Powder horn that’s believed to have been owned by Alexander Hamilton goes up for auction

TRENTON, N.J. – An engraved piece of cow horn that some experts believe Alexander Hamilton used to carry gunpowder goes up for auction Monday on would have been his birthday.

The New Jersey dentist who owns it hopes buzz from a blockbuster hip-hop Broadway musical about Hamilton will help boost bids, which start at $10,000 at Sterling Associates in Closter, New Jersey.

“It’s a symbol of hopes and aspirations, and it’s such a positive symbol of his future,” said Dr. Warren Richman, who hopes the winning bidder donates it to a museum.

Richman acquired the horn from a patient in 1990 and spent years trying to document its authenticity and studying its etchings, which include a unicorn. A descendant, an arms appraiser and a forensic documents expert said they believe Hamilton used the horn to carry gunpowder.

It is inscribed with his name and 1773, the year he entered what today is Columbia University. Hamilton would have used it leading troops during the Revolutionary War and as an aide to Gen. George Washington.

Hamilton’s birthday is recognized as Jan. 11, but historians are not sure whether he was born in 1755 or 1757. He was mortally wounded in a duel with Aaron Burr in 1804.

Hamilton, the nation’s first treasury secretary, has lately become the unlikely subject of a smash musical on Broadway that’s the hottest ticket in town.

Written and starring Lin-Manuel Miranda, the show tells the true story of how an orphan emigrant from the Caribbean rose to the highest ranks of American society, as told by a young African-American and Latino cast.

Visitation to the Hamilton Grange National Memorial in New York City is up almost 250 per cent per month since the Broadway show premiered, John Warren of the National Park Service said.