ATARNarchive

Old hornbow at ebay

5 posts2006live thread
Greg Yang
My suggestion is, do not buy it if it is damaged by water. One of the major threat for a horn bow is water and moisture, as horn bow is made up bynatual fish/animal glue to bound up different materials, such as horn, bark, senew, etc. Thus you dont want to buy a bow that may potentially fall apart due to disolution of the glue.

On the other hand, if you just want to buy a bow and never use it and treated it as a collection, than this boy may be fine. But I am not sure if this bow is indeed few hundred years old or the price is right.

Regards,
Thomas Duvernay
I noticed it's coming from Gene Wensel, a famous name in Western trad archery. Isn't it a late Qing bow?
Stephen Selby
I have a bow almost identical to this one, though in better condition. My one was taken as booty from the campaign by eight western forces at Da Gu Tai in the 1860s and ended up in England.

The bow on auction, although broken above the grip, seems to be a good historical specimen. Ok for a collection, but no good to shoot. It should not be restored, as that would be a waste of a nice specimen.
Tomik
Thank you all for the information.
Actually my intentions was not to buy the bow, just learn more about it and maybe give someone else who would appreaciate such piece a chance to buy it.