Antique-shop.com
Antiques! => Antique Questions Forum => Topic started by: snowflake on October 04, 2011, 02:04:15 pm
-
One looks older than the other.
The one with the handle has "Birks Made in Italy" Problem is every time I search for it, I get bombarded with Birks jewelry.
I think it is old.
The second one looks like the top is made from some thick board. Doesn't look to be as old as the other one.
Sorry about the condition of them but would still like to know how old they might be. Thanks.
-
The mark:
-
No wonder I couldn't find out much about these. I thought they were securing stamps or wax. They were for blotting ink! Didn't have a clue. :-[
Off to do some searching...
-
Am sure you have seen this: http://reviews.ebay.com/A-Brief-History-of-Ink-Blotters_W0QQugidZ10000000010357920
It was not until the 1850s that blotting paper came into common use in America, when Joseph Parker and Son started manufacturing blotting paper. In the late 1800s, a patent was issued for improved blotting paper which featured a smooth surface on one side and a blotting surface on the other.
"Rocker blotters were an important piece of desk equipment from the late 1880s until the 1950s. This type of blotter had a handle 2 to 5 inches long and a rounded surface 2 to 3 inches wide where the blotting paper was attached. Some of these rocker blotters were very ornate and made of wood, glass, silver or brass and are also sought after by collectors."
I wonder... Am I to read this as meaning the flat blotter style (1850) is older than the rocker blotter style (1880-1950)? Will search some more...
-
I didn't even know these were called rocker blotters until the other day, I was looking under desk accessories. Noticed that is what they called them. Then just assumed what they were used for. Wasn't getting anywhere, so started playing with words and found out they were for blotting ink! I get so intent on finding the exact image that I fail to do the reading (obviously an important thing to do!).
Thank you so much, Oceans! I really do appreciate you taking the time to help and giving me that information. I didn't know that at all. Next time I'll do just as much reading as I do searching for the item.
I'll catch up on that today/tonight. Lesson learned! ;)
Now you have me curious about all this. I really thought the handled one would be older. I know I have another blotter around here somewhere...in one of the boxes...ughhhhh
-
Wow, those are really neat. It sounds like the rocker one would be a later model, but I don't know for sure. Those are really cool. Nice find!
-
I'll post some ink bottles up one day. Have a few different scent bottle too. Just not sure if they are old enough to post. Glad you like them, Tales! I thought they were kind of neat.
-
I have a lot of old ink bottles and perfumes that were dug up. I'll post you some pictures.
-
I would love to see them. I guess mine are inkwells, not bottles. Thanks!
-
These are not great pictures it's so late, but these are just a few. The one ink bottle is blue and the ones at the right hand side are perfumes. I cut one out by accident. I'm tired, lol The next picture is a lot newer, but I love it. I tried to put in all different kinds. The large brown ink bottle is a Bixby ink. The clear glass is actually the oldest, and most creud. The next is a Carter's from 1897. The blue I have to check for markings still. The perfume is from London, The Crown Perfumery, and the mini green has no markings. The one I cut out was from Paris, Fere Soehnees of Paris,
-
What a collection, greenacres! You said they were dug up? You found all these? Amazing! Thank you so much for sharing!
-
The Carter Reel ink was found in a wall. The rest were dug up at a job site. The last we got out of a house we had bought.
-
Nice rocker blotters! Believe yours is from Birks http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Birks_%26_Mayors (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Birks_%26_Mayors) They made nice jewelry and pieces for desks back in the time. That one would be a nice amount! Just need new blotter paper on them!
-
And here I thought something was wrong because all I could come up with was Birks jewelers. I am in Canada and they are well known here. I just didn't think they would have made desk accessories that were wood and leather! I did more searching because of your post and found there were plenty of things made in Italy for Birks!!! Can't thank you enough!
-
Lots of Jewelers added items that were more "manly" to their wares that way they got top sales for the nicer gifts that were so characteristic of the time!
-
Neat inkwell collection GA!
-
Thanks, I love old bottles. I wish I knew someone who had a tumbler, so I could clean them like new.
-
Snowflake, here's Birk's catalogue from 1911. On page 80 (using the page counter at the bottom) it shows desk accessories, with a roller blotter priced at $6.00 (that's a lot of money back then) Unfortunately no great detail to see.
http://www.scribd.com/doc/49416977/Birks-Yearbook-jewelry-Catalogue
Lots of other cool stuff there too ;)
-
I wonder... Am I to read this as meaning the flat blotter style (1850) is older than the rocker blotter style (1880-1950)? Will search some more...
Before the rocker blotter, you would purchase a blotting PAGE -- a full sheet of blotting paper. The purpose of blotting paper is to blot the excess ink from a handwritten letter. As such, you would use the blotting paper two ways -- you would lay a full sheet over a completed page of a letter or other document, and blot the entire page in one swoop; or you would lay a piece under your hand or sleeve, to prevent ink from staining as you write or move from paper to inkwell.
The rocker blotter comes into being in the industrial revolution, with the rise of the typewriter -- essentially, when the only thing you need to blot is the signature. Its size made it handy for ladies to write little notes -- invitations, short messages, dinner menus, etc.
Blotting paper was larger than the standard paper of the era. The most famous literary use of blotting paper was by Jane Austen, who -- while working on her novels in the drawing room -- would hide the pages of her works in progress under a sheet of blotting paper, when a visitor came to call.
-
Thank you, Sapphire and CuriousCollector! Such great information. And that catalogue! I love it! Bookmarked it! Just have to love the internet when we get to see things like that!