Jump to content

Inkwells!


whitedot

Recommended Posts

  • Replies 104
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

  • betweenthelens

    13

  • RMN

    8

  • OakIris

    7

  • Bo Bo Olson

    6

Top Posters In This Topic

Posted Images

I've got quite a few inkwells. One of the features I look for in the ones I use the most is a hinged lid.

 

http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5113/7432459568_14800df50c_o.jpg

 

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7176/6774443110_02687835d5_o.jpg

Edited by jbb
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Not sure if you'd actually call these inkwells, but, well....

 

As much as I like hinged things, this one is a real evaporator since there is not sealing ring in the lid (made out of sterling silver):

http://i654.photobucket.com/albums/uu264/peli46/Rubinato_1.jpg

 

http://i654.photobucket.com/albums/uu264/peli46/Rubinato_2.jpg

 

I like those things with a rest or ledge on the front (like Herbin's bottles). This one has a screw-on lid (with a good, "normal" seal inside) and a ledge, both made out of thick and heavy massive pewter:

http://i654.photobucket.com/albums/uu264/peli46/Rubinato_A.jpg

 

Mike

Edited by lapis

Life is too short to drink bad wine (Goethe)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Not sure if you'd actually call these inkwells, but, well....

 

As much as I like hinged things, this one is a real evaporator since there is not sealing ring in the lid (made out of sterling silver):

 

Gorgeous inkwells. Right up my street.

 

I have been very tempted to buy a couple of Georgian/Edwardian inkwells with hinged, unsealed lids. Bad idea? Is it possible to fit a seal, do you think?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I use Montblanc bottles.

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed ..."

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I often see ink wells on eBay. I think many of them are beautiful, almost all of them interesting. But I can't help but wonder if they are practical in this day and age. Isn't it easier and more economical to dip from the original bottle? I'm asking for future reference as I have no practical experience with dip pens.

"You have to be willing to be very, very bad in this business if you're ever to be good. Only if you stand ready to make mistakes today can you hope to move ahead tomorrow."

Dwight V. Swain, author of Techniques of the Selling Writer.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The USPS used dip pens at the psot office until 1957,I think. The author and historian Shelby Foote,who penned his first drafts with a dip pen speculated in an interview that somewhre in a warehouse thousands of the inkwells/dip pens are sitting in boxes. Anyone ever seen one?

Pat Barnes a.k.a. billz

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The USPS used dip pens at the psot office until 1957,I think. The author and historian Shelby Foote,who penned his first drafts with a dip pen speculated in an interview that somewhre in a warehouse thousands of the inkwells/dip pens are sitting in boxes. Anyone ever seen one?

 

Shelby Foote rocks.

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed ..."

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I often see ink wells on eBay. I think many of them are beautiful, almost all of them interesting. But I can't help but wonder if they are practical in this day and age. Isn't it easier and more economical to dip from the original bottle? I'm asking for future reference as I have no practical experience with dip pens.

Most (all?) vintage/antique inkwells allow evaporation so they really aren't as practical for fountain pens. I am constantly (daily) adding water to the inks in my inkwells.

 

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7275/6935310764_86a4dcd224_o.jpg

Edited by jbb
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Gorgeous inkwells. Right up my street.

 

I have been very tempted to buy a couple of Georgian/Edwardian inkwells with hinged, unsealed lids. Bad idea? Is it possible to fit a seal, do you think?

I don't think that any seal will work here because whatever it's made out of, the hinged lid just can't get pressed down enough to give a tight closure. Or the lid would have to be really heavy, at least as much as a paper-weight.

 

What I like -- however unromantic -- is to keep a silicon "cork" stuck into the bottle when i'm not using it, and then, when I am, just whip out the cork and open and close the lid when writing or filling. But leaving the lid itself down for a few minutes more than the time necessary to do a fillerup with a normal bottle of ink will still result in too much evaporation.

 

Whew!

Life is too short to drink bad wine (Goethe)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The USPS used dip pens at the psot office until 1957,I think. The author and historian Shelby Foote,who penned his first drafts with a dip pen speculated in an interview that somewhre in a warehouse thousands of the inkwells/dip pens are sitting in boxes. Anyone ever seen one?

My grandparents had a general store that doubled as the town's post office. Over the course of many years the place was vacated and torn down. When that happened, I was given terminal pillaging rights. Part of the swag was a couple of inkwells and a dip pen that the USPS left behind. The inkwells are "self closing" Sengbusch models that lock themselves into a hole in the desktop. Their capacity is much to large for my use. I keep them as curiosities only. The dip pen was probably left behind because its nib was bent. It was easy to repair. The pen is a Sheaffer "FineLine" desk pen without a reservoir. The barrel has a breather hole in the side and no provision for a lever mechanism or a cartridge. The nib and feed unit screws into the barrel like an Esterbrook J. The nib is an F and will write nearly a whole page on a single dip.

Edited by Paddler

Can a calculator understand a cash register?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

P.W. Akkerman ink bottles would make great, if somewhat large (150mL), ink wells. As would the vintage bottles that inspired them.

 

Waterman and OMAS ink bottles would also make nice ink wells, as they have flat angled surfaces so you can set the bottle down at an angle to more easily use the last few mL of ink.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The USPS used dip pens at the psot office until 1957,I think. The author and historian Shelby Foote,who penned his first drafts with a dip pen speculated in an interview that somewhre in a warehouse thousands of the inkwells/dip pens are sitting in boxes. Anyone ever seen one?

My grandparents had a general store that doubled as the town's post office. Over the course of many years the place was vacated and torn down. When that happened, I was given terminal pillaging rights. Part of the swag was a couple of inkwells and a dip pen that the USPS left behind. The inkwells are "self closing" Sengbusch models that lock themselves into a hole in the desktop. Their capacity is much to large for my use. I keep them as curiosities only. The dip pen was probably left behind because its nib was bent. It was easy to repair. The pen is a Sheaffer "FineLine" desk pen without a reservoir. The barrel has a breather hole in the side and no provision for a lever mechanism or a cartridge. The nib and feed unit screws into the barrel like an Esterbrook J. The nib is an F and will write nearly a whole page on a single dip.

Thanks for the great stork. Probably there were so amny of these that no one thought that they were collectable for the future.

Pat Barnes a.k.a. billz

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 month later...

I use a Cartier inkwell to hold my Cartier blue ink. I got the Cartier inkwell brand new, unused and at first I had just wanted to keep it in the China cabinet for keepsake only. But when I received my bottle of Cartier blue ink, I found out the top of the ink bottle neck is too narrow for refilling ink directly from the pen. So, I decided to use the inkwell and it is sitting on my desk next to my ST Dupont amber colour Montparnasse Chairman pen. Here are some photos.

post-83563-0-13044000-1344621918.jpg

post-83563-0-28498800-1344621943.jpg

post-83563-0-33403900-1344621976.jpg

Edited by iveyman
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Some lovely ink wells on this thread! I love the fancy ones, although I've always enjoyed the more simple glass variety in my home. I don't tend to use them, as the ink dries out without an adequate air-tight seal on them. I just use the ink bottles I buy (Parker Quink, Sheaffer Skrip, Omas, Pelikan) to keep the ink in for practical reasons. I also quite like the bottles if i'm honest.

 

However, on my desk I have my pen tidy! After all, if you have inkwells you need to have somewhere to put them, right?! The ink wells on it are purely decorative, but I keep most of my pen collection in the drawer (felt lined), and one pen in the top try for go-to use (if you're interested it's an unusual Platignum fountain pen (I think 1990s if I remember rightly) with brass barrel and enamel coating.

post-87898-0-11963400-1344858076.jpg

post-87898-0-44095000-1344858082.jpg

Edited by Jennings

Currently searching for these parts:

 

- MB 242 cap- MB 254 cap- MB 252 cap

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Jugenstile/Art Nouveau 1895-1914

http://i299.photobucket.com/albums/mm300/BoBoOlson/IMAG0085.jpg

 

@1925 French Art Deco birds eye maple veneer.

http://i299.photobucket.com/albums/mm300/BoBoOlson/IMAG0079-1.jpg

 

http://i299.photobucket.com/albums/mm300/BoBoOlson/IMAG0081.jpg

 

This one is hard, it is either Art Deco or Bauhaus depending on how you want to define. Bauhaus started @1919-20 Art Deco was first named that in 1925 in Paris. Art Deco ends 1940.Black glass, crystal well, fire gilded band and well rim.

 

http://i299.photobucket.com/albums/mm300/BoBoOlson/IMAG0084.jpg

http://i299.photobucket.com/albums/mm300/BoBoOlson/IMAG0245-1.jpg

 

1930's mahogany and brass wire insert around the stand. Normal folks style, nice but no fancy name. http://i299.photobucket.com/albums/mm300/BoBoOlson/IMAG0088.jpg

 

1930's I think it Bauhaus though some might call it Art Deco.

http://i299.photobucket.com/albums/mm300/BoBoOlson/IMAG0093.jpg

The rest of these I rate as more Bauhaus than Art Deco, there's not enough fancy.

http://i299.photobucket.com/albums/mm300/BoBoOlson/IMAG0220.jpg

http://i299.photobucket.com/albums/mm300/BoBoOlson/IMAG0223.jpg

I have double well one in white/gray marble too that I don't have a picture of.

 

1890's Histerusmus, (1860-1910) or the style of new middle class 'shabby chic' fake the had it in the family or wish we had. This 'fakes' middle-late 1700's.(As soon as I get around to it, I'll have my restorer make some caps.

http://i299.photobucket.com/albums/mm300/BoBoOlson/IMAG0097.jpg

I'd put this in the same era, 'faking' early 1800-1820. Of course I could be totally wrong and this could be 1895 at the start of Art Nouveau. :rolleyes: The more I look at it the more I put it as Art Nouveau. The top is a key to that.

http://i299.photobucket.com/albums/mm300/BoBoOlson/SAM_0599.jpg

Pure histerusmus in iron. @1895.

http://i299.photobucket.com/albums/mm300/BoBoOlson/0294.jpg

 

This is more the real thing with sand spreader.@ 1840-60 or so.The Europeans stayed with sand spreaders a generation longer than others.

http://i299.photobucket.com/albums/mm300/BoBoOlson/SAM_0432-2.jpg

 

http://i299.photobucket.com/albums/mm300/BoBoOlson/SAM_0434-1.jpg

http://i299.photobucket.com/albums/mm300/BoBoOlson/SAM_0436.jpg

 

Will hold a dip pen.

 

 

@ late 1920's-1930's when workers first had a vacation, tourist ink well out of the Schwartzwald/Black Forest. Due to Unions it became law to send workers and families off for two weeks a year to get healthy, on the Beach or the Mountains in Union supervised Health Resorts...just like the rich folks...at a much lower level of course.

http://i299.photobucket.com/albums/mm300/BoBoOlson/SAM_0437.jpg

 

in memory of 15-9-1915 a Socialist day of some sort Inkwell. The man is a foot tall, the inkwell 16 inches.

http://i299.photobucket.com/albums/mm300/BoBoOlson/KGrHqFHJCsE70JsksQBPCd6Vjf60_12.jpg

http://i299.photobucket.com/albums/mm300/BoBoOlson/KGrHqZHJCwE7z5ZQ-fBPCd5GNKvg60_12.jpg

http://i299.photobucket.com/albums/mm300/BoBoOlson/KGrHqVHJCkE7zC5V3IUBPCdwzVCdQ60_12.jpg

 

Regular 1890-1940 type ink wells, some with sterling silver caps, some not.

http://i299.photobucket.com/albums/mm300/BoBoOlson/IMAG0227.jpg

 

http://i299.photobucket.com/albums/mm300/BoBoOlson/IMAG0235.jpg

 

Modern?....'20-30-50? Soft ball size, cap press seals, holds 50ml in the insert or 70ml with out it.

http://i299.photobucket.com/albums/mm300/BoBoOlson/IMAG0218.jpg

http://i299.photobucket.com/albums/mm300/BoBoOlson/IMAG0219.jpg

Edited by Bo Bo Olson

In reference to P. T. Barnum; to advise for free is foolish, ........busybodies are ill liked by both factions.

 

 

The cheapest lessons are from those who learned expensive lessons. Ignorance is best for learning expensive lessons.

 

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I would love to get one but at the moment I am resigning myself to the built in inkwell in the Skrip bottle! :embarrassed_smile:

 

However, I am in the market for a proper inkwell to store a particularly small ink bottle that will not allow entry to my cumbersome oblique nib holder.

 

The only thing holding me back is that I heard the ink evaporates quickly in an inkwell, isn't that counter productive?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Bo Bo Olson, that collection is amazing!!! You've got me hunting for marble now, and good point about some wells being quite good for regular daily use, depending on the cap.

Currently searching for these parts:

 

- MB 242 cap- MB 254 cap- MB 252 cap

Link to comment
Share on other sites

You need to make sure the glass or porcelain inserts are there or you will be getting a collection of inserts off of English Ebay, in hopes they fit, or find a glass blower.

All most all big/medium to large, inkwells, even the flip tops, mostly have and need a glass insert. The small two loads of ink wells don't have or need that.

 

The three real small glass/crystal ones shown with the fancy tops do not have an insert, nor the bigger round one which is designed for lots of ink. Sort of three business days worth, back in the day of one pen, and two inks.

The medium big one on the far left has a small well,being quite thick in glass.

http://i299.photobucket.com/albums/mm300/BoBoOlson/IMAG0235.jpg

 

http://i299.photobucket.com/albums/mm300/BoBoOlson/IMAG0232.jpg

 

All the other double or single in a stand inkwells I have have an insert. That was so you could take out the insert and clean it. Also, in that ink evaporates, there is less ink in the pretty well, so one filled it more often.

 

If the large inkwell does not have one, it is not 'normally' complete (after a few, you 'know' which ones should have had one or not). Especially metal inkwells; which all had glass or porcelain inserts.

Ink was very acidic back then.

 

Most of my Ink wells are for daily inks, as they were designed for.

They are not put them in an ink well with out a screw or as I lucked out with a press to seal top.

 

They will work well for 'Ink of the Week' assuming you are using your pens filled with that color often enough.

Yes, could be they will dry out or dry out some in a week. You add water.

 

After a while I started looking for screw on capped or extra tight fitting ones. I haven't got any, because of pens, inks and papers bought.

But when I get back to it, I know what I now, need & want.

 

My I suggest spending some six weeks of 1-2 hours a week looking at inkwells in American, English and German Ebays, before buying. You get an idea of price, and how rare or pretty they actually are. By spending six weeks looking you develop your taste more, are able to spot the modern replica made in India, or Morocco; or spot fake porcelain.

 

As 'Noobie' I almost bought made yesterday fakes, when I was hot to trot.

 

Luckily my wife is a mechanical draftsman (trained with file and such in a real metal shop as apprentice), and told me this and that is fake. Seeing she collects antique demi-cups, steered me away from fake old porcelain, too. She has lots of expensive books with marks....she says the net offers lots of good info now.

 

Look at the mark on the bottom of the porcelain well. Ask for picture of it, if bidding on Ebay.

 

Spend your money wisely, knowledge helps do so.

 

 

Spend a bit of time learning about Jugenstile/Art Nouveau, Art Deco, Bauhous and histrusumus of the Germans and perhaps the English also.

All that looks 'Victorian' is not, unfortunately. There are books on the underlined, and god they got great furniture. :puddle:

You would be so surprised, how much 'modern' furniture is Bauhaus. I went to a Furniture Museum in Frankfurt, and almost died laughing at the very modern '1920' chairs that are 'New designer' on the market.

 

Jugenstile/Art Nouveau, Art Deco is some wonderful furniture.

We have a lot of inherited or bought cheaply from some one living next to one of the now dead relatives from 1895-1910. Nice enough lower middle class 'non-arty' normal good furniture, but had I the money, I'd have Art Nouveau, Art Deco.

Edited by Bo Bo Olson

In reference to P. T. Barnum; to advise for free is foolish, ........busybodies are ill liked by both factions.

 

 

The cheapest lessons are from those who learned expensive lessons. Ignorance is best for learning expensive lessons.

 

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The USPS used dip pens at the psot office until 1957,I think. The author and historian Shelby Foote,who penned his first drafts with a dip pen speculated in an interview that somewhre in a warehouse thousands of the inkwells/dip pens are sitting in boxes. Anyone ever seen one?

 

My father told me that in the city\town that I live in that Post Office still had ink wells and dip pens at customer counters as late as 1962\1963 . He also told me that it was not uncommon for people would make detours by the Post Office to fill their fountain pens.

They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety

Benjamin Franklin

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now


  • Most Contributions

    1. amberleadavis
      amberleadavis
      43844
    2. PAKMAN
      PAKMAN
      33494
    3. Ghost Plane
      Ghost Plane
      28220
    4. inkstainedruth
      inkstainedruth
      26624
    5. jar
      jar
      26101
  • Upcoming Events

  • Blog Comments

    • Shanghai Knife Dude
      I have the Sailor Naginata and some fancy blade nibs coming after 2022 by a number of new workshop from China.  With all my respect, IMHO, they are all (bleep) in doing chinese characters.  Go use a bush, or at least a bush pen. 
    • A Smug Dill
      It is the reason why I'm so keen on the idea of a personal library — of pens, nibs, inks, paper products, etc. — and spent so much money, as well as time and effort, to “build” it for myself (because I can't simply remember everything, especially as I'm getting older fast) and my wife, so that we can “know”; and, instead of just disposing of what displeased us, or even just not good enough to be “given the time of day” against competition from >500 other pens and >500 other inks for our at
    • adamselene
      Agreed.  And I think it’s good to be aware of this early on and think about at the point of buying rather than rationalizing a purchase..
    • A Smug Dill
      Alas, one cannot know “good” without some idea of “bad” against which to contrast; and, as one of my former bosses (back when I was in my twenties) used to say, “on the scale of good to bad…”, it's a spectrum, not a dichotomy. Whereas subjectively acceptable (or tolerable) and unacceptable may well be a dichotomy to someone, and finding whether the threshold or cusp between them lies takes experiencing many degrees of less-than-ideal, especially if the decision is somehow influenced by factors o
    • adamselene
      I got my first real fountain pen on my 60th birthday and many hundreds of pens later I’ve often thought of what I should’ve known in the beginning. I have many pens, the majority of which have some objectionable feature. If they are too delicate, or can’t be posted, or they are too precious to face losing , still they are users, but only in very limited environments..  I have a big disliking for pens that have the cap jump into the air and fly off. I object to Pens that dry out, or leave blobs o
  • Chatbox

    You don't have permission to chat.
    Load More
  • Files






×
×
  • Create New...