Frosted Glass Inkwell - late throwaway, or just a different glass type?

[Sitcoms]

Well, after a nasty injury this week at the dump (a nice deep gash in my hand), taking some time to look over some of my finds from this year. Dug this up from a river site with mainly 1920s and early 1930s items (bottles dated to 1926, license plates to 1930-32), and it's definitely different. I assume it's an inkwell given the shape/size, but the glass is definitely different than I'm used to. These pictures are after a superficial cleaning with water and a sponge, but no acids/etc. have been applied.

I studied the glass and if there's a seam, it's very light. There are two marks on two of the corners, but I can't tell if they're mold seams or just the refraction of light through the glass. I can not see any seam marks on the neck/lip. There is a small mark on the bottom, but no maker's mark or other identifiable marks. Glass has two bubbles in it - small one on the base and a larger on one of the panels. The glass is definitely not as smooth as the traditional Carter's inkwell I used for a size comparison in the last photo.

Anyone got a clue? This one's got me a bit stumped. Pictures below.

 

[CanadianBottles]

Looks like it does predate your other finds by a couple decades or so. I'm not convinced it's an ink, but tough to say what it would be. The shape doesn't look quite right for an ink of that era, and I don't think such wide mouths became common on inks (refillable desktop inks excepted) until the ABM era. If the frosting was intentional then it could have been some sort of cosmetic product, that's usually where I see that done. Not sure what sort of cosmetic would come in a jar like that though. Could have been something imported from another country where BIM bottles were produced later into the 20th century, as well.

 

[Sitcoms]

Looks like it does predate your other finds by a couple decades or so. I'm not convinced it's an ink, but tough to say what it would be. The shape doesn't look quite right for an ink of that era, and I don't think such wide mouths became common on inks (refillable desktop inks excepted) until the ABM era. If the frosting was intentional then it could have been some sort of cosmetic product, that's usually where I see that done. Not sure what sort of cosmetic would come in a jar like that though. Could have been something imported from another country where BIM bottles were produced later into the 20th century, as well.

Another thought I had was shoe polish - I know around the turn of the century they usually came in slightly larger bottles, like the two Whittemore's I've found at this spot. From what I can find the "frosting" techniques was developed in the Victorian era through acid etching, so I assume it could be as old as that.
Did Canadian bottlemakers follow a similar timeline to the U.S. - switching to machine-made around WWI? I did find a souvenir teacup from Bathurst, New Brunswick (https://www.antique-bottles.net/thr...e-post-office-bathurst-nb.699574/#post-781927) in the same general location. Maybe also from that trip?

 

[CanadianBottles]

Another thought I had was shoe polish - I know around the turn of the century they usually came in slightly larger bottles, like the two Whittemore's I've found at this spot. From what I can find the "frosting" techniques was developed in the Victorian era through acid etching, so I assume it could be as old as that.
Did Canadian bottlemakers follow a similar timeline to the U.S. - switching to machine-made around WWI? I did find a souvenir teacup from Bathurst, New Brunswick (https://www.antique-bottles.net/thr...e-post-office-bathurst-nb.699574/#post-781927) in the same general location. Maybe also from that trip?

Our bottlemakers seem to have taken slightly longer to upgrade their techniques than their US counterparts, BIM bottles are still very common in 1920s dumps here whereas they don't seem to be in US dumps. I don't think shoe polish is likely at all though, because the frosting technique was an expensive extra step to add so it would only have been used on products which were expensive enough to justify a more expensive bottle.

 

[Sitcoms]

Our bottlemakers seem to have taken slightly longer to upgrade their techniques than their US counterparts, BIM bottles are still very common in 1920s dumps here whereas they don't seem to be in US dumps. I don't think shoe polish is likely at all though, because the frosting technique was an expensive extra step to add so it would only have been used on products which were expensive enough to justify a more expensive bottle.

Just wanted to give an update that I may have solved this mystery, and it seems you may be right - some kind of cosmetic or soap.
Digging in the same general location that I found this bottle I was able to pull a larger frosted glass bottle - generally similar in design and shape, though definitely distinct. The difference is this one has a mark on the base for The Palmolive Company of Milwaukee, USA. I can find a few examples of these online, but no clue as to what exactly it held. Pictures below; the first one I found is on the left, the new addition on the right: