Original British Early 19th Century Hand Carved Scrimshaw Powder Horn Linked to Penal Colony Transports Original Items

Original Item: One of a Kind. This lovely Scrimshaw powder horn looks to have been signed by its maker, one “THO. PYLE ?? SETCH and the entire of the horn’s surface has been scrimshaw engraved with the most amazing array of British Colonial motifs. There is a panel featuring the British Lion under a Royal Crown with a surrounding ribbon stating :-

THE KING’S OWN REGIMENT

The Lion is standing over the Roman numeral “IV” perhaps indicating either King George IV ( 1820 – 1830) or King William IV ( 1830 – 1837). The Penal colony transports to Australia started in 1788 and continued almost for 100 years.

The horn depicts what we think is an EMU, a flightless bird only found in Australia. There is an Elephant with a Howdah atop of it and a most attractive illustration of an attractive lady sitting on a shield showing a Union Jack flag under a banner of “STYLL BRITANNIA RULES THE WAVES”. Finally, there is a reference to “THE WONDRA”, which we speculated was the name of this particular Transporting vessel. Clearly much research is still required.

The horn is absent its wooden plug in base (wide end) but is a delight just the way it is. There is still the original ring for the should strap near the tip, while the ring near the plug end is missing, replaced by a screw long ago. It measures 20″ in length going around the outside of the curve and culminates in a wonderful pie crust edge.

A British Seaman’s or Marine’s scrimshawed Powder Horn of great historical significance and amazing charm.