This is no help, Ben, but there may not BE a better answer.

The older the glass factory, the less records we still manage to find.  The "original" umbrella ink may have been advertised on a circular instead of a catalog, so we may never know.

You are right that Bill Lindsey is one of the folks to ask, but I will pass the word along to the rest of the Bottle Research Group and see if anyone can help.

Bill


Bill Lockhart
Professor of Sociology
New Mexico State University
2400 Scenic Dr.
Alamogordo, NM 88310
575-439-3732
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-----Original Message-----
From: HISTORICAL ARCHAEOLOGY [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Benjamin Pykles
Sent: Monday, February 24, 2014 2:44 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Umbrella Ink Bottles

Hello list members:

Recent excavations at a late 18th to mid-19th century domestic site in northeast Pennsylvania uncovered an isolated fragment of an amber-colored umbrella ink bottle. (I can email you a photo if you're interested). We are trying to determine the age of the bottle.

We have consulted numerous sources, including the SHA Bottle website, which says (citing Faulkner [2009]) that umbrella inks were made for a very long time, starting at least as early as 1840 to as late as 1909. But every source we have consulted seems to suggest a similar "soft" starting date, using words like "at least as early as..." or "around." Some even leave open the possibility that this style of ink bottle could have begun decades earlier than the 1840s.

Has anyone found similar umbrella ink bottles in tightly dated contexts? Is it possible that our fragment could date to the late 1820s?

Please feel free to contact me off-list.

Thank you for the help,

Ben Pykles, Ph.D.
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