page_title: Powder flask
hierarchical_section_title: Powder flask
caption_attribution_description: English: Wallace Collection&#160;&#160;Native nameWallace CollectionLocationLondonCoordinates51°&#160;31′&#160;03″&#160;N, 0°&#160;09′&#160;11″&#160;W&#160; &#160;Established1897Websitewww.wallacecollection.orgAuthority control VIAF: 130815091 ULAN: 500302044 LCCN: n50034920 BNF: 12124266g WorldCat Powder-flask Unknown Artist / Maker Germany c. 1570 Antler and steel, carved and engraved Height: 19.6 cm Weight: 0.205 kg A1252 European Armoury III; Museum page
context_page_description: A powder flask is a small container for gunpowder, which was an essential part of shooting equipment with muzzleloading guns, before pre-made paper cartridges became standard in the 19th century. They range from very elaborately decorated works of art to early forms of consumer packaging, and are widely collected. Many were standardized military issue, but the most decorative were generally used for sporting shooting.
  Although the term powder horn is sometimes used for any kind of powder flask, it is strictly a sub-category of flask made from a hollowed bovid horn. Powder flasks were made in a great variety of materials and shapes, though ferrous metals that were prone to give off sparks when hit were usually avoided. Stag antler, which could be carved or engraved, was an especially common material, but wood and copper were common, and in India, ivory. Apart from the horns, common shapes were the Y formed by the base of an antler, a usually flattened pear shape with a straight spout, a round flattened shape, and for larger flasks a triangle with concave rounded sides, which unlike the smaller flasks could be stood upright on a surface.
context_section_description: A powder flask is a small container for gunpowder, which was an essential part of shooting equipment with muzzleloading guns, before pre-made paper cartridges became standard in the 19th century. They range from very elaborately decorated works of art to early forms of consumer packaging, and are widely collected. Many were standardized military issue, but the most decorative were generally used for sporting shooting.
  Although the term powder horn is sometimes used for any kind of powder flask, it is strictly a sub-category of flask made from a hollowed bovid horn. Powder flasks were made in a great variety of materials and shapes, though ferrous metals that were prone to give off sparks when hit were usually avoided. Stag antler, which could be carved or engraved, was an especially common material, but wood and copper were common, and in India, ivory. Apart from the horns, common shapes were the Y formed by the base of an antler (inverted), a usually flattened pear shape with a straight spout (poire-poudre or "powder pear" is a French term for these), a round flattened shape, and for larger flasks a triangle with concave rounded sides, which unlike the smaller flasks could be stood upright on a surface. Many designs (such as horn and antler types) have a wide sealed opening for filling, and a thin spout for dispensing. Various devices were used to load a precise amount of powder to dispense, as it was important not to load too much or too little powder, or the powder was dispensed into a powder measure or "charger" (these survive much less often).  As early as c. 1600 a German flask had a silver spout with a "telescopic valve, adjustable for different sizes of powder charges".
caption: German antler and steel flask, c. 1570; the goddess Fortuna stands on a hedgehog upon a globe
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