Rev war powder horn from 1775

[Dave B]

This is one of those moments you treasure. I had one of my patients tell me his dad collected Rev war stuff and did colonial living history and left him a colonial powder horn and flintlock musket. He brought both into the office today. Here are some shots of the horn. My hands were shaking so bad I had a hard time taking the pictures. The name on the horn as you can kind of read is William Farwell  followed by 1775. There is a panel under the date with what appears to be  d d  possibly the initials of the maker?  He loned it to me for the next two weeks to document it and share with you all to see if any recognize the carving style.  It has a couple of holes where an Iron staple was indicating it was used as a left hand carry. The horn measures thirteen and a half inches on the bottom side of the curve and the tip section is 2 inches long. The diamater of the base plug is 2 1/2"


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[B. Hey]

Quite a discovery, Dave. Your shaky hands are understandable. Will be good to hear if anyone can tell us more about the horn. Take care .. .Bill

[rich pierce]

That's just terrific!  I love that it's all original and doesn't look like it was inked yesterday.  This one is undoubtedly carved and inked by an ordinary guy, not a pro.  But it's very charming and many of the motifs and styles common to that era are present.  A real treasure.

[Don Getz]

Rich.......love that horn, plain, simple.......would go great with a barn gun.    If you think about it, there had to be many,
many horns made this way, but, because they were simple, did not attract the collectors as much as the fancy stuff, much
like guns.   Even today, you can spend hours scraping a horn, turning it into a simple, plain horn like this and you'd have
trouble selling it............Don

[Don Getz]

My comments above refer to the simple overall architecture of the horn, not the rather simple scrimshawing on the horn.
It is great to see a horn of this vintage, and shows that not all the horns had elaborate carvings on them.....these are
really interesting...........Don

[trentOH]

I suppose there could be any number of William Farwells, but a quick search found a minister by that name at that time frame, and a captain too, I think in Stark's regiment. Have you learned anything about your Mr. Farwell?

[Tim Crosby]

 Great horn, Thanks for posting. Wouldn't it be something to see all the others that are hidden? I'm sure they will be popping out for generations to come.

 Tim C.

[BlackleafHats]

NICE FIND! Thanks for Sharing.

[Jefferson58]

That is just a wonderful original there! To me, the more simplistic, rustic decoration is often the most attractive and endearing. These weren't made by pros, but usually by the owner.

Great stuff, thanks for sharing it.

Jeff

[skillman]

Dave
Really interesting find. Please get all the pics and measurments you can. Maybe bring them to the Gunmakers Fair. Talk to you soon.
Steve

[Dave B]

TrentOH,
I looked up the name on the Daughters of the American Revoulution and found a William Farwell that was a sergeant from the New Hampshire area serving with the 3rd NH Reg. I see the back of the horn has a NH carved into the plug ..... Maybe for New Hampshire ?
Its fun to speculate.

Steve, I will get the measurements for you.

[Cory Joe Stewart]

What a treasure you have found.

Coryjoe

[Clark Badgett]

I think I have now found the basis for my first horn.

[Tim Crosby]

Steve, I will get the measurements for you.

 If you will, please post them here also.

 Thanks, Tim C.

[Dave B]

Here are some additional measurements from the horn:
spout hole opening   = 5/16"

spout width at tip      =  1/2"

spout length      =  2"

diam of spout at large end  = 1"

diam of neck down area      =  3/4"

the circumference of the necked portion  = 2 3/4"

the circumference of the plug end  = 8 1/16"


I found there are two addtional pannels one with a name AMAZIA that is covered by a portion of the turtle and the other with the initials P R  that were upside down under the date 1775.

[msw]

I forget, from time to time, that a good part of the fun of this whole deal is that every so often , something like this pops to he surface.  Thanks for sharing it with us!