Old Ink Bottle

[Jason]

What kind of ink bottle is this? It's nice and crude and full of seed bubbles. Has what feels like sand stuck in the glass on the shoulder. The seam stops at the finish on the neck. 1890s? I wasn't able to find any pictures on the internet like it.

 

[botlguy]

I don't know what kind it is, never saw one before. I like it a lot. Jim

 

[andy volkerts]

It may be british, it kinda looks like some I have seen. pretty cool looking!!

 

[Jason]

Thanks, guys. I've never seen this one either. I'll keep asking around. It wouldn't surprise me if it was British.

 

[RED Matthews]

So I also like it. My Grandmother suppotted my bottle colecting inyerest and gave me a lot of my early meds and inks. Yours looks like a good one. Is there a pontil. mark on the bottle? RED M.

 

[sunrunner]

ok I collect ink among other types of bottles and even have a few British inks , I have never seen this one before . It may be European . Its tall of an American ink 1860s or 70s am guessing.

 

[cannibalfromhannibal]

Because I've been digging a bunch of inks lately, I have had my nose in the ink book. I looked in Covill's ink book and found 2 that look similar to yours in shape & size & age with seed bubbles. They are minus the diamond shape corners and odd shoulder design but seem to be unusually tall like yours, measuring just shy of 4" tall. Covill lists them as Chinese from the 1860's. This could explain the seed bubbles, not common in American inks, as well as the unusual shape and size of yours. Another thought is, it could be something entirely different and was "repurposed" for ink. Bluing was real common around here to be put in any used bottle, and recently I dug a couple cologne bottles with ink residue inside. My bet is on the Chinese ink idea. HTH Jack

 

[saratogadriver]

Because I've been digging a bunch of inks lately, I have had my nose in the ink book. I looked in Covill's ink book and found 2 that look similar to yours in shape & size & age with seed bubbles. They are minus the diamond shape corners and odd shoulder design but seem to be unusually tall like yours, measuring just shy of 4" tall. Covill lists them as Chinese from the 1860's. This could explain the seed bubbles, not common in American inks, as well as the unusual shape and size of yours. Another thought is, it could be something entirely different and was "repurposed" for ink. Bluing was real common around here to be put in any used bottle, and recently I dug a couple cologne bottles with ink residue inside. My bet is on the Chinese ink idea. HTH Jack

The beveled corners are definitely what makes this unique. I would agree that the sizing is more consistent with some inks that I have seen with Chinese or Asian characters on them. So the "Chinese" ink connection seems to me to make some sense. It's definitely different. Jim G