Glass powder flask

[powder jack]

I have seen a few glass powder flasks for sale on a popular auction site. They are clear, amber, and green. There is a clear one for sale now. Anyone know the history of these? Were they used for black powder or was some other product sold in these?

 

[Many Klatch]

Apparently they did exist back in the day. They weren't too popular because of the fear that they might concentrate the rays of the sun and cause an explosion.

Many Klatch

 

[F.G. Ford]

I have seen some with deer skin tightly wrapped about them.
The deer skin had symbols and name burned into the hide
They looked very nice!
Fred

 

[Zonie]

I would be cautious about buying a glass "powder flask" from anyone on the web.

THE POWDER FLASK BOOK, the highly recognized source of information about powder flasks does say that glass powder flasks exist but in well over 1000 flasks shown/described in that book the author only mentions 3.

 

[Rifleman1776]

Heck, even a fake or replica would look neat in a collection. :grin:

 

[54ball]

Go Gourd much tougher.

 

[powder jack]

It's easy to see why folks would be concerned about an explosion when they familiar with a burning glass.

 

[dave524]

Are you sure they were meant to be used as powder flasks???? The original targets that were used for trap shooting with a shotgun were glass balls that were filled with feathers, I assume they had a plug somewhere to seal the feathers in. Could these be the objects that are spoke of and more research should have been done before someone assumed they were powder flasks.
http://www.glasstargetballs.com/