Well I drove two hours and bought the rifle............It is actually better in person than the pictures I was sent. I'm a VERY happy camper!
It appears someone blued the side plates, dustcover, magazine tube holder and possibly the lever some time ago. When a gun is 128 years old that leaves a lot of time for someone to mess with it. The barrel is a very nice rust brown and there is still a hint of case on the receiver. A couple very minor scratches but zero pits. The wood is in excellent shape. It has the Winchester shellac finish. If I didn't know any better I'd refinish it. I love the way it looks!
I took it completely apart and gave it a good cleaning. There is extreme low wear inside.
The bore it total toast. A real sewer pipe. Someone must have shot it little and put it away dirty.
I'm going to have it relined to 38-40 as that is what it is marked.
Now I need to find out everything I can on the 38-40 cartridge. I'll start another post looking for help.
High Def pictures tomorrow..........
So, I paid $795 and the Blue Book says a rifle in this serial number range in 50% condition is worth $3,250........If the bore was shootable I'd call this rifle 70-80%.........Nice!