Another Tansel Powder Horn Loses its Original Bag ©
Foreword: Back in the 1950s and 1960s when American longrifles and powder horns were becoming more valuable and collectable, the old leather hunting bags that accompanied them were often overlooked. If damaged with dry rot, broken straps, or open seams, they were often discarded. Awareness of their historic value grew more slowly, and in the process many less-than-perfect hunting bags were lost. Today bag & horn sets are sought after by collectors, and damaged bags are often restored so they can remain with their companion horns. Unfortunately, a few collectors and dealers still fail to recognize the historic value in damaged hunting bags… even when accompanied by a Tansel powder horn.
A Tansel Powder Horn & Bag: About ten years ago, a complete hunter’s outfit was offered for sale on the upscale “Michael Simens’ Historical Antiques” website www.historicalarms.com. The outfit consisted of a rather plain full-stocked rifle with its original “calf’s knee” cover on the lock and a well-used hunting bag with an attached Tansel powder horn and turned bone powder measure. The author saw the outfit and called to discuss it with Mr. Simens, but he did not buy the lot since it was pricy, and the very plain rifle did not enhance the ensemble. A significant piece in the set was the powder measure, which related well to the horn since it was a "Tansel style" measure of turned bone, similar to other known bone measures still with original Tansel horns. The outfit intrigued the author due to the Tansel powder horn and bone measure… but not enough to pay the asking price.
Figure No.1: This image shows the Tansel powder horn with its original outfit: full-stock rifle, hunting bag, and turned bone powder measure offered for sale by Michael Simens’ Historical Antiques.
Figure No.2: Another view of the Tansel powder horn and Tansel-style turned bone powder measure was posted by Michael Simens Historical Antiques when available for purchase about ten years ago.
Figure No.3: The Michael Simens Tansel powder horn was noteworthy for its fierce looking lion just below the federal eagle, with an Indian figure behind the lion with a bow in one hand and arrow in the other.
A “New” Horn Shows Up: Several years ago while at an antique gun show, the author came across an interesting Tansel horn with a "fierce" lion and two hunting dogs. Based on the shape of the dogs, the neatness of the corner cuts in the fish-mouth, and the rounded style of strap retaining ring, the unsigned horn was made about 1836-1838 in Hendricks County, Indiana, by Stark Tansel, the older brother of the better-known carver Tim Tansel. Since identifiable Stark Tansel horns are much rarer than Tim Tansel horns, the author purchased the horn despite heavy bag wear on the back side that removed part of a dog and two deer.
Figure No.4: This is the “fierce” lion on one of the author’s many Tansel powder horns that prompted him to look through his Tansel records to see where he had seen it in before. He found an old Michael Simens Historical Antiques advertisement from years earlier that showed the same horn with its rifle, bag, and powder measure when it was for sale on his website.
Unsettling Discovery: A few years later, when the author was studying several of his Indiana Tansel powder horns, he thought he recognized a lion figure on one of his horns that he had seen somewhere in the past. He reviewed his files of Tansel horn photos and found a picture of the same horn with the “fierce” lion figure. The image came from an old internet posting on the Michael Simen’s militaria website; the author had seen the horn and its companion pieces and became interested in it. The horn was part of a larger outfit that included a full-stocked rifle, hunting bag, and bone powder measure along with the Tansel horn. The author was irritated to find that one of his Tansel powder horns had been part of a complete outfit with rifle, original hunting bag, and powder measure a few years before he purchased it, and now those items were separated and gone. The set had been parted out with the horn sold separately from its bag and companion pieces. Original Tansel horn & bag sets are rare, and ones with powder measures even rarer. When original sets are broken up, much of their historical value is lost. While the horn can be dated and its origin determined, the companion pieces, once separated from the horn, are left with almost no historical connection. The author struggles to understand why anyone would break up a significant bag & horn set in this modern era of collecting, causing a loss in both financial and historical value of the individual items.
Figure No.5: The front side of the author’s Tansel horn with the “fierce” lion has many standard Tansel figures including its fish-mouth throat, large federal eagle with “E Pluribus Unum” banner in its beak, two Tansel “S” scrolls, and scalloped borders on either end. The clean notch in the fish-mouth and spout’s ball-type strap retaining ring suggest Stark Tansel made the horn.
Figure No.6: The back side of the Tansel powder horn shows years of use and wear, with parts of the scalloped borders, dog, and two deer being obliterated. The cleanly cut “V” in the fish-mouth with engrailment around its edges suggest the work of either John or Stark Tansel rather than Tim, while the round strap retaining ring suggests Stark was the horn carver.
Figure No.7: This dog figure with its collar, shorter ears, and spindly legs and tail resembles Stark Tansel’s work, as does the extra surface layer of hair along the dog’s back.
Figure No.8: Just behind the lion is a well-dressed Indian with a bow in one hand and arrow [hard to see] in the other hand, apparently hunting both the lion and two deer on this horn.
Summary: Despite the author’s frustration with discovering one of his Tansel powder horns had been part of a larger set only a few years before he acquired it, at least he had records and images of the original set before it was parted out and dispersed. Unfortunately, those same records probably did not accompany the lesser items after their sale. This Tansel horn documents a frustrating [and hopefully diminishing] situation for today’s powder horns collectors, the ongoing separation of original bag & horn sets by a few collectors and dealers who still see little value in beat-up, ratty looking old hunting bags. At times they think such damaged items should be discarded so they don’t “detract” from the sale of the more valuable horns. When this occurs, no matter how tattered the old leather bag has become, significant historical knowledge and value is lost to future generations or collectors and researchers.