Scarce FUNNEL INK WELL deep PURPLE AMETHYST glass TRUE antique BOTTLE

Description: A 2 7/8 inch tall x 2 7/8 inch wide beautiful dark PURPLE AMETHYST colored cylinder-shaped FUNNEL styled ink well. This is an ORIGINAL ANTIQUE hand Blown Into Mold ink well (BIM), dating back to the 1800's. Condition: This ink well is in SPARKLING CLEAN condition. The base has age wear on it but there's nothing wrong with the bottle, NO cracks, chips, dings, damage, etc. The base of it has a perfectly round factory pressed hole it in that holds a cork, for draining the bottle since the design of it made it impossible to drain by turning it upside down. Age: An ORIGINAL ANTIQUE hand-blown ink well (Blown-In-Mold = BIM), ca. late 1800's. Shipping: FREE domestic shipping, includes insurance. We do NOT insure International orders unless buyer specifically requests this and we are able to provide an insurance estimate. If an international 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 important for foreign buyers to know as most of our foreign shipping charges are estimates. 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 your prompt payment will hasten the turn-around time. We purchased a small collection of antique ink wells with some unusual varieties included. This is one of them, a unique antique ornately designed ink-well that was used as much for decoration and as a paper weight as it was for functionality. This is not a commercial ink well that was purchased and opened for use, but was a finely made glass ink well that was filled at the end of the day from a large master or bulk ink bottles. In the process, inkwells like this were used as paperweights on a desktop as they were extremely large heavy chunks of ornate antique glass! Also because of this heavy design, there were about impossible to tip over. Then there is the deep purple color. You hear about old bottles turning purple from the sun (sun colored amethyst = SCA) in general terms, here is how it works: The purple color is the result of having manganese in the glass. Manganese is a mineral, a rock, that was mined, crushed, and pulverized into a powder, then added to vats of molten liquid glass, and acted as a decolorizing agent to turn the natural aqua-tinted glass into a pure crystal clear colorless glass. But when exposed to the ultraviolet rays of the sun or other sources of UV rays, it triggers a chemical reaction and the manganese oxidizes and turns a wonderful amethyst color. We had a friend of ours accelerate the sun color purple process by running this bottle through an industrial food sterilizer which has the same affect as the sun, but a lot faster. It really isn’t whether a bottle has turned purple by the sun or UV rays in a controlled environment, they all turn the same purple color as it is the same chemical reaction taking place. But more importantly is the bottle itself, such as this one, it has to be a true antique bottle with manganese in the glass, to even turn this purple color. With few exceptions, only glass blown before 1914 has manganese in it and will turn sun-colored-amethyst. So a bottle has to be old enough and had to be blown with manganese in the glass, in order to turn purple. But it's all worth it, not only does this deep purple/amethyst color make this a great looking antique INK bottle, but it also authenticates it as being truly antique. Bottles like this were not discarded as they doubled as a paper weight and could also be used for holding paper clips, other office accessories, the same reason that they are collectible today. The point being, they weren't thrown out until they were broken. Unlike the dime-a-dozen cheap commercial ink wells which were disposable, these ink wells were made in small number as they were to be used over and over again, making them rather hard to find now, a century later. Then when you do find them, they are often worn out from being used over and over again. This example is a nice example in condition and color, check it out! Terms of Sale: Our goal is 100% customer satisfaction. We put our 30+ years of experience in antiques to use in describing every item we list. Items are sold in a store front format and your purchase is a binding contract, so please don't be hasty when looking over the listing. We find that communication is the key to successful transactions so PLEASE completely read the item description AND ask questions before purchasing, thank you!7313-15x, 7021-24x, 8130-31sA 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.

Price: 149.99 USD

Location: Libby, Montana

End Time: 2023-11-02T01:00:39.000Z

Shipping Cost: 0 USD