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When Dan Rhodes purchased an 18th-century powder horn with ties to one of New England's most famous figures, he knew he had a museum quality piece.
Nearly a year later, he is still hoping to find a way to get it into a museum.
But the Williamstown antiques dealer says it looks more and more like the powder horn once carried by Ebenezer Webster will end up on the auction block some time later this year.
"I would like to see a benefactor step up and purchase the horn," Rhodes said earlier this year in his Cold Spring Road shop, Saddleback Antiques.
"I would love to have it stay in the area, whether it would be Massachusetts, Vermont or New Hampshire."
The horn's first owner, Ebenezer Webster, was a captain in the Continental Army and a member of the famed Rodgers' Rangers in the French and Indian Wars. And, more famously, he was the father of Daniel Webster - statesman, congressman and frequent presidential candidate in the antebellum period.
Rhodes' artifact, a cow's horn hollowed out to carry gunpowder in battle, is adorned with the elder Webster's name and the date of the 1759 battle at Crown Point, N.Y., where a force of British and Continental forces
Rhodes said he purchased the horn at auction for less than its actual value because its seller did not realize its connection to the Webster family.
Had its first owner's identity been known?
"We're talking a night and day difference (in price)," Rhodes said. "I paid a pretty good amount for it as it is, based on it being a French and Indian War piece."
And powder horns, Rhodes said, are a hot item for collectors.
"There were just a handful of ways at that time that you could record history," he said. "Scrimshaw was one way. And powder horns have always been an avenue to go back and study history, but they've really come into their own since William Guthman donated 75 Revolutionary War powder horns to Historic Deerfield."
Guthman, a nationally known antiquarian and frequent appraiser on PBS' "Antiques Roadshow" was the "guru of powder horns," Rhodes said. When Guthman died in 2005, many of his powder horns went to auction houses.
"One of them sold in Portsmouth, N.H., at Northeast Auctions with a date of 1772, one that didn't have as strong connections as this one, for over $70,000," Rhodes said.
Rhodes declined to say how much he paid for the Webster powder horn, which he stores off-site but can make available for viewing at Saddleback Antiques. The horn's authenticity has been verified by experts in the field, he said.
"I have plenty of provenance that goes with the horn," Rhodes said. "The person that it came from is a very prominent collector in Kentucky who now has things in the Smithsonian. He is a very high-end collector.
"Like so many people, especially when you get into collectors in their 70s, he hasn't realized the availability of research. He knew he had a French and Indian War piece, but he didn't really tie it in with the rest of it."
Rhodes said he did some digging to make the link between Ebenezer Webster and his more famous son. A key piece of the puzzle was 1853's "Life and Memorials of Daniel Webster" by biographer Samuel P. Lyman.
That work features extensive passages on Ebenezer Webster and his military service, which included his time as a colonel in the American Revolution. He fought under Gen. Jeffrey Amherst and under Gen. John Stark at the Battle of Bennington.
Rhodes said he cannot be sure his powder horn was carried in those campaigns, but the fact that it predates both makes it likely.
"There's no reason for me to believe that he didn't continue to use this throughout his military service," Rhodes said.
Rhodes said ideally he would like someone to purchase the horn and donate it to a museum. But he has not had any luck finding a museum interested in using its connections to acquire the piece.
He said he is disappointed but not surprised.
"(Museums) are sort of apprehensive about finding a benefactor themselves because they feel it would be money that perhaps might otherwise be donated directly to the museum," Rhodes said. "I don't really understand the mentality of that because, yes, fundraising is always a challenge ... but pieces like this come along once in a lifetime."
Rhodes was encouraged in late April when he met with Stephen Perkins, the executive director of the Bennington (Vt.) Museum.
Perkins confirmed what Rhodes said about the reluctance of museums generally to ask their benefactors to acquire pieces on behalf of an institution.
"It's a hard question because for museums like the Bennington Museum, we don't have a great acquisitions budget," Perkins told The Advocate. "We've got a set of donors who donate to the museum. ... There are some years when cash flow is low and you'd rather have the cash in hand to keep the lights on."
That said, Perkins is interested in the Ebenezer Webster powder horn, which he described as a beautiful piece with significant connection to the area.
And it is not unheard of for benefactors to pursue objects with the intention of donating them to a museum.
"There may be a donor out there who is interested in seeing objects placed in museums and is not interested in necessarily giving to the annual operations budget.
"If there is a person who would like to see this (powder horn) stay in the area, by all means, it would be really wonderful if it could be added to the collection at the Bennington Museum."
Bennington Museum already has 42 powder horns, Perkins said. It has never displayed them all together, but such an exhibit has been considered.
In February, Rhodes began contacting local newspapers to see if an article could bring a potential museum benefactor to his door.
In April, he said he is looking into other options.
"Northeast Auctions has a sale coming up in July," he said. "Right now, they're reviewing a packet of information about the horn.
"It's not impossible (that a benefactor could appear before then), but it is less likely."
