Cold Painted Metal Figural Inkwell, Dwarf Smith and Anvil

This small novelty inkwell features a fairy tale type dwarf smith holding a hammer and a long piece of metal which he is about to forge.  He is precariously standing on a couple of crossed logs that are attached to a stump with an anvil on top. The crossed logs or branches, along with an additional branch coming from the back of the stump, make a pen rest. The stump is the inkwell; the lid with the anvil is hinged. The branch at the back of the stump also holds the lid when it’s open so it doesn’t fall all the way down. Currently there is a white ceramic insert in the inkwell. I am not sure if it is the original insert; many of these little figural inkwells have lost their original inserts.

These little cold painted inkwells were made with a variety of different figures, all with hinged lid stumps as inkwells.  The metal used was called pot metal – it is also known as spelter and white metal.  It was a cheaper alternative to cold painted bronze. These little figural inkwells were very possibly, given the subject matters of most of them (a fairy tale type dwarf in this case,  and animals in others), made to be used by children.