# Inkwell?  Penholder?  Ashtray?



## ronvae (Sep 13, 2004)

What is this?  Is it old?  Found in a Minnesota lake, it is brown-glazed ceramic, with no glazing on the bottom, and a hole in the top, big enough for me to stick my index finger in.  If it was an ashtray, it'd have to be disposable, because there would be no way to get the butts out.  If it was a penholder, it could only hold one.  The inside portion I can see is also glazed.  The area had residential & hotel garbage dumped there from the later 1800s through about the 1930s...


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## ronvae (Sep 13, 2004)

Here's another view from the top:


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## ronvae (Sep 13, 2004)

And the bottom...


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## woody (Sep 13, 2004)

Looks like an inkwell to me!


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## bigkitty53 (Sep 14, 2004)

Hi Ronvae,
                 If it's big enough to be an ashtray I'm 99% certain it's a cuspidor-a spitoon. You were close![]

 KAT


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## medbottle (Sep 14, 2004)

Hi ronvae.  What are the measurements on your piece?  I think its an ink, not a spitoon, as there's not a secondary hole to empty it out.  Turning it upside down and shaking the "stuff" out would be rather messy, not to mention disgusting. [:'(]


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## ronvae (Sep 14, 2004)

This is fun--love the mystery!  The measurements are:
 2.5 inches tall, 3 inches across the top, 2.5 inches across the bottom, and the hole in the top is about .5 inch across.  (I can fit my index finger in to the 1st knuckle, and my pinkie in to the 2nd knuckle, and I'm a smallish female).  Absolutely no opening except the hole in the top.  [8D]


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## woody (Sep 14, 2004)

I believe it to be an inverted inkwell. I remember seeing them in Covills' ink bottle book and have seen similar ones made from glass.


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## tazmainiendigger (Sep 14, 2004)

Sure looks like a nice ink to me!  I have a few hundred inks, but I dont have that one[8D] I do have one however in a clear glass that is very similar, I have heard these referred to as funnel inks...  here are a few shots so you can compare... Taz


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## tazmainiendigger (Sep 14, 2004)

Top of ink...


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## tazmainiendigger (Sep 14, 2004)

base of ink has 10 angles...


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## ronvae (Sep 15, 2004)

Thanks to all!  After seeing the glass one, I think it is an inverted, or funnel ink.  I'm printing this whole thread to keep with it.  []


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