A “Mixed” Powder Horn by Stark and Timothy Tansel ©
Foreword: Most Tansel powder horns have uniform carving done by one of the known carvers. But collectors have often wondered if more than one Tansel carver ever worked on the same horn. The author had never seen a Tansel horn with details from multiple carvers, but recently a Tansel horn surfaced in Colorado that changed all that. It was an Indiana horn from the late 1830s with peculiarities in its carving: 1) the borders appeared unfinished and unmatched between the basal and throat ends, and 2) two horse & rider figures appeared similar at first glance but had major differences when examined more closely. It was the first horn known to the author that offered evidence of two Tansels, brothers Stark and Timothy, working on the same horn.
Indiana Years: Francis Tansel’s oldest son John preceded the family in moving from Kentucky to Indiana in 1828. The rest of the family, including parents Francis and Catherine, followed in 1829 and settled briefly on Fall Creek northeast of Indianapolis. By 1830 Stark and Timothy were living in eastern Hendricks County near the Marion County line, while John and his parents and younger siblings were in near-by western Marion County. Stark and Timothy remained bachelors for several years and apparently lived together in Hendricks County. Stark married in 1837 and Timothy in 1844; Timothy left Stark’s household sometime between those years. However, the proximity of the two brothers during their Hendricks County years allowed easy contact and communication. It was during those years, probably 1838 based on related “1838” dated horns, that the newly discovered horn was made.
The Stark/Timothy Horn: The horn is illustrated in Figures No.1, 2, 3 and 4 below. It is a little heavier than most, indicating a bull’s horn was used with thicker walls. The carving is well done but lighter than normal, perhaps due to a harder horn surface. The attractively turned walnut butt plug is original to the horn and a row of period brass tacks decorate the horn’s base. At first glance, the horn appears to be the work of Timothy from the cartoonish face and zebra-striped shading on one of its horse & rider figures. But further study shows the second horse & rider is shaded and carved differently. It has a more realistic head, more elaborate reins, and uses perimeter shading around a white body in Stark’s preferred style, as opposed to the bolder zebra-striping Timothy liked to use. Another difference is seen in the horses’ rear legs. Timothy liked to carve both front and rear legs extended, like legs on his deer, while Stark preferred to use a more natural leg position with one rear leg extended and the other drawn forward. Even the riders are different. The Timothy style rider is taller, more rigid and straight legged, and more out of proportion with the horse. In contrast, the Stark style rider is shorter with bent knees… all major differences despite being carved side-by-side on the horn.
Figure No.1: The newly discovered Tansel horn has smooth top edges on the eagle’s wings, as opposed to later eagles with a notch between the upper and lower wing sections. A smooth wing helps date the horn to about 1837-1839, based on dated horns with similar eagles. The horn has a nicely turned walnut end-grain plug, typical of Tansel horns made by the carver. At times, pre-existing horns were taken to the Tansels for decorating, and those horns often exhibit different types of butt plugs and spouts. Courtesy K. Zimmerman.
The smooth-edged eagle’s wings help date the horn, while the “E Pluribus Unum” banner that doubles back on the right side and ends in an odd, snake-like head with an “egg” in its mouth suggests Stark’s work. Stark was the Tansel brother that most often strayed from the “standard” Tansel figures on horns, and the banner certainly does that. The horn body also appears to be made by Stark with its fine, lathe-turned, stepped butt plug. The fish-mouth is cut more deeply than on most of Timothy’s horns and is more precise with no over-cuts in the bottom of the “V” as Timothy was prone to do. Even the round strap-retaining bead on the spout seems to be Stark’s work, since Timothy more often used the Tansel “barrel” type flattened bead. Another oddity is seen in the carved borders, which appear incomplete. The basal border scallops are nicely shaded but lack the normal beading around their outer edges. One scallop near the Indian figure’s foot has partial beading, giving the impression the beading was started but never finished. The spout’s fish-mouth borders are even more odd. A border appears only on the front lobe, where it is fully beaded along the outer edges, but the scallops lack the interior shading seen in the basal scallops.
Figure No.2: The new horn has a row of small-headed, period brass tacks decorating its base. The eagle is larger than most with highly extended wings, large wing feathers, and strong talons on its feet, all making a strong Tansel statement. The spout is shorter than most on this horn, making the horn’s side panels a little longer than average, probably encouraging Timothy to add the second horse & rider figures. Courtesy K. Zimmerman.
Figure No.3: The horn body looks like the work of Stark Tansel, in large part due to its nicely shaped butt plug and the deep, cleanly cut “V” notches in the fish-mouth. Note how clean the intersection of the two lobes is, with none of the over-cutting often seen in Timothy’s work. The “V” cut also extends far down into the horn body, another Stark detail; Timothy’s fish-mouths were often shallower with less elongated lobes. The zebra-striped horse with cartoonish face and tall rider is visible in this view. Courtesy K. Zimmerman.
Cause of Discrepancies: The multiple discrepancies on the horn, in the author’s opinion, can be explained. Stark Tansel made the horn body with its fine walnut plug and deeply cut, precise fish-mouth. He then carved the basal border, eagle, horse & rider on the left, and Indian with bow & arrow (note awkward right arm and skinny, pointed feet). But for some reason he did not complete the carving, and the horn was later finished by Timothy. Timothy added a second horse & rider figure and probably the smaller “filler” figures of dogs and deer [it is hard to differentiate between Timothy’s and Stark’s dogs and antlerless deer]. He also did not finish Stark’s beading on the basal border, since that end of the horn probably looked relatively complete to him. After carving the standard Tansel scalloped border on the horn’s front lobe, he realized his added horse & rider figure was pushed too far into the rear lobe to allow for a matching border, so he left it borderless.
Figure No.4: The most important images on the new horn are the two horse & rider figures made with contrasting carving styles. The figure on the right has Timothy’s typical zebra-striped shading that darkens the horse’s body, while the horse on the left has Stark’s white body with light shading around the edges. Also significant are the horses’ heads; Timothy’s horse on the right has a cartoonish looking head, while Stark’s horse on the left appears more natural. Stark also used more highly detailed reins, a less exaggerated height to his rider, and while not fully visible, more natural positioning of his horse’s back legs with the closer one extending forward, and the rear one backward. Timothy more often carved both rear legs extending rearward, similar to the back legs on his deer. Courtesy K. Zimmerman.
Contrasting Horse & Rider Figures: The most prominent figures suggesting both Stark and Timothy worked on the horn are the horse & rider figures sitting side-by-side in Figure No. 4. If done by the same hand at about the same time, they should be more similar. But they are not. The shading of the horses, one white with light border shading and the other dark with heavy zebra-stripe shading, is immediately obvious. Less obvious is the cartoonish appearance of the zebra-striped horse’s head, and more naturel appearance of the white horse’s head. Then note the more elaborate reins on the left horse, the more natural body size and positioning of the rear legs, and the less exaggerated size of the rider. Two such contrasting horse & rider figures, one very much in Timothy’s style with zebra stripes and one very much in Stark’s more natural style strongly suggest both men worked on the horn, with Stark making the horn body and starting the carving, and Timothy completing the carving.
Summary: A newly discovered Tansel horn exhibits details that strongly suggest both Stark and Timothy Tansel worked on the same horn. Differences in the horn’s carving, particularly in the two horse & rider figures that sit side-by-side, clearly show one horse & rider is carved in Stark’s style, while the other horse & rider is carved in Timothy’s style. Analysis of the complete horn with all its figures and incomplete borders shows that Stark originally made the horn body with walnut plug and began carving the horn. But he failed to complete the horn. Younger brother Timothy finished it later, adding another horse & rider, the “filler” deer and dog figures, and incomplete borders on the spout end due to his poor placement of the added horse & rider figure that ran into the border area. The horn is noteworthy because it is the first Tansel horn documented by the author that illustrates the work of two different Tansel carvers on the same horn. That may also be the reason the horn was not signed or dated, since it ended up being a “mixed” horn that no one wanted to sign.