Old Ink Bottles

[scottg]

OK I am sorry I can't recall the thread Chili asked me about the ink bottles I got for 2 dollars? I was going to just go back and post this there, but...........

 Anyway, a basement in Ct was opened up and hundreds of ink and mucilage bottles from about 1870 popped up. Hundreds of them.
 So the finder sold them, brand new complete with contents and labels, from the post civil war era, for 2 bucks apiece.
 
    Like a fool I didn't buy more, but I did at least get a few.   
  yours Scott
click to enlarge!
 
   

[HeelSpur]

Those are really nice, hard to believe the labels stayed in tack all those years.
a lucky find for sure.

[Lostmind]

They are probably glued on with mucilage. I had to look it up on Google. Interesting that it's a glue and a medicine.

[jabberwoki]

Well Scotty you can`t collect them all. Better to have a couple of nice examples like you have here.

[lauver]

hey Scott,

Your bottles are NOS/Mint!!!  It doesn't get any better...

[john k]

Even tho we try, we just can't collect everything, where would we put it?   Don't stop some people from trying, and no, do not look in my spare bedroom. ****

[Chillylulu]

Nice looking bottles, Scott.

The bright, colorful labels really set them off. Very good size for display - a lot to look at in a compact package.

A great deal, for sure.  I've come across deals like that and intentionally backed off, just so others could feel like I did when getting mine. Other times I just couldn't afford them at any price.

Chilly

[Branson]

That's the same ink bottle that's sitting on my desk right now.  But no label, and Sanford's is molded into the bottom,

[scottg]

Cone inks were popular from around 1860 all the way up till about 1920.
  Every major player in the ink business (and there were a lot) used cone inks.

 One thing to always consider, until well after the turn of the 20th century, not very many people could read! 
 It started out hardly anyone could do it, and slowly gained ground.
  So every bottle had to have a recognizable shape.

  You didn't want to go to the store wanting Worcestershire sauce, and come home with boot black because you couldn't read the label!
 So blacking bottles were always short necks and either square or rectangles.

  Worcestershire bottles still retain part of their classic bottle shape, even today.
     yours Scott

[rusty]

> not very many people could read! 
Doesn't explain the picture of a tiger on the box of cereal tho ;P