How many factory deluxe engraved, Sharps Sporting Rifles have you seen with gold banding?  This gun is deluxe engraved, with full coverage, probably by Gustave Young of Hartford, Connecticut.  It has a heavy, deluxe barrel, which is 24 7/8 inches in length and is in .52 caliber.  The wood is deluxe grade, with deluxe checkering.  The butt is a shotgun butt with a beavertail cheek piece, made from flame grain wood.  As you will notice from the photography, the engraving coverage is about the most Sharps ever put on a gun.  There is a single gold band at the rear of the barrel and two gold bands at the muzzle.  It has double set triggers and is big bore.  I am pretty sure this gun was made for the Sharps Rifle Company's participation in the 1856 Paris Exposition.  It probably was brought back as inventory and sold to someone.  The gun was not put up, it was used.  While it is in very good condition, I swear, I believe someone took it off to war.  Some of the gold has popped off the forward band, which could easily be replaced.   It is solid and honest with a little rust damage here and there, matching serial numbers and overall, this is one sexy gun.  In my experience, gold banding and a custom shotgun butt are virtually unknown on an early Sharps Sporting Rifle.  But the size of the barrel, the overall length, coupled with the appearance of the shotgun butt, give this gun unique dimensions which are very attractive.  SOLD!!