Antique Original PONTILED INK well, Fancy, ORNATE, and Pristine Purple - #1 sm

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Antique Original PONTILED INK well, Fancy, ORNATE, and Pristine Purple - #1 sm:
$59.99

A 1 1/2\" tall x 1 1/2\" square VERY ORNATELY shaped antique DARK PURPLE color very heavy thick glass DESK TOP INK well. This example comes in a beautiful and unusual wavy pattern, an OLDER INK WELL For Sure (!) as it has an open pontil in the center of the base. Open pontils were phased out in the 1860\'s but still used in art glass much later. This is art glass and is later, but still an EARLY PIECE - PRE-1900 - FOR This ink well is in PRISTINE SPARKLING CLEAN condition. NO cracks, chips, dings, damage, etc.

Age: An early hand-blown bottle (Blown-In-Mold = BIM) with a molded-top, ca. late 1800\'s.

Shipping: All DOMESTIC shipping charges INCLUDE insurance. We have enjoyed shipping our items all over the world and are happy to offer most of our items to international buyers. Yet insuring International parcels is very expensive so PLEASE NOTE; we do NOT insure International orders unless winning buyer specifically requests this and we are able to provide an insurance quote. We do not falsify information on the Customs Form, such as a price other than what the actual purchase price is, so please do not request us to do so. We ship several times a week and send payment acknowledgments and shipping confirmations. Your prompt payment will assure a very quick turn-around time. IMPORTANT NOTE: If our shipping charge is much more than the actual shipping cost, we will refund the excess so what YOU pay for shipping/insurance is very close to, if not exactly, the ACTUAL shipping costs! This is especially important for foreign buyers to know as most of our foreign shipping charges are rough estimates.

We recently purchased a small collection of very unique antique desk top glass ink wells. These are ANTIQUE and very ORNATELY DESIGNED ink wells, that were used as much for decoration as they were used functionally. These were not commercial ink bottles purchased and opened for use, but were finely made art glass ink wells that were filled at day\'s end from large master or bulk ink bottles. In the process they were also used as paperweights on a desktop as they are extremely large heavy chunks of ornate antique glass! They range in size, design, and functionality, but the one thing that is the same for everyone of them is that they are each one, very beautiful and old antique ink well in a great DEEP AMETHYST color ... this one actually looks black until you hold it up to the light and ... then you see it is a gentle, peaceful PURPLE color. The beautiful purple amethyst color of this glass is the result of the presence of manganese in the glass, a mineral that was pulverized and added to vats of liquid glass that acted as a decolorizing agent to turn the glass crystal clear. Exposure to ultraviolet rays of the sun or other sources of UV rays, triggers a chemical reaction and the manganese oxidizes and turns a wonderful amethyst color. Many of our amethyst bottles have been purpled from years of exposure to natural sunlight, others have been purpled with the use of strong UV lights in a box, and still others have been purpled by running them through a sterilization (radiation) process, a safe and permanent process which does the same thing as exposure to natural sunlight, except much faster. Though some \"purists\" will suggest that this lavender color has been artificially produced or altered, the only thing that is artificial or altered is the time period it took to turn purple. Whether a bottle has been purpled by the sun, by UV rays in a box, or by a sterilization process, they all turn the same purple color as it is the same chemical reaction taking place. With few exceptions, only clear glass from before 1914 will turn sun-colored-amethyst. Not only does this deep purple/amethyst color make this a great looking desk top ink well, but it also authenticates it as being truly antique. This is a Rare antique ink well Hard to Find in this condition as it seems that these were not ever discarded as they were such an ornate piece of glass, they doubled as a paper weight, and that they could also be used for holding paper clips, other office accessories, the same reason that they are collectable today. The point being, these were not thrown out once ball point pens came into being, they were only thrown out once they were damaged beyond use which led us to the point of saying that they are hard to find in this condition, THIS EXCELLENT condition. Also, unlike little dime a dozen cheap commercial ink wells which were disposable and made by into the hundred of thousands, these bottles were made in very small numbers as they were to be used over and over again, making them rather hard to find now a century later. We had two of them, that\'s why it is noted in the end of our title, \" ... Antique # 1 - sm\". as this one is the smaller of the two that we have for sale on now, check it out!ALABAMA ALASKA ARIZONA ARKANSAS CALIFORNIA COLORADO CONNECTICUT DELAWARE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA FLORIDA GEORGIA HAWAII IDAHO ILLINOIS INDIANA IOWA KANSAS KENTUCKY LOUISIANA MAINE MARYLAND MASSACHUSETTS MICHIGAN MINNESOTA MISSISSIPPI MISSOURI MONTANA NEBRASKA NEVADA NEW HAMPSHIRE NEW JERSEY NEW MEXICO NEW YORK NORTH CAROLINA NORTH DAKOTA OHIO OKLAHOMA OREGON PENNSYLVANIA RHODE ISLAND SOUTH CAROLINA SOUTH DAKOTA TENNESSEE TEXAS UTAH VERMONT VIRGINIA WASHINGTON WEST VIRGINIA WISCONSIN WYOMING.