Tansel Horn by Scott Morrison, Steve Skillman, Glenn Sutt, & Steve Vance

by Heinz Ahlers

The 2015 CLF Fundraising Auction is proud to present this beautiful Tansel styled horn.
This horn was created by Steve Vance, Glenn Sutt, Scott Morrison, and Steve Skillman, all from the Northwest Horn Makers group. The horn has many of the features of Tansel family horns from the Indiana period.

The Tansel family made horns from about 1795 through 1850. They are known to have worked in Scott County, Kentucky and Hendricks County, Indiana. At least one Francis Tansel horn was done at Fort Meigs in 1813.

This horn has all you could wish for in a Tansel styled horn, the classic fish mouth throat detail, first class scrimshaw fully covering the surface, polychrome coloring, the eagle with a shield, and a Washington portrait. It also features a beehive turned butt with a horn finial and great color and style.

The Northwest Horn Makers group was started about 5 years ago by John Shourb from California with the idea of getting together horn makers from out West to exchange information and promote horn making. The group has an annual weekend meeting in May, in Littlerock, Washington that includes hands on classes to promote that goal. Several of the group are members of the Honorable Company of Horners. Glenn Sutt is a Journeyman in the Honourable Company. Glenn notes We dont have the availability of information and proximity of resources that you have on the East Coast, so this is a good way to raise the level of participation in our craft and the quality of the work being done. It also has gained us recognition in the fact that there are craftsmen outside of the East Coast.

If you are looking for a horn to display with a high end rifle or a first class horn to display on its own, this horn will show very nicely. It is also a fine working horn for the War of 1812 re-enactor or Western fur trade enthusiast. It would really give bragging rights at the local range or even the Nationals at Friendship. A horn this nice seldom comes available.