but those still in crates were shipped back to the U.S. and sold on the American market. This story is certainly plausible and makes sense when one considers that these carbines were produced in the very early 1920s and have the 1923 Anniversary stock bands which lends credence to the thought that Winchester simply crated up inventory that they had on hand at the time which would have included arms from different years of manufacture. A cursory examination of the top five carbines disclosed that they are all pristine new with no discernible flaws and no flaking with orig factory grease still on the metal. They, all ten, have their orig short pieces of hemp string tied through the saddle rings to prevent saddle ring wear and eight of the ten have orig stock bands as noted above. It is also possible to see that all ten carbines have their hang tags and the accompanying ten hand made wooden cleaning rods in the bottom of the crate. There are two sets of two consecutively numbered carbines out of the ten. Accompanied by a custom built Plexiglas cover for the crate to be displayed with the lid off to expose the interior. This is truly an exceptional and once in a lifetime opportunity to purchase one of the few remaining orig crates of Winchester carbines.

PROVENANCE: Wes Adams Estate Collection. CONDITION: Carbines are all pristine new and unused, appearing to never have been cycled. Crate shows handling & storage nicks & dings with some wear on the bottom ends & edges and light to moderate soil. Stenciling on the ends of the crate is all clear and legible. Plexiglas cover is a little nicked & dinged but intact. 4-44430 (50,000-100,000)
Auction: Firearms – Spring 2012

https://www.morphyauctions.com/jamesdjulia/item/lot-2081-extraordinarily-rare-original-crate-of-ten-unissued-winchester-model-94-saddle-ring-carbines-44430/