Need help dating these

[Tim Ault]

I’m not good at dating things like this but these came from my great uncle one is a metal powder flask the other is a leather shot bag there’s a dog hunting scene on both sides of it bag is pretty rough as the stitching is torn on the one half .  Are these 20th  century or earlier ?    Thanks Tim

[TDM]

They sure look 19th century to me. Very nice.

[mr. no gold]

Nice family items, Tim. Thank you for the jpegs showing them; much appreciated. Most likely dates for these are sometime in the last half of the 1800s. My take is sometime between 1850 and 1880, used with a shot gun most likely. Shot flask is nice and is leather of course; can't tell if the metal flask is zinc or pewter, but it too is nice. Don't clean them or otherwise try to 'improve' them. Could ruin the value.
Dick

[Tim Ault]

Thank you for the knowledge . I will lightly clean them with an old tooth brush just to knock the loose dirt of of them and put them on display  the flask is fairly light I was thinking it was copper  you can see a solder joint at the bottom of it

[Pukka Bundook]

Powder flask looks like zinc to me, Tim.
A drop of oil may help it, as zinc flasks tend to oxidise badly at times.
These were made so long that it very hard to put a date on them. Anywhere from 1840 to late 19th century I would say.
If you give both a bit of a rub on the charger or tops, there could be a name of the maker, but if it says  Hawksley or Bartram, or Sykes, they made millions for all that time period it seems!
I'd tend to lube the powder flask charger a bit to free it up., ensure spring and such doesn't rust further.
The charger will unscrew from the flask as this is a "fireproof" or patent top.
Back in the UK, these are usually kept bulled up bright, but here there are differing  thoughts!

[Tim Ault]

Thanks yea the flask is oxidized inside some and the spring in the spout is broken already I would assume it was spring loaded , the charger head on  the shot bag still works smooth as silk

[Dutch Blacky]

Pukka Bundook has already written everything important about the powder flask. Body made of zinc  with patent top and internal spring. The décor looks like that of the numbers 336 or 349 in the Riling (shell and bush) (Quote: Flask Figure 336 is an unmarked  common zinc  flask with characteristics of a Capewall design. For another specimen with patent top by the same maker see Flask figure 349)


The shot flask looks very much like the number 1458 (p. 432) in The Powder Flask Book by Riling.