Greetings,
I did a brief search and came up with nothing. Google doesn't even come up with much help! Perhaps one of you knows just what this inkwell is all about.
I purchased a travel inkwell recently and it has some strange symbols embossed on its inner lid - it appears to be an anchor with either a dolphin or serpent and above it a double-headed eagle. The emblems are flanked by the abbreviations "K.K.A." and "PRIV.".
Anyone have any ideas what they mean or just how old this inkwell is?

Thanks for your time.
Scott Hoffman
Travel inkwell

Is it possible that "K.K.A." are a person's initials and "PRIV." is the rank of Private in the military? Also is it a military insignia?

I was thinking along those lines - wouldn't it be more likely etched or engraved if it were personalized?
I looked up the double-headed eagle and the one on the inkwell bears a strong resemblance to the Russian one - but with Roman letters vice Cyrillic... weird.

Your traveling inkwell is nearly identical to mine except for the writing and insignia. I wonder if people had that lid embossed to personalize it. I've seen ones with military looking symbols on Ebay before.

Guessing: From the double-headed eagle and the dolphin and anchor, this is possibly from the Austro-Hungarian Navy. If that's the case, "K.K.A." would be "Königliche Kriegsmarine 'something'" (Royal Navy 'something' -- I don't know what the "A" would stand for, maybe someone else does. It wouldn't be "Austria" since the name of Austria in German is "Osterreich".) I doubt that K.K.A. are someone's initials. No idea what the PRIV. stands for. I doubt that it is someone's rank. Privates wouldn't be toting travel inkwells.

I think the initials (and possibly the emblem) were added after the inkwell was made. The letters in particular look like they were done by hand, using steel stamps. The emblem is not a good impression -- the bottom isn't all there -- and since it's on a "dome-shaped" piece of metal, I don't think it was stamped in during manufacture.

It is also possible this is a fake antique.

I ran across this site for a bit of information:

http://www.fleurdelis.com/meanings.htm


It looks like your lid has a double-headed eagle with wings displayed, an anchor, and a dolphin. Just using the above site, and assuming the article itself is true to its apparent age, I would say that someone had that symbol as a personal/family crest. That, or the inkwell was a gift from the owner's family to a member going into the service, and the symbol was put on as a sort of talisman for protection.


Some of the other sites dealing with heraldry and crests' meanings give almost the same information about the symbols individually, though I can't seem to find another example of the combination shown on your lid.


Hope this is a little helpful


-Kel


Edit: as a side note, the icon as a whole would make a great leather stamp.

For what it's worth, here's the same insignia on another inkwell:
http://cgi.ebay.com/Antique-TRAVELLING-INK...1QQcmdZViewItem