AmericanLongRifles Forums

General discussion => Antique Accoutrements => Topic started by: Tanselman on July 14, 2023, 07:09:07 AM

Title: A Southern "Alligator" Powder Horn - Where Was It Made?
Post by: Tanselman on July 14, 2023, 07:09:07 AM
I would like to share another interesting powder horn. I first saw this horn years ago in Jim Dresslar's collection. It later appeared on a dealer's table at a large show and I bought it due to its somewhat different, southern appearance. I spent a lot of winters down in Florida and saw a number of nearby Georgia horns while antiquing with my wife. They often had the cross-hatched raised band, or a cross-hatched spout, so it may be a coastal Georgia horn... or anywhere else where they had alligators! I'd like to get opinions on the possible area of manufacture for this horn that has intrigued me for many years. Butt is slightly domed and appears to be pine. Dimensions: outside curve 14-1/2", inside curve 12-1/2", butt diameter 2-5/8".

Shelby Gallien

(https://i.ibb.co/R3gqJ5c/horn-SC-front-2.jpg) (https://ibb.co/9bp7dMW)

(https://i.ibb.co/K92rKb8/horn-SC-rear-2.jpg) (https://ibb.co/dQP5mjH)
Title: Re: A Southern "Alligator" Powder Horn - Where Was It Made?
Post by: Keith Zimmerman on July 14, 2023, 09:41:22 AM
No idea.  But I really like it.
Title: Re: A Southern "Alligator" Powder Horn - Where Was It Made?
Post by: Notchy Bob on July 14, 2023, 01:06:02 PM
Quote from: Keith Zimmerman on July 14, 2023, 09:41:22 AM
No idea.  But I really like it.

Same here.  I’ve not seen an alligator motif on a horn before, but I love it!

Alligators are a fact of life down here in Florida.

Notchy Bob
Title: Re: A Southern "Alligator" Powder Horn - Where Was It Made?
Post by: T.C.Albert on July 17, 2023, 04:16:34 PM
South Carolina.
Tim A
Title: Re: A Southern "Alligator" Powder Horn - Where Was It Made?
Post by: TDM on August 05, 2023, 02:51:26 AM
Very neat and unusual horn. Wonder if it could have been made outside North America?
Title: Re: A Southern "Alligator" Powder Horn - Where Was It Made?
Post by: AZshot on August 05, 2023, 03:26:24 AM
Very nice.  The range of alligators went all the way up into North Carolina in the old days.  But FL is probably the most common place.  Don't know any other ID features to place it though.
Title: Re: A Southern "Alligator" Powder Horn - Where Was It Made?
Post by: Seth Isaacson on August 10, 2023, 05:48:42 PM
There are still around a 1,000 in North Carolina and 100,000 in South Carolina. Most of the bigger populations are in the Deep South. Louisiana actually has more than anywhere else with an estimated 2 million followed by around 1.3 million in Florida and around half a million in Texas.
Title: Re: A Southern "Alligator" Powder Horn - Where Was It Made?
Post by: bama on October 17, 2023, 01:11:10 AM
Shelby, I believe that this horn may be related to a group of horns I have acquired that I believe may have been owned by sailors. I am just now starting to research them to get a better knowledge of where they may have been made or where the horn to make them originated. Take a look at the horn I just posted. Your horn has many of the same decorations. Let me know what you think.

Jim
Title: Re: A Southern "Alligator" Powder Horn - Where Was It Made?
Post by: wattlebuster on October 22, 2023, 11:28:00 AM
Love that horn. Thanks for posting