Painted Horn

[hawkeye2]

I'm watching a powder horn on that infamous auction site that I cannot mention here on which the reduced area from the body to the spout is painted blue. I can't post a link here but would be glad to provide one to anyone who sends me a PM requesting it. The body of the horn is engraved and has a nice patina. It is claimed the horn is circa 1770 and I find it to be quite attractive but the buy it now price is $3500 so I'm watching just for fun. Now to the reason for the post. Just how authentic and common would this be (that's 2 questions)? I really like the look and have a horn that would respond well to the paint. Though I consider myself reasonably familiar with vintage horns this is the first example of a painted horn of this style I have ever seen. I'm just dying to paint my horn like that one and I realize that a lot of folks would rightly challenge me for it, can anyone direct me to a source that would provide documentation for the paint?

 

[Claude Mathis]

 

[jackley]

They painted guns blue so why not horns?





In April 1775 after word of events at Concord and Lexington Mass., Royal Governor Lord Dunmore, fearing insurrection by the townspeople, removed powder from the magazine. The Boy's Militia Company of Williamsburg, in response to the governor's action, broke into the magazine and removed blue painted trade guns. When they entered, they set off a trap gun which wounded several of the boys. No information survives on how many guns were taken or the fate of the wounded boys.



Robert Greenhow's recollection of Williamsburg c1775:

(Robert was the son of John Greenhow, a merchant who operated a store in Williamsburg at this time.)


"the youth of Williamsburg formed themselves into a military corps and chose Henry Nicholson as their Capt.; that on Dunmore's flight from Williamsburg, they repaired to the magazine and armed themselves with blue painted stock guns kept for the purpose of distributing among the Indians, and equip't as the minute men volunteers in military garb, that is to say in hunting shirts, trousers, bucktails, cockades and "Liberty or Death" suspended to their breasts as their motto; that they could

and did perform all the evolutions of the manual exercise far better than the soldiers who were daily arriving from the adjacent counties; that their captain, Henry Nicholson, was about 14 years old."

 

[Coot]

It is a very interesting look & not unappealing. I would think that it is dyed rather than painted. Horns are somewhat notorious as to dating & fakes. I will be interested to see what more knowledgable folks say.

 

[hawkeye2]

Claude, thanks for posting the photo. I had tried to copy photos on that site before with no luck. I had found that you can left click on the image to get an enlarged version but hadn't tried saving that but it is possible and I'll have to remember that.

I hadn't given it any thought that it could have been died rather than painted. Would a lighter color like that blue take and still look bright like the photo? I have used good quality acrylic craft paints in appropriate colors for some of my projects over the years and they might work well for this application.

 

[Patocazador]

Try it. If you don't like the results, I'm sure a solvent would remove the paint.

Personally, I don't care for it.

 

[hawkeye2]

I had thought about it but haven't been willing to give it a try and I don't have any horn on hand to experiment with. My first concern would be what the solvent might do to the horn and second would the paint sink into the horn somewhat making it impossible to remove all of it.

It's not for everyone but what I liked was the bright color and the antique patina of the painted portion. I wonder if that came about naturally or was the result of someone antiquing it when the paint was applied.

 

[Obi-Wan Cannoli]

I believe this topic would be much better addressed in The Crafstman section of the forum.

I am in particular, very interested in what Horner has to say regarding the topic.

:v

 

[omarick1948]

Painted powder horns? Yep, there are several examples in collections and books. That is not saying that they were common, but we have to remember that powder horns were a tool and at the whim of it's owner. Different types of coloration pigments were used of what was at hand, but milk paints, oil paints, inks and natural plant dyes probably were the most common, as to availability. Horns painted red or green were popular and some with just the butt plug colored, but there are also examples of flowers, dogs and game birds that I have seen. Poly-chroming engraving is another form of adding color, which is no more than adding colored ink into the cut engravings.

That horn on eBay looks like it was recently colored and not old. I have never seem a turquois blue painted horn, but maybe then again?????
Rick

 

[Ames]

Not my cup of tea.
If you really needed one you could do it with a hot bath of teal Rit dye.
Even after a 30 minute bath the dye only goes into the surface so far. If you don't like the color you can scrape it back off in just a minute or two.

 

[rich pierce]

It might be dyed with a copper based solution. Inhibits borers.

 

[Gene L]

I wouldn't touch that horn with a $10 bill. That color doesn't look organic to me. I agree it looks like dye, but it could be ink...maybe?

 

[user 922]

Here's a website that discusses traditional horn dyeing. Copper sulfate would have produced a green color like the horn pictured.
http://shoot7.tripod.com/madmonk.html

 

[CrackStock]

Thanks for sharing the Mad Monk's site. Have not heard from or about him in some time. He had some great info booklets which I have not seen available for over a decade. A great source of ML and BP info.

CS

 

[Gene L]

Here's a website that discusses traditional horn dyeing. Copper sulfate would have produced a green color like the horn pictured.
http://shoot7.tripod.com/madmonk.html

It looks blue to me. But then I'm not the best judge of color.