Powderhorn: Authentic antique?

[Molly]

Anyone have any thoughts on the ring attachment points?

I have one or two horns with those ring attachments and they are "old" maybe 1850's or so.  The rings are essentially identical to those you find on many metal powder flasks.  I suspect there was a commercial source for them back when flasks were produced OR they may have been salvaged from a broken flask by a frustrated owner who found "horn" more durable that metal flasks.

[mr. no gold]

The 'carry rings' on the horn in question appear to be antique drawer pulls. They were often used for this purpose. Very efficient!
Dick

[Bob Gerard]

What seems very peculiar is that (from what I can see in the photos) almost all the inscribed lines on the tree appear exactly the same width and depth, as if milled in rather than scratched or carved. Just raises a big question for me.
My gut feeling is that the horn is old but the carvings are not original to the piece.

[Hungry Horse]

I think this horn was decorate with a wood burning iron. The lines are too wide. Also, there are a lot of lines about the length of the narrowest tip on a wood burning tool. The colorant looks more like paint than ink, and fills the cuts more.

 Hungry Horse

[pilot]

I've seen a horn with grooves made with a wood burning tool.  The lines didn't have consistent width.  The lines were also black from the burning.  It may have been the lack of skill on the part of the guy that used the wood burner on this particular horn or may be indicative of that kind of tool.  It didn't look anything like the grooves in this horn.  I'd be more willing to agree with the use of a narrow vee shaped gouge.