Winchester Model 1866 Rifle Presented to Guillermo Crespo (Serial Number 36174) with Case

This rifle is distinguished by its pristine condition, gilt decoration, and engraving by the German-born craftsman Louis D. Nimschke (1832–1904), who worked in New York from 1853. It bears the name of Guillermo Crespo y Crespo (d. 1888) and features the royal arms of Spain on its opposite side. A Spanish diplomat, Crespo lived in Paris in 1870, when this gun was engraved and presumably presented to him by the Spanish government. The circumstances of the gun's commission are the topic of ongoing research.

Founded in 1856 by Oliver F. Winchester (1810–1880) as the New Haven Arms Company, the Winchester Repeating Arms Company dominated the repeating rifle market in America and internationally during the second half of the nineteenth century. Following Colt revolvers, lever-action Winchesters were among the first consumer goods mass-produced in factories. Their advanced design offered marked improvements over the handmade muzzle-loading guns that preceded them, including a high rate of fire, good reliability and accuracy, interchangeable parts, and the convenience of cartridge ammunition. Domestically, the Winchester rifle played a critical role in the territorial expansion of the United States, becoming a well-recognized symbol of the Western frontier's closing. Most of Winchester's sales constituted undecorated guns sold to the U.S. and foreign militaries.

Deluxe and customized Winchesters, commissioned either from the factory or independent decorators, were marketed to civilians. Engraved, plated, or inlaid with precious metals, and mounted with premium wood stocks, these rifles were created for honorary presentation, for exhibition at international fairs, or simply for their wealthy owners' private enjoyment. Like Colt's factory engravers, many of the craftspeople who staffed Winchester's Design and Engraving Laboratory emigrated from Germany in the 1840s–50s and employed their native style of decoration featuring Gothic scrollwork populated with animal scenes.