Brasher Doubloon On Powder Horn

It's entirely possible that it might be a reproduction or restrike. But then you have the issue of a date mismatch -- the originals were only struck in gold, and the most common restrike was not produced until the Civil War as @numismaticstudent noted above; the originals were not struck in New York until 1787, 10 years after the "revolutionary war", and are so rare that I question whether a contemporary Connecticut gunsmith would have even known of their existence, much less had any reason to obtain a copy of one and then deemed it to have significance enough to affix to a powder-horn stopper.

However, there were only 50 of the restrikes issued, and a quick comparison of one of the brass or copper restrikes will highlight the stark difference in quality -- the restrikes are mushy and look almost like a caricature of the original issues - they were prepared from new dies that were engraved at Jos. Merriam's workshop in Boston.. The coin on your horn is much too sharply struck and detailed, which to me suggests that it is a modern copy made with modern techniques not available in the 19th or 18th centuries.

The Medad Hills reference makes it quite a bit more interesting since Hills is the brother of John Hills and the son of Benoni Hills, also well-known gunsmiths and Connecticut Patriots.

The three Hills brothers and their father Benoni are widely considered some of the best Colonial-era gunsmiths and firearms that can be linked to them with provenance are mostly museum pieces or sell for a ton of money when they do come up for private sale. The name carries as much weight as Hawken, Ferree or the Henrys of the same era, just to name a couple, and later, Sharps, Remington, Winchester and Colt. He did sometimes sign "at Goshen" on known examples of his work. If this horn was made by or engraved by Medad Hills it is worth quite a bit of money and there are quite a few museums that would pursue it avidly. It sounds like you are qualified to make such a distinction.

However, the inclusion of the "doubloon" still throws me off. It is just too out of place and incongruent. Ultimately your best bet would be to have the coin inspected by a specialist in the Brasher coins and their restrikes.

I would tend to agree with that assessment. I would be more inclined to think it's an older item that's been modified with a modern fake copy of a Brasher doubloon.

I updated my original post for clarification.

I enjoy black powder and antique firearms in general, but have neither the means nor the space to buy and display them (I spend all my money on coins!) so I can only dream about owning anything related from the 18th century.

Here are some pictures of the horn.

That's quite a nice piece of history. Do you have a Hills rifle you can pair it with?

I'd like to see one fired but I suspect they are much too valuable now to risk doing so.

I have one question. Does the "spout" of the powder horn look correct for the Revolutionary War period or before? The multiple metal fittings and threading look perfectly round, like it was turned by machine and not pounded into shape by a metal smith of those early days.

Now we seem to have a member responding that really knows what he's looking at as far as the powder horn. So glad that you came on board. You have very interesting posts. Thanks!

Maybe the coin isn't period to the horn but, it could very well have been added at a later date such as the pre Civil War time frame from the 1861 copies.

Thanks, enlarging it shows that it is not metal but a material like horn. Looks like maybe an early turning lathe may have been used to create it. Looks like great craftsmanship.