I picked up a carved powder horn at the recent Conestoga Auction Company's firearms auction that was listed as a Pennsylvania folk art horn. Kind of interesting story about the horn. The horn is a "Mercer County School" horn from Ohio, but not as heavily decorated as most Mercer County horns, and not as large as some. In fact, it was missing a lot of the normal figures that show up repeatedly on Mercer County horns, so I thought it would go fast and cheap.
A year ago I'd submitted an article, "Mercer County Powder Horns, Ohio's Little-Known Gems," to MUZZLE BLASTS magazine with off-and-on difficulties getting all photos to them. Well, it was finally published in the March issue, just before the auction, which made more people aware of these horns, so the bidding went higher than expected... bad timing for the article! But there's a twist to this less-decorated, rather sparce and unusual Mercer County horn, and the reason why I bought it.
Of the 30+ Mercer County horns I've seen, I think this horn was the carver's personal horn. He was William Dunwoody and usually signed with his initials, but once in a while used his full name. This horn has his initials in LARGE, PROMINENT letters with the date "1843" underneath. I've never seen his initials this large or bold and taking up so much space on a horn, like a centerpiece on the horn, and there is no other owner's name or initials on the horn, just the traditional Masonic "square & compass" symbol seen on most Mercer County horns. That makes me think this horn was the carver's personal horn, not the fanciest, but with the largest initials [without any other name/initials] on any of his horns. Typical walnut Mercer Co. plug with integral nose button, standard spout, and 13" outside curve.
Anyway, thought this might brighten up the thread this evening.
Shelby Gallien
