These are made from the horn of cows. Billy Marshall, the Gypsy King of Galloway, made these. Many travelling people made their living by making and selling horn goods 250 years ago.

• Horn ware
• 18th century
• Horn utensils said to have been made by Billy Marshall, the famous 'Gypsy King'.
• The manufacture and sale of horn ware was a speciality of the tinkler gypsies of Galloway.

These horn ware utensils are said to have been made by Billy Marshall - the 'Gypsy King' of Galloway; one cup bears the initials W M and the date 1788.

Galloway's gypsies or tinklers as they were called specialised in the manufacture of such domestic items. Billy Marshall is said to have been born around 1671, and served as a soldier at the Battle of the Boyne in 1689, and later under the Duke of Marlborough on the continent in the early 18th century.

He is said to have held sway over all the gypsy families of Galloway, in all their activities, legal and illegal, which included banditry and smuggling.

A character of remarkable ability, he died in 1792 at the age of 120, having been lawfully married 17 times. He was buried with great ceremony in St Cuthbert's Cemetery, Kirkcudbright, where his gravestone can still be seen.

In the collection of The Stewartry Museum, Kirkcudbright.