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INK BOTTLE
Unique ID: MAS-D100232
Object type certainty: Certain
Workflow
status: Published 
Four small stoneware cylindrical ceramic inkwells. The ceramic is made of a light brown paste with a salt-glazed surface. The dimensions are 45 mm in diameter by 50 mm high. This type of inkwell was commonly known as a "penny ink" bottle. They were corked, sealed with sealing wax and cost a penny each. They contained writing ink.
This type of ink bottle was introduced in the mid-19th century and were superseded by glass bottles by the first decade of the 20th century. Small ink bottles or wells were usually no more than four inches high and did not have a pouring spout like the master bottles as they were intended to be dipped into (Hume 2001). These ink bottles came in two main varieties; very squat cylinders or wide-based cones.
Notes:
These items were found with four ceramic bowls (MAS-D100229), three glass bottles (MAS-D100230) and a stoneware gin bottle (MAS-D100231).
All of these items were recovered from the wreck of SS Strathclyde, a British trading steamship built in 1871 in Blackwood, Port Glasgow. The ship sank in 1876 off Dover whilst carrying 23 passengers and 47 crew for Bombay, following a collision with Franconia and resulting in the loss of 38 lives. NRHE and Kent HER reference numbers cited in this record refer to the wreck of SS Strathclyde.
Class:
Container
Sub class: Storage container. Food and liquid storage container
Wreck details
Droit number: 291/18
Chronology
Broad period: NINETEENTH CENTURY
Period from: NINETEENTH CENTURY
Period to: NINETEENTH CENTURY
Date to: Exactly AD 1876
Dimensions and weight
Quantity: 4
Height: 50 mm
Diameter: 45 mm
Discovery dates
Date(s) of discovery: Monday 17th September 2018
Personal details
Found by: This information is restricted for your login.
Recorded by: Mr Robbie Trevelyan
Other reference numbers
NRHE monument number: 813607
Other reference: Kent HER: TR 33 NW 23
Droit ID: 291/18
Materials and construction
Primary material: Stoneware
Manufacture method: Hand made
Completeness: Complete
Spatial coordinates
4 Figure: TR3438
Four figure Latitude: 51.09353995
Four figure longitude: 1.34042371
1:25K map: TR3438
1:10K map: TR33NW
Display four figure position on What3Words
Unmasked grid reference accurate to a 1 metre square.
References cited
- Hume, I. N, 2001 A Guide to the Artifacts of Colonial America Pennsylvania : University of Pennsylvania Press, ,
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Timeline of associated dates
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