Date my inks?

[norflo2norcal]

Yesterday my husband and I went digging in the river for bottles. The best find of the day was by my husband, the purple ink well in this pic. The aqua ink was found by my mother in the same area many years ago, but does not seem to be as old. Does anyone know an age on these?

 

[slag pile digger]

A good rule to follow is... if the seam ends on the neck it is before 1900....if it runs all the way to the top of the bottle it is after 1900...

 

[Wheelah23]

ORIGINAL: slag pile digger

A good rule to follow is... if the seam ends on the neck it is before 1900....if it runs all the way to the top of the bottle it is after 1900...

Not entirely true... As with all rules, there are exceptions, and this rule especially has a lot of exceptions. In general, bottles with seams through the lip are after 1900, but some, like Vaseline jars, have seams through the lip but are 1890's.

Until 1910, almost all bottles are BIM, so the seam doesn't go through the lip. Until about 1920, most druggist bottles were blown. So although that rule about the seams can sometimes hold true, it's only a very general guideline, and not a rule.

As for these bottles, I'd say the clear one could be as late as 1910, and the aqua one it probably right around 1900. Nice bottles, I'd be happy to find them myself!

 

[norflo2norcal]

Thanks, Wheelah! That's what I was looking for. But I figured the clear one would have been the older one, since the aqua has writing on the bottom, and also because the clear one has a few bubbles in the glass, and the aqua doesn't......I have always thought bubbles were older than no bubbles.

 

[Wheelah23]

Well, the writing has no bearing on the date. Carter's was an ink manufacturer, and they usually put their name on the base regardless of the date.

I don't think it does, but does the seam go through the lip on the clear one? That would add 5-10 years to my date assessment. Although it is crude, that was just caused by the conditions in the glass house when it was made. The glass blower might've just done a crappy job, whereas the blower of the aqua one did a proper job.

 

[norflo2norcal]

The seam does not go through the lip on either one.

 

[saratogadriver]

Late 1880s through as late as 1910. The automatic bottle machine rendered these obsolete right after TOC, but not everyone got the memo, and blown in mold bottles (with the seam not all the way to the top) continued to be made for a number of years.

Both nice clean, albeit common, cone inks.

Jim G

 

[norflo2norcal]

Thanks, Jim!

 

[|MDB|]

Hello, norflo2norcal. Here are five Carter's inkwells. The three on the right are stamped 1897 (from the Chicago World's Fair of that year). Note the difference in neck, collar, and shoulder design from the two Carter's inkwells to the left (which bear no date). Your aqua Carter's seems to be the same as the two Carter's inkwells to the left. As others have said, it was made about 1900.

 

[slag pile digger]

ORIGINAL Whellah23

Not entirely true... As with all rules, there are exceptions, and this rule especially has a lot of exceptions. In general, bottles with seams through the lip are after 1900, but some, like Vaseline jars, have seams through the lip but are 1890's.

Until 1910, almost all bottles are BIM, so the seam doesn't go through the lip. Until about 1920, most druggist bottles were blown. So although that rule about the seams can sometimes hold true, it's only a very general guideline, and not a rule.

As for these bottles, I'd say the clear one could be as late as 1910, and the aqua one it probably right around 1900. Nice bottles, I'd be happy to find them myself!

Conner, Nice Explanation!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!