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William Lyman, Lyman Gun Sight, 1888 Letter with Rifle Target Shoot Pattern Pair

Currency:USD Category:Collectibles / Gun Powder & Ammunition Advertising Start Price:35.00 USD Estimated At:55.00 - 110.00 USD
William Lyman, Lyman Gun Sight, 1888 Letter with Rifle Target Shoot Pattern Pair
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The auction will take place on October 24, 2023 at AIA's office located at 1060 Main St., Suite #202, River Edge, NJ 07661 beginning at 11:00 AM
Clinton, Connecticut. Lot includes 4 pieces, 1888: Letter from A.H. Stevens (a dentist and evidently gun owner and shooter) to William Lyman, stating that he is enclosing 2 gun spreads, Includes; Corresponding postal cover with Clinton, Connecticut handstamp on front and Middlefield, Connecticut handstamp on back, missing the stamp; Also included are the two target gun spreads, one showing 40 shots and the other showing 100 shots. All are in Fine-VF condition. William Lyman (1854-1896) was an innovator and inventor whose primary interest was improving gun sights. He received his first gun flip-sight patent in 1879, and founded Lyman Gun Sight. Lyman held seventeen sight patents, including for an ivory bead front target sight in 1885 and for the Winchester repeating rifle sight in 1893. After William Lyman’s death, the Lyman Company incorporated in 1901, and was headed by William’s brother Charles starting in 1917. The company expanded its product line in 1925 with the acquisition of the successful Ideal Products Reloading Tool line. Other product areas included the black powder firearms line. Business increased sharply with military orders for metallic gun sights and parts during World War II. The company began to study ballistics in the 1950s, testing on sight, and published their own data starting in the 1961 edition of the Lyman Handbook. Family owned since its inception, the business was sold in 1969 to The Leisure Group from Los Angeles and was renamed Lyman Products for Shooters. In 1977, it was sold again and renamed Lyman Products Corp.