Dunbar Pyramid Ink Bottle

Bottle Description

• Form & Structure: An eight-sided umbrella (or pyramid) form featuring multi-faceted panels tapering upwards to a cylindrical neck.
• Color & Glass Character: Light aqua glass showing period-typical character, including seed bubbles, slight glass striations, and an authentic unpolished, hand-blown texture.
• Lip & Finish: A hand-formed, rolled-in lip, retaining its original cork stopper seated inside the bore.
• Base: Blowpipe / open pontil scar, visible as a distinct circular ring of jagged, fractured glass at the center of the push-up base.
• Embossing: Two of the side panels are boldly embossed in vertical capital lettering: S. O. DUNBAR on one panel and TAUNTON on an adjacent panel.
• Paper Label: An intact, surviving printed paper label bordered with decorative scrollwork:

“…UNBAR’S / PYRAMID / BLACK INK, / Superior to any other in use. / TAUNTON, MASS. / Made without acid, it will not act upon the paper / pen, is improved by age, and not injured by climate.”

Estimated Age

• Circa 1845–1855.
• The presence of a true open pontil scar places manufacturing before the mid-1850s, when the snap case tool largely replaced the blowpipe/pontil rod in American glassworks. The rolled lip, two-piece hinge mold seams stopping below the neck, and typography further confirm this date range.

Manufacturer History

• The Proprietor: Produced for Samuel Oliver Dunbar (1805–1884), an apothecary, druggist, and bookseller based in Taunton, Bristol County, Massachusetts.
• The Business: Operating in the mid-19th century from Bank Row (near City Square) in Taunton, Dunbar ran an apothecary and stationery trade. In addition to compounding medicines and patent tonics (such as his well-known Life Renovating Bitters), he formulated, bottled, and marketed writing, stencil, and record inks.
• Glassmaker: Like most 19th-century stationers and druggists, Dunbar did not blow his own glass. He commissioned bottles from regional New England glasshouses (such as the South Boston Flint Glass Works or nearby Stoddard/Keene operations blowing utilitarian aqua wares) from private molds bearing his proprietary lettering.