Tansel powder horns were dropped and damaged at times, just like other horns. Based on my horns and others I've handled, I'd estimate about 40% of known Tansel horns have damaged/replaced plugs. Sometimes the original plug would be resized a little and remounted after the damaged area was "cleaned up" back to solid horn. Other times a new plug was installed on the shortened horn. At times losses were small, often just slightly past the plug's original small nails where most damage started from, but other times a significant chunk of horn was lost along with its carving... but at least the horn survived.
A Tansel horn in my collection was damaged and then salvaged, and it has a partial story behind it. The horn lost about one and a half inches from its base when the damaged area was removed. The owner then decided to convert it to a blowing horn... used to call dogs back in those days... and perhaps wondering children. The conversion job was done in a careful manner, showing the horn was still valued despite its damage and partial loss. A coin silver band was fitted around the thin open end and attached with small brass rivets. The band, while decorative, was probably more to protect the thin end from further splitting if bumped or dropped again; the band also provided a small silver loop for attaching a cord at the front/open end.
The spout also had a silver band added, quite a bit wider and slid over the spout tip. It was held in place by two brass pins near the outer end that held the band to the horn spout, while also holding a nicely turned horn mouthpiece in place. Overall, the "recycled" blowing horn shows some ingenuity and how much the owner valued it, even after sustaining major damage.
A partial history accompanied the horn. An older lady in Kansas City, Missouri, who had lived in the same house her family occupied for several generations, decided to sell the old family horn. The blowing horn had been in the family for as long as she could remember, and when it was no longer used, it was hung by a cord on the kitchen wall. When the lady took it down to sell it, it left a "shape of the horn" on the wall where it had hung for years... from the paint darkening around it over many years aided by cooking oils and smoke, but not behind it where the wall was protected.
The salvaged blowing horn has the following dimensions [including the horn mouthpiece]: outside curve = 12-1/2," inside curve = 10-3/4."
Shelby Gallien
