John Proud Tansel

[Larry Pletcher]

There's a marvelous Tansel on the Contemporary site made by John Proud.  If you don't check this site every day, you may miss some great stuff. 

Regards,
Pletch

[Ken G]

Great looking horn. 

Now, to show my lack of knowledge.  What makes a Tansel Horn a Tansel Horn? 

Thanks,
Ken

[The other DWS]

as a further exhibition of ignorance,  who/whe/where/ was "Tansel"?  I somewhere got it in my head he was from IN and from one of the towns I call on regularly, but I forget which one--green-something, which only narrows it down to half a dozen or so

[D. Taylor Sapergia]

Fabulous horn!!  And I love the theme of the scrimshaw...a great companion for my fowler!

[G-Man]

"Tanselman" (Shelby Gallien) is an expert and had a series of several great articles about the Tansel family and their work in Muzzle Blasts a few years ago.  Hopefully he will answer your questions.

There have also been some good discussion on here - below is one:


http://americanlongrifles.org/forum/index.php?topic=1531.15

I believe the first horn maker in the family was Francis who arrived here from France after the Revolution and migrated through Virginia, to Scott County Kentucky, and later the family moved on with the sons producing horns in Indiana, maybe western Ohio as well(?).  If I am not mistaken the known horns span the period from around 1790 to the 1840s give or take a few years.


Guy

[T.C.Albert]

Ken..horns made by members of the Tansel family had a look and style all their own...the dates are like Guy says... Francis was the father...and John, Stark and Timothy were the sons, their work is similar enough to be confusing at first...once you've seen it, the charistic style and carving is unmistakably "Tansel"...checking out Shelby's articles (it was a 2 part series I think) in M.B. is definately the very best way to go...

John has captured very well the look of the originals.
TCA

[Leatherbelly]

http://contemporarymakers.blogspot.com/2010/04/john-proud-after-john-tansel-horn.html

Hey Taylor! It sure would compliment my old fowler now, wouldn't it.Wow, beautigrade horn!! Love it.Did all the Tansel's do the fish mouth type throat transition?

[Larry Pletcher]

http://contemporarymakers.blogspot.com/2010/04/john-proud-after-john-tansel-horn.html

Hey Taylor! It sure would compliment my old fowler now, wouldn't it.Wow, beautigrade horn!! Love it.  Did all the Tansel's do the fish mouth type throat transition?

I was going back through some old posts and realized that nobody answered your question.  Yes , the fish mouth is a characteristic of all the Tansel horns.  The eagle is on almost all Tansels, as well as the stylized dog and deer.  BTW, Art's horn class at Conners Prairie 2 years ago was on Tansels.  He makes a superb Tansel too.

As a sidebar, when traveling south on 465 west of Indianapolis recently, I turned west to go to O'Reilly Raceway Park and crossed Tansel Avenue - another piece of evidence that the Tansels spent time around Indianapolis and Noblesville.
Regards,
Pletch