are there any quality American made reproductions of these old lever guns of the past that are worth spending money on?
If the main interest is authenticity, reproductions that come to mind are Uberti, Navy Arms and Charles Daly. I'm sure there are others.
http://www.uberti.com/firearms/1873Rifle.tpl
http://www.navyarms.com/html/66_-73_rifles.html
http://www.shootingtimes.com/longgun_reviews/cdaly1892_060706/