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Powder flasks made of unusual material

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Joined
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Hi folks



You know, my special interest concerns powder flasks and powder horns.



Some time ago, I got some powder flasks made of unusual material:



A) 3 flasks made of Colocynth
All three flasks are from french collectors. In the southern part of France they appearently have been used as cheap simple flasks.



(In wikipedia I found the following description of the material: Citrullus colocynthis, with many common names including Abu Jahl's melon, (native name in Turkey)[2] colocynth,[3] bitter apple,[3] bitter cucumber,[3] egusi,[4] vine of Sodom,[3] or wild gourd,[3] …..
It resembles a common watermelon vine but bears small, hard fruits with a bitter pulp. It originally bore the scientific name Colocynthis citrullus.
Citrullus colocynthis is a desert viney plant that grows in sandy, arid soils. It is native to the Mediterranean Basin and Asia, and is distributed among the west coast of northern Africa, eastward through the Sahara, Egypt until India, and reaches also the north coast of the Mediterranean and the Caspian Seas. It grows also in Southern Europe and on the Aegean Islands.
20240707_122130-1.jpg


B) A powder flask made of paper mache. It also has its origin in France.

Two typs of paper mache flasks are shown in the book of Riling, „The Powder Flask Book“ (numbers 1197, 1198); in the book „Poires a Poudre, Robert Marquiset and Jean-Pierre Yven“ a commercial flask made of papier maché is shown on page 61. It is described as a disposable sales packaging.

20240707_122510.jpg





Who does know more about such powder flasks?
 
Last edited:
I was able to purchase another powder flask made of paper mache. Please pay attention to the printing on the sealing nozzle. I think being able to identify words in French.
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