Deep Green Octagonal Ink Bottle

Characteristics

• Form: It features the classic eight-sided (octagonal) body with a squat, stable base—a design specifically engineered to prevent tipping during use.
• Color: The “deep green” is a rich emerald or forest green. In the antique bottle world, this is a highly desirable color, as it is much rarer than the common aqua glass often found in this period.
• Glass Quality: The presence of seed bubbles (those tiny air pockets) and a slightly “wavy” texture are diagnostic markers of 19th-century manufacturing, caused by the relatively unrefined glass-making techniques and iron molds of the era.
• The Lip (Finish): The rolled lip indicates that after the bottle was blown into the two-piece mold, the glassmaker used a tool to fold the hot glass over to create a smooth, reinforced rim. This was a step up in quality from the “sheared” or “burst” lips found on cheaper “penny inks.”

Age and Manufacturing

Based on the two-piece mold construction, the crude rolled lip, and the glass texture, this bottle likely dates to circa 1840–1865. The circular indentation with the faint square or diamond mark is a pontil scar placing it before 1860.

Origin

This style of ink is quintessential American utilitarian glass. It was likely produced in one of the prominent glasshouses in New England (such as Stoddard or Keene, New Hampshire) or potentially in the mid-Atlantic region (Pennsylvania or New Jersey). These factories were famous for their “black glass” and deep green shades.