1758 & 1779 Massachusetts Carved Powder Horns
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GUEST:
Well, these are some powder horns, two of eight that I have at home.
APPRAISER:
Mm-hmm.
GUEST:
My grandparents handed them down through the family. They came from, probably, sometime during the... After the Revolutionary War, 'cause our family was here before the Revolutionary War.
APPRAISER:
And where were they?
GUEST:
Mostly around in the New York State area.
APPRAISER:
New York area?
GUEST:
Upstate New York.
APPRAISER:
Okay, all right. Well, we're gonna start with this horn right here. This one was carried by a guy named Daniel Hayden of Marlborough-- which is Marlborough, Massachusetts-- 1758, during the French and Indian War period. Wonderful soldier figures carved on here. Really, really naive and crude, very nice. Now, everybody in the Massachusetts colony, and every other colony, had to be in the militia from the time they were 16 to 60. Um, it's wonderful cow horn. These are spokeshaved, and then they probably are carved with a pen knife and inked. And these areas are carved and filed to get these points, and to file this down. It's all one piece. As far as who carved these horns, um, it could have been the name, the people who are named on them. But a lot of times, these would have been purchased. Sometimes they have the carver's name, sometimes they don't. I didn't find a carver's name on either of these, but like I said, a lot of times they would be purchased. People would carve them, get them prepped up, and then, when they had a buyer, they would put their name on it and sell it to him. This one is a little bit later, and it's William Churchill. William Churchill was from Plymouth, Mass. And do you have ancestors from that area?
GUEST:
Not that I'm aware of.
APPRAISER:
Well, that's where he was from. He enlisted at the beginning of the war, and I found his record stating he was in the service at this time, 1779. Would have been used pretty much at the height of the American Revolution. Um, have you ever had them appraised before?
GUEST:
No, sir.
APPRAISER:
Okay. Well, I would put an auction estimate for each horn at between $8,000 and $12,000.
GUEST:
I've seen them pretty expensive before, but not that much. (chuckles)
APPRAISER:
Yeah, it's... (chuckles) They're really nice, and they've got some great value, and they've got some great historical value. They're a great piece of Massachusetts history. I'm from Concord, the next town over from Sudbury.
GUEST:
Well, there you go.
APPRAISER:
So, yeah, so they're close to home for me.
Appraisal Details
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