Can you please give us the dimensions? also, I presume a measure was used to gauge the correct amount of powder, and that the flask has the spring-loaded cap only.
We do not often see items of this age. thank you for showing it!
Hi Richard, thank you for your input & comments. The body is 130mm diameter & the spout is 57mm long.
It has a spring loaded cap & also it has a spring loaded shut off below the base of the spout. In reading Riling's "Powder Flask" book he describes this arrangement & attributes flasks with this double shut off system as being, logically, transitional between early flasks with a spout cap (one step up from a removable spout plug) & flasks with a shut off, a system so successful it is still used today. Both functions on my example have completely seized up, though I am sure that this could be remedied with a penetrating lubricant & TLC.
Michael showed quite a few examples of trapezoid flasks with this double system.
It is undeniable that the spring loaded cap is unnecessary when there is a base shut off - & it would have been an added expense. I speculate that it survived in use as a safety cap, to prevent a spark falling into the open & vertical spout, & as a measure of wet weather protection. Once powder horns, which hang horizontally, superseded powder flasks that hang vertically, any need for a safety/weather cap was greatly diminished.
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