Old Hinged Horn Bow

[Wade Phillips]

Anyone know anything about this style of bow? The bow was originally contained in the Willard Bishop Collection...

The hinge is crude by today's standards.

There is a label "35", at the hinge, possibly a number in a collection or perhaps an old price.

It has a wood core with bone wedges inserted into the ends.

One end appears that it was chewed by a rodent years ago.

The back and belly both have laminations of black horn and are intricately wrapped with fine thread.

It is interesting how the horn back was formed around the raised bone wedge.

With one end mostly intact and the other partially gone, we can see details of the construction.

   

   

   

   

   

   

[d. ward]

that's a sweet one there Wade however I know nothing at it.bd

[JavelinaHink]

It sure looks like the hinge was made by a blacksmith, and I to have not seen one of these before....very early for sure. Thanks for the posting Wade............Bill

[Bjorn]

Wow! That is a pretty remarkable bow you got there Wade.

[turkey522]

Hinge kind of favors a old post hole digger handle.

 Terry

[jester]

Here's what a friend of mine says, who knows far more about Asian bows than I do:
   

Stone bow , also called a pellet bow or Monkey bow.  Take a Qing Dynasty horn bow, cut down the siyahs (recurves), saw in half and rivet in the hinges

The Qing dynasty, also known as Manchu, ruled China from the 17th to the early 20th centuries.
Could be possible, but the hinge was added later, in the 1930s to 1950s I'd say – but that's just a wild guess.
A very interesting artefact for sure!

[Tom Phillips]

What a cool piece of history,cool find Wade !!!

[Tox Collector]

Wade,  Interesting bow!  Were you able to acquire any other artifacts, etc. from the Bishop collection?  Do you have any idea as to how many bows, artifacts were contained in the collection?  I know that Garrett acquired most of his books, and they eventually found their way into the Easton Library.  Bishop had offered to sell me his library at one point, but, at the time, I just couldn't afford it [mea culpa!].  Tox Collector

[jester]

By chance I came across this illustration from a 1980s German archery magazine:

 

The caption reads: "Chinese pellet bow in the classical form of an composite bow with shortened siyahs and adapted string."

No hinge here, but at least the nocks look a lot like yours.

[Wade Phillips]

Tox Collector - I acquired several pieces from the Bishop Collection. A large number of bows, arrows and metal heads from the Bishop Collection were liquidated by another collector. There were several very nice pieces, but unfortunately there was no documentation to go with the artifacts. I acquired only a small fraction of what was available. Nearly all of it was from countries other then the United States.

Jester - Thanks for you post of May 20th. Can't believe I have missed seeing all of these posts. Your latest post is interesting too.

[Jacko]

Could be way off but this looks like a picture I have seen in my Bowyers Bible series .

Page 125 Volume 2 Bowyers Bible - Jay St Charles made referance to it page 165 take down bow chapter of Volume 3

regards Jacko

[Blackhawk]

someone looking for Willard?