Underwood Ink Bottle with Label

Description

• Glass & Color: Mold-blown in standard aqua (or teal-tinted pale green) utility glass, featuring a characteristic flared rim/lip with an applied collar ring below the neck.
• Embossing: The shoulder and base are crisply embossed. The front shoulder displays “UNDERWOOD’S” arched across the top, with “INKS” embossed boldly near the bottom base edge.
• Paper Label: The original multi-colored paper label remains intact on the front. It reads:

UNDERWOOD’S

COBALT

EVERLASTING BANK INK

Writes a dark deep handsome blue color quickly turning an intense permanent black.

30 VESEY ST. NEW YORK

Dating the Bottle

• Estimated Era: Late 19th to very early 20th century (circa 1880s–1900s).
• Clues: The aqua glass color, hand-applied finish characteristics, and the use of the 30 Vesey Street, New York address point directly to the pre-typewriter dominance era or the early transitional period when John T. Underwood’s business was still primarily anchored in its foundational ink, carbon paper, and ribbon manufacturing trade before the massive success of their typewriter division completely consumed the brand.

Company History: John T. Underwood & Co.

• Roots in the Ink Trade: The business began long before typewriters entered the picture. Thomas Underwood (the father of founder John Thomas Underwood) operated an ink manufacturing business in England before bringing the enterprise to New Jersey and New York in the mid-19th century.
• Expansion into Office Supplies: Established formally as John Underwood & Co. around 1874, the firm initially specialized in high-grade writing inks, copying inks, carbon papers, and typewriter ribbons. For years, they were a major supplier of consumables to companies like Remington when Remington was dominating the early writing machine market.
• The Pivotal Pivot: Legend—and company history—notes that when Remington decided to start manufacturing its own ribbons and carbon paper in the 1890s, John T. Underwood boldly retorted, “All right, then, we’ll just build our own typewriter.”
• Rise of the Typewriter Giant: Underwood purchased the revolutionary front-striking typewriter designs of German-American inventor Franz X. Wagner, establishing the Underwood Typewriter Company. Their iconic Underwood No. 5, launched in 1900, became the most successful and widely copied typewriter in the world, eventually turning out machines by the millions from their massive industrial plant in Hartford, Connecticut.
• The Vesey Street Address: Throughout their rise as an office-supply powerhouse, their corporate footprint remained anchored in Manhattan, with their administrative and sales headquarters stationed at 30 Vesey Street in New York City (where they later constructed the historic little skyscraper known as the Underwood Building in 1912).