“E. Waters / Troy NY” Ink Bottle

This piece is a classic mid-19th-century master ink bottle (often used as a bulk container to refill smaller desk inkwells).

Description

• Form & Design: It features a cylindrical body with distinctive, decorative fluted “teardrop” shoulders and a short neck.
• Embossing: The front is embossed in a straight, bold two-line layout: “E. WATERS / TROY. N.Y.”
• Color: It is cast in a typical transparent glass shade of light aqua or aquamarine.
• Manufacturing Characteristics: Typical of its era, it is mouth-blown with an applied flared lip and features a pontil scar on the bottom where it was snapped from the pontil rod during hand-crafting.

About the Company and Maker

The company was operated by Elisha Waters (often known as E. Waters). Born in Vermont in 1815, Waters moved to Troy, New York, in 1831, where he initially worked in the drug and apothecary trade before opening his own storefront on River Street in 1838.

While he began as a druggist—manufacturing items like “Waters Pulmonica” (a cough medicine), hair dye, blacking, and ink—Waters proved to be a remarkably inventive businessman. Later in life, he and his son branched completely away from pharmaceuticals and transitioned into heavy paper manufacturing. They achieved unexpected, widespread fame for inventing and manufacturing paper racing shells (boats) and even constructed large paper observatory domes for institutions like Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.

Age and Dating

This specific style of master ink bottle dates from circa 1845–1855. Its hand-blown construction, open pontil base, and applied mouth style are definitive markers of the pre-Civil War American glassmaking era.