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William Lyman, Lyman Gun Sight, ca.1886-88 Letter, Newspaper, and Postal Cover Group Lot

Currency:USD Category:Collectibles / Gun Powder & Ammunition Advertising Start Price:40.00 USD Estimated At:70.00 - 140.00 USD
William Lyman, Lyman Gun Sight, ca.1886-88 Letter, Newspaper, and Postal Cover Group Lot
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The auction will take place on December 15, 2022 at AIA's office located at 1060 Main St., Suite #202, River Edge, NJ 07661 beginning at 11:00 AM
Connecticut, 1886-88, Lot includes 3 pieces: Postal Cover addressed to Mr. William Lyman in Middlefield, Connecticut, addressed from San Francisco, California, with San Francisco postal handstamp on front, Postage Stamp at top right corner, Fine - VF condition with signs of wear and tears; Corresponding letter on several pages with The Baldwin hotel letterhead, addressed to William Lyman from J. A. A. Robinson, a rifleman who uses Lyman's Gun Sights on his rifles. He writes that he thinks he could make the sights more popular by demonstrating the merits of the tool, and discusses this at length in his letter, VF condition; the final piece in this lot is a February 1888 edition of The Rifle which mentions Lyman's gun sights, stating that "his are the neatest and come nearest to what a rifle-sight ought to be," in Fine condition with splitting at center fold lines. 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.