Another Tansel Horn & Bag Set Loses Its Original Bag.... Ouch!

[Tanselman]

I was going through some of my newer Tansel horns from the last few years, and I thought I recognized one of them from somewhere else. It didn't take long to remember, due to the weird looking lion on the horn. It sold 10 to 15 years ago on an internet site, accompanied by its original bag, powder measure, and rifle. At that time, I didn't get excited about it due to the price... which I thought was a little high for the quality and condition of the set.

A few years ago, I picked up an interesting Tansel horn... interesting because of its odd-looking lion and dog with long, curling skinny tail. Not a great horn, but the price was OK, so I bought it. Recently it dawned on me that it was the one that sold some years ago with its bag, measure and rifle. I checked out an old internet image I had kept, and I was right. I thought then the bag & horn were probably a legitimate set due to their somewhat matching condition, and the powder measure was a turned bone measure of the type most often found with original Tansel bag & horn sets. The loss of the bag reminded me about the recent post on Mercer County powder horns, and a small one I acquired that had recently lost its original bag. It's hard to explain why this happens, but it's an unfortunate event since there are very few surviving original Tansel bag & horn sets.

Shelby Gallien



This was the posted image of the complete Tansel bag & horn set when for sale years ago.





This is the odd lion that caught my attention and made me check out old images, to see if I had seen it before.

[jdm]

Shelby, This is a bit of a sore point with me also.Some people don't have a feeling for the importance the history of an item makes to others. .To see what items were parred with a rifle or horn is a rare treat and sometimes a surprizing one. Perhaps in this case sense there is a picture of them together there is at least a chance they may be reunited .   I'm gald you bought the horn. Thanks for posting.   Jim

[James Rogers]

Shelby, This is a bit of a sore point with me also.Some people don't have a feeling for the importance the history of an item makes to others. .To see what items were parred with a rifle or horn is a rare treat and sometimes a surprizing one. Perhaps in this case sense there is a picture of them together there is at least a chance they may be reunited .   I'm gald you bought the horn. Thanks for posting.   Jim

Then on the opposite side of the coin we have a plethora of paired up horns, bags and other sundry items that were never part of a set or even owned by the same people originally. Many have been published as sets.

[T.C.Albert]

Yep, what James said for sure. And then original sets really need to be kept together and recognized as such. They really are getting rare I’m afraid. And like Shelby points out, apparently getting rarer all the time.
Tim A