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Bixby Bill

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Here is the front and back of the Bixby mucilage trade card, which shows the master inks. Until I see a labelled one, it`s hard to say if they really were used for ink or mucilage, or glue, like the trade card shows. To keep it simple I`ll just call them master inks, but Bixby did use them for mucilage, although it must have been pretty liquid glue to be able to pour it into the smaller bottles, which I will discuss after the inks.

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Bixby Bill

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Next are the two sizes of "schoolhouse" shaped square inks. I have only seen these in aqua, with tooled lips, and "Bixby" embossed in an oval on the front. I have them in 2 1/4" and 2 5/8" sizes. They probably date to the 1890`s and are a scarce ink to find, although I have seen a couple other of the larger size, but mine is the only smaller size I`ve come across.

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Bixby Bill

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Now for the Bixby umbrella inks. The first is the oldest Bixby in my collection, it dates to the late 1860`s to the 1870`s, it is smooth base, unembossed, nicely whittled, and has a crude inward rolled lip. It measures 2 5/8" tall, and is the only Bixby ink I`ve seen with this label or is as early as this one is.

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Bixby Bill

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Next are two other umbrella inks, they are aqua, unembossed, measure 3 3/4" tall, and have tooled lips. All of the Bixby umbrellas are 8 sided. These are the only 3 Bixby umbrellas that I`ve seen, but there`s a good chance that there are others out there, possibly even in other colors than aqua.

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Bixby Bill

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Here are the three different labeled Bixby cone inks that I know of. The clear and aqua ones are fairly common without the label, and the labeled ones can be either base embossed or not. The colored one is dark forest green, is unembossed, and is the only colored labeled Bixby cone that I know of. I`ve found that usually the cone inks have a tooled lip, while the mucilage cones have sheared lips, as I will explain later on. These three all have the same label for Jet Black Ink.

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Bixby Bill

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Now for the mucilage bottles, which came in a variety of shapes. The cones come in clear, aqua, and this yellow amber, of which I know of at least 2 others, so it isn`t quite as rare as you`d think. I call this a mucilage instead of an ink because it has a sheared lip, which was needed for the glue applicator to fit, as you`ll see on the upcoming examples.
This one is embossed "Bixby" on the base.

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Bixby Bill

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Here are the clear and aqua mucilage cones, and they are the exception to the general rule that the mucilage cones have sheared lips, but it does apply most of the time. These are embossed "Bixby" on the base.

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Bixby Bill

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Here`s a modified, taller version of the mucilage cones, with an added bulbous shoulder to help squeeze the excess out of the applicator brush. These I`ve only seen in aqua, are 3 1/8" and 3 1/4" tall, and one is embossed "Bixby" on the base while the other is unembossed.

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Bixby Bill

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Here`s a modified, taller version of the umbrella style, with an addition of a bulbous shoulder. They are only found in aqua so far, are 8 sided, and are both unembossed. As you can see, the bulbous portions are different, and the upper portion of the body is slimmer in one from the other. They are both 3 1/8" tall and have sheared lips. The applicator on the one wouldn`t fit on a rounded lip, it needed to have a sheared lip to fit over snug to seal, so I wonder if the cones with a lip had any kind of applicator brush, or were just corked.

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