The Most Sought After Tansel Horn, The Tansel Cup ©
Foreword: All Tansel powder horns are highly regarded by collectors, from the earliest ones made in Kentucky to the later ones from Indiana. Collectors may argue at times about variations in quality and decoration and disagree on which horns are the best carved or most historically important, but one fact remains clear… every collector wants to own a Tansel horn cup. Perhaps less than a dozen Tansel cups are known today, with several in museums, so very few collectors have enjoyed owning a cup. Two Tansel cups are illustrated here, one made by Timothy Tansel in 1841, and the other by Stark Tansel about 1847. Among the known cups, there is no “best” or “worst;” each surviving cup is a unique treasure to be cherished and protected as it travels forward through time.
Figure No.1a: This Tansel cup has typical figures that appear on most Tansel cups: a federal eagle with shielded breast and “E Pluribus Unum” banner in its beak, hunting dogs chasing deer, and large scalloped borders at rim and base.
Figure No.1b: The bottoms of most horn cups, including ones made by the Tansels, are discs of flattened horn with tapered edges chimed into a groove cut inside the cup’s base. The center mark of the disc, a dimple, can be seen on this cup’s bottom.
Tansel Family Recollections: The author was able to communicate with several of the oldest surviving Tansel family members in the early 1980s, including the unofficial “family historian,” who all lived in Indiana at the time and provided bits of information about the early generations. Two factors became evident: 1) the Tansel family was unaware of any earlier Tansel family members carving powder horns or cups, and 2) a few Tansels knew about decorated horn cups in the family but had no knowledge of who made them. When family members were asked if they had seen a decorated powder horn, no one recalled such an item. But one aged “cousin” remembered her family had “an old powder horn rolled up in a brown paper bag and put up on a shelf somewhere, but it was nothing special.” When the author asked about it, she said she would look for it when she got home, and if it had anything on it, she or another “cousin” would call him. A week later he got a phone call from the family historian, and she blurted out that her “cousin” had found the old horn in a bag and to her surprise, it was “covered with animals.” It also had “two odd little things” tied to it [the original powder measures]. The discovery of the long-forgotten Tansel powder horn began to get Indiana Tansel family members excited about their family’s history and the decorated powder horns their ancestors made.
When the family historian was asked about horn cups, she said a few family members were aware of a “set of cups” being in the family for several generations. She had not seen the cups, nor was she sure if the cups were a set, or if several separate cups existed within the family but were assumed to be a set since they were rather similar. She had no knowledge of where the cups came from, or where they had gone. But her comments offered a “spark” of recollection about horn cups in the Tansel family. The horn cup illustrated in Figures No. 2 is one of those “lost” family cups.
Cup Survival: Tansel cups were smaller and simpler to make than powder horns, so a good number of them were probably made. The primary use of decorated horn cups, in the author’s opinion, was for drinking whiskey/alcohol, similar to the silver mint julep cups of central Kentucky where the early Tansels lived. Cups were not needed when drinking from a stream or water bucket, but when liquor was involved, no one wanted to waste any and each partaker wanted his share, so drinking cups were highly useful. But if horn cups were common frontier items and decorated about as often as powder horns, why have so few decorated cups survived compared to decorated powder horns? The answer may be found in the frailty of cups compared to powder horns. Powder horns are solid at both ends, with the weaker mouth of the horn well supported and braced by a wooden plug and plug nails. Cups are solid only at the base, with an unsupported lip of thinner horn that was prone to chip and crack [or worse] when heavily bumped or dropped. The unsupported rim could also warp over time, i.e., go out-of-round, causing wall cracks that could ruin a cup without trauma. Powder horns probably survived most bumps and drops, but when damage did occur, they could be patched, repaired, or cut back and re-plugged for continued use, while a damaged cup, when badly chipped or cracked, was ruined.
Sequence of Cups: The author has never seen or heard of a cup by Francis Tansel… but one may exist. In the mid-1990s a small auction house in Vermont advertised an antiques auction. Among the many items, several were listed separately as “Items of Interest” with one being described as: Rare horn cup with carved eagle signed John Stark with ABC’s. The author called the auction house several times before and after the auction, but never got an answer or call-back, and the auction house closed later that year. The referenced horn cup has remained a mystery, but its decorative elements suggest it was an early cup by Francis Tansel that recognized his first two sons, John and Stark, when young and learning their a-b-c’s. John was born in 1800, Stark in 1803, and third son Timothy in 1810. The cup was probably made by Francis Tansel in Kentucky between 1806 and 1809. Despite the lack of a known Franci Tansel cup, two later cups with interesting provenances provide good study pieces.
Figure 2a: This fine Tansel cup is signed “Tim Tansel” above the head of a well-dressed man with his wife in front of him. The cup was reportedly Timothy Tansel’s personal cup, and the figures may represent Timothy and his wife. Names placed above or below Tansel figures usually identify the figure. Cup height: 4.0 inches. Author’s collection.
Figure 2b: To the right of the man is a well-dressed lady that may represent his wife, The couple appears to be meeting General William H. Harrison, whose name is overhead. These remarkable images suggest that Timothy Tansel and his wife met General William H. Harrison, and Timothy later documented the event on a cup.
First Cup: The first Tansel cup is seen in Figures No.2a, 2b, 2c, 2d and was one of the family historian’s “rumored” cups that were in the Tansel family for generations. The author learned about the cup while doing research in a Midwest historical society, was able to track it down, and eventually contacted the owner who provided the cup’s history. The cup is dated “1841” and signed “Tim Tansel.” It was Timothy Tansel’s personal cup and remained with his descendants for several generations, passed down to the next generation’s oldest child named Timothy. After several generations, Timothy’s line failed to produce a descendant named “Timothy,” so the cup was given to a descendant of Stark Tansel named “Timothy Tansel.” The cup stayed in Stark’s line for many years until it finally was sold out of the family. The author was contacted by the last Tansel owner and allowed to acquire the cup due to his research and published articles on Tansel powder horns. The family thought he would be a good caretaker of their family heirloom.
Figure No.2c: The back side of the “Tim Tansel” cup has the usual federal eagle with an “E Pluribus Unum” banner in its beak and a dog chasing a deer. Eagles are the centerpiece of most Tansel articles, but here the Gen. Wm. H. Harrison scene dominates the artwork; the eagle is reduced in size and moved to the cup’s back side.
Figure No.2d: To the right of Gen. Harrison is an American flag with typical Tansel “scroll” to its right. The year “1841” appears above the flag. The well-decorated cup has several “standard” Tansel details, including the large Tansel-style scallops at the cup’s base and rim that appear on most Tansel powder horns.
Second Cup: The cup is unsigned but exhibits details specific to Stark Tansel’s work; it is shown in Figures No.3a, 3b, 3c, 3d. The cup’s provenance states its first owner was David R. Turpin of Hendricks County, Indiana, and he carried it, along with a Tansel powder horn, to the California gold fields about 1850. The Turpin family was acquainted with the Tansels; Timothy Tansel and Stark Tansel’s first wife and several children are buried in the Turpin Family Cemetery in Hendricks County, Indiana. A view of the old cemetery is shown in Figure No.4. About 25 years ago, an elderly descendant of David Turpin in California sold the cup and powder horn at auction. The author won the cup, but the powder horn went to another bidder. Turpin’s initials, “D. R. T.,” are boldly carved below the eagle on the front of the cup. The cup was made several years after the “1841” cup based on the eagle’s top wing feathers being separated from the lower wing, indicating a date of 1846-1849… just in time for Turpin to head west with the “forty-niners.”
Figure No.3a: The front of the Turpin cup has a typical Tansel eagle with “E Pluribus Unum” banner and overhead stars. Below the eagle, David Turpin added his initials “D. R. T.” so everyone including would-be thieves would know who owned the cup. Author’s collection.
Figure No.3b: To the right of the eagle are two animals, a resting deer with folded legs, and an oddly shaped dog with curvy tail. The two “slightly different” animals support the cup’s attribution to Stark Tansel, who liked to stray from the normal figures and details at times.
Figure No.3c: The back of the Turpin cup has figures of a well-dressed man and woman. The shading of the man’s trousers suggests Stark’s hand. The man and woman figures imply the cup was made for a couple, perhaps Turpin and his wife or sweetheart. Height: 3-3/8 inches.
Figure No.3d: The man in the prior figure is gazing at the lady who is dressed in her finest clothes, hair curled, and smelling roses that symbolizes love. The theme suggests the cup was made to remind Turpin of his wife or sweetheart when he left for California in 1850.
Summary: Tansel horn cups are rare items, with less than a dozen examples known. Unlike the sturdier Tansel powder horns, a cup’s thin rim was fragile and prone to damage when hit or dropped, causing a much greater attrition rate. An early cup possibly made by Francis Tansel is described, and two later cups, one by Timothy Tansel dated “1841” and the other by Stark Tansel circa 1847, serve as good study pieces. The two cups have provenances to document their place in history, adding significantly to their historic relevance and collector interest. Probable explanations are offered by the author for the somewhat different carved figures on the two Indiana cups, since each cup’s artwork seems to relate to its owner’s experiences.
Figure No.4: The Turpin Family Cemetery in Hendricks County, Indiana, is best known for having the grave of Timothy Tansel, the most prolific of the Tansel horn carvers. The cemetery also contains the remains of Stark Tansel’s first wife, as well as several of his children who died in childhood. The small country cemetery is overgrown with trees and brush, and cattle have walked over and broken gravestones for many years. Timothy Tansel’s headstone was broken and displaced by neglect, but a small foot stone allowed his dated grave marker [headstone] to be properly replaced. Recent attention, due to the notoriety of Timothy Tansel’s grave, has caused some small improvements in the cemetery.