Author Topic: Advice requested on powder horns  (Read 1263 times)

Offline Dutch Blacky

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Advice requested on powder horns
« on: February 17, 2023, 10:07:26 PM »

I got a question for the experts who are familiar with antique powder horns: I am in contact with a dealer who offers these powder horns

https://www.ebay.de/itm/185626865487?hash=item2b38392f4f:g:oyUAAOSw6cpjUoiu&amdata=enc%3AAQAHAAAAoK%2B5vaoWI1d%2FDfjBFxwTPU2RraDIAAv5%2FTXtJl8Uh81O9JwNshwKY0jiSUkrtKlOhVhPX2n86i0PUY8YnKkpUk%2BHQZty0%2Blb3qm6%2Bynt6f088UWQ7XullUek5WrePkWhQBYZNSuYykhARxibUppmJzhoT%2F2Dhp7dtcbIEMYM3pBlCLqtejs0j04qwt%2B3fPuUqHanlgmLBN4cHoYjDePaTGw%3D%7Ctkp%3ABk9SR47ch5PLYQ














The dealer bought them in England. They are said to be 150-year-old english powder horns. I have some doubts. I suspect they originally came from the former Ottoman dominion in southeastern Europe, and had only been in a collection in England.

What is the opinion of the experts on this? Could they be english powder horns or not?

Offline T*O*F

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Re: Advice requested on powder horns
« Reply #1 on: February 17, 2023, 10:17:41 PM »
Looks like quill work on them.  Did they have porcupines in the Ottoman Empire?
Dave Kanger

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Offline Daryl

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Re: Advice requested on powder horns
« Reply #2 on: February 17, 2023, 10:34:23 PM »
That was my guess too, Dave. I also had the thought of China/Taiwan..
Daryl

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Offline Dutch Blacky

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Re: Advice requested on powder horns
« Reply #3 on: February 17, 2023, 11:25:00 PM »
Looks like quill work on them.  Did they have porcupines in the Ottoman Empire?


Not in southeastern Europe.
But there has been intensive trading with India and Africa.

Online Tim Crosby

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Re: Advice requested on powder horns
« Reply #4 on: February 17, 2023, 11:29:13 PM »
 Never seen anything like them before. The braiding looks like a combination of the same skin that is used on the horn and maybe a rawhide of some sort. The skin looks like it came from a reptile of some sort.
 
   Tim

 "Made entirely of natural materials, these two matching large powder horns are a real antique and rarity. The body is made of wood and horn and is artfully decorated with leather. Many decades ago, a hunter once transported his gunpowder in it, possibly that it is also pure decoration exhibits. As a lover of special pieces, you will surely enjoy these unique pieces."
« Last Edit: February 17, 2023, 11:41:13 PM by Tim Crosby »

Offline mr. no gold

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Re: Advice requested on powder horns
« Reply #5 on: February 17, 2023, 11:31:16 PM »
Not western, and could even be southeastern Asia. The bamboo weaving suggests such an origin. Perhaps the Philipines even? Might include Africa in that sphere of conjecture, too.
Dick

Offline Cory McArtor

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Re: Advice requested on powder horns
« Reply #6 on: February 19, 2023, 03:24:55 PM »
Looks like quill work on them.  Did they have porcupines in the Ottoman Empire?

I once found some porcupine quills in the mountains in northern Iraq.

https://www.rudaw.net/english/kurdistan/14012021

Offline Longknife

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Re: Advice requested on powder horns
« Reply #7 on: February 19, 2023, 04:38:34 PM »
That's not quill. looks like long strands of ???? woven into the leather?




Ed Hamberg

Offline Ky-Flinter

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Re: Advice requested on powder horns
« Reply #8 on: February 19, 2023, 10:16:19 PM »
Definitely not quill. 

Ron
Ron Winfield

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Online Tim Crosby

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Re: Advice requested on powder horns
« Reply #9 on: February 20, 2023, 12:24:04 AM »
The braiding looks like a combination of the same skin that is used on the horn and maybe a rawhide of some sort. The skin looks like it came from a reptile of some sort.
 

 Some of it still looks like the same leather as one used on the cover. TC

Offline mr. no gold

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Re: Advice requested on powder horns
« Reply #10 on: February 20, 2023, 02:23:34 AM »
Come to think of it, the Hmong and Montanyards and other mountain people in Vietnam and Laos had single shot ML guns that to our eye are rather primitive. Not sure what kind of powder containers they relied upon, but these might qualify.
Dick

Offline Jeff Murray

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Re: Advice requested on powder horns
« Reply #11 on: February 23, 2023, 05:39:18 AM »
the weaving material could be bamboo or some type of basket weaving material.  Agree it does not look anthing like quill.

Offline JSMOSBY

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Re: Advice requested on powder horns
« Reply #12 on: February 23, 2023, 06:02:08 PM »
Several years ago I bought a forged 8" fixed blade side knife with weaving covering the grip that looked like very similar.  Wasn't sure if it was quill but I bought it for the blade anyway.  Showed the knife to several people and they said definitely not quill and probably African.  When I removed the grip I found that the hand carved wood core had been burned thru from end to end to accommodate the tang, it was wrapped with black electrical friction tape to bond the woven fiber (not quill) in place.  Glad I just bought and repurposed the blade.

Offline Dutch Blacky

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Re: Advice requested on powder horns
« Reply #13 on: February 25, 2023, 11:43:02 AM »
First of all, thank you very much for all the helpful contributions and assessments.

Sometimes I come across an antique on the net, where I get a strange feeling in view of the description. Huh? Something is wrong, but my own expertise is not enough to concretize this feeling. This was also the case with the powder horns presented above. I can well imagine that many objects from the colonies ended up in England, and nobody knows where the stuff really came from.

Thanks again
« Last Edit: February 25, 2023, 02:20:04 PM by Dutch Blacky »