Deep Chocolate Amber Umbrella Ink Bottle

This deep chocolate amber umbrella ink bottle is a refined mid-to-late 19th-century utilitarian object, valued for its rare, dark coloration.

Detailed Description

• The “Umbrella” Form: This shape, technically a fluted-cone stand, features eight connecting panels. The design was specifically engineered for stability on a desk, as the wide-angled facets prevented the bottle from tipping over while a writer dipped a quill or pen.
• Coloration: “Chocolate amber” is a deep, rich shade of amber glass. While most umbrella inks were produced in common “aqua” (light blue-green), shades like amber, cobalt, and puce are rarer and more sought after.

Manufacturing and Origin

• Hand-Blown in a Mold: This bottle was blown-in-mold (BIM), a process where molten glass was blown into a multi-part metal mold to achieve its 8-sided shape.
• Smooth Base vs. Pontil: The “smooth base” indicates this bottle was manufactured using a snap-case tool. Earlier bottles (pre-1860s) often have a “pontil scar”—a rough, jagged mark left when the glassblower broke the bottle off the pontil rod. A smooth base suggests a later production date in the mid-to-late 19th century.
• The Lip (Finish): The lip was applied in a separate step. In crude examples, the lip was simply “sheared” off, while more finished bottles like this one had a “rolled” or “flared” rim.

Estimated Age

• Circa 1860–1880.
• Umbrella inks were at their peak popularity from the 1820s to the 1880s. The combination of a smooth base and a molded 8-sided form points to the post-Civil War era, as the industry transitioned away from pontil rods toward snap-case tools for faster production.