Robert Burns’s powder horn

The engraved silver cap on this diminutive powder horn notes that it was presented to “Robert Burns, Exciseman, Globe Tavern, Dumfries, Jan 17th, 1796.” Burns served as an exciseman from 1789 until his death in July, 1796, levying duties on the products of “victuallers, rectifiers, chandlers, tanners, tawsers, maltsters, etc.” The small size of the horn, its curling tip, and the lack of a hole in the tip indicate that it was not intended for black powder, but was probably used for tobacco. After Burns’s death, personal effects like this one were avidly collected by his nineteenth-century admirers.

Powder horn. Horn and silver. Scotland, 1796. 1954.2048