Continental 800 Silver & Heavy Cut Glass Inkwell

Description

• Structure & Glass: Heavy, clear optical glass body with a wide square base featuring chamfered corners, curved/beveled exterior walls, and a recessed, round inner ink reservoir.
• Mount & Lid: Heavy, domed collar and hinged stepped-dome lid made from silver.
• Markings: stamped with a numeric purity mark 800 along the silver collar/rim near the hinge mechanism.

Origin & Date of Manufacture

• Where was it made? Continental Europe (most likely Germany, Italy, or Austria).
  • The “800” mark indicates 800/1000 fine silver (80% pure silver combined with 20% alloy metal), which was the standard hallmark ratio used across Continental European silversmiths, as opposed to the standard British or American Sterling (.925) standard.
• When was it made? Circa 1910–1930s (Late Historicist to Art Deco period).
  • The combination of the heavy geometric, architectural glass faceting with the clean, concentric stepped-ring design on the silver lid reflects the transitional aesthetic between late 19th-century Jugendstil/Art Nouveau cut glass geometry and early 20th-century Art Deco design.