A Southern "Alligator" Powder Horn - Where Was It Made?

[Tanselman]

I would like to share another interesting powder horn. I first saw this horn years ago in Jim Dresslar's collection. It later appeared on a dealer's table at a large show and I bought it due to its somewhat different, southern appearance. I spent a lot of winters down in Florida and saw a number of nearby Georgia horns while antiquing with my wife. They often had the cross-hatched raised band, or a cross-hatched spout, so it may be a coastal Georgia horn... or anywhere else where they had alligators! I'd like to get opinions on the possible area of manufacture for this horn that has intrigued me for many years. Butt is slightly domed and appears to be pine. Dimensions: outside curve 14-1/2", inside curve 12-1/2", butt diameter 2-5/8".

Shelby Gallien

[Keith Zimmerman]

No idea.  But I really like it.

[Notchy Bob]

No idea.  But I really like it.

Same here.  I’ve not seen an alligator motif on a horn before, but I love it!

Alligators are a fact of life down here in Florida.

Notchy Bob

[T.C.Albert]

South Carolina.
Tim A

[TDM]

Very neat and unusual horn. Wonder if it could have been made outside North America?

[AZshot]

Very nice.  The range of alligators went all the way up into North Carolina in the old days.  But FL is probably the most common place.  Don't know any other ID features to place it though.

[Seth Isaacson]

There are still around a 1,000 in North Carolina and 100,000 in South Carolina. Most of the bigger populations are in the Deep South. Louisiana actually has more than anywhere else with an estimated 2 million followed by around 1.3 million in Florida and around half a million in Texas.

[bama]

Shelby, I believe that this horn may be related to a group of horns I have acquired that I believe may have been owned by sailors. I am just now starting to research them to get a better knowledge of where they may have been made or where the horn to make them originated. Take a look at the horn I just posted. Your horn has many of the same decorations. Let me know what you think.

Jim

[wattlebuster]

Love that horn. Thanks for posting