This is French, made of cuir boulli hardened leather, stamped with the initials L R on either side of a fleur-de-lis...presumably this stands for Louis Roy...aka, King Louie of France.
I have found only one other example like this in the Victoria & Albert Museum, that one is dated 1649. I believe they were both made in the region of Brittany in France as this was one of the few places outside of England where hardened leather vessels were ever made in the period. I found the original in an antique shop in Ponchatula, Louisiana in the early 90's. It is very possible this horn made it's way to the New Orleans area during the early French military occupation.
Missing is the powder dispenser tip. What remains in the throat of the horn is a threaded nozzle made of pewter. I believe this might have had a cantilevered style of nozzle that screwed onto the pewter throat, most likely made of pewter or other alloy that could not cause a spark. It's been suggested that this horn may have been a cannoneers' priming horn.
Copy and photos supplied by Steven Lalioff.
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