Topic: English Ink Bottle

[Tony G]

Hi All,
         I am looking for some views on the maker of this english ink bottle. My thoughts are between Walsh Walsh and Whitefriars. It has canes which appear to be more Whitefriars than WW. They are very similar to those in the Triplex weights and the 1953 Coronation weights. However it has partially pulled-under canes and a rough pontil. That said the Triplex and Coronation weights also had rough pontils.

The red canes in the top have a lot of WF similarities. They have 8 outside "points" which fits with most of the early WF canes but I cannot place the centre canes in the design. The shape of the bottle is very similar to later WF bottles but the ink "well" is bigger and lower than the later bottles.

All thoughts welcomed.

[tropdevin]

***

Hi Tony.

I have had a couple of similar bottles with what appear to be a mixture of Whitefriars and Walsh Walsh features. One had Triplex weight canes mixed with '7/6' canes, usually attributed to Walsh Walsh and Arculus.

I think these pieces were made around 1950 when Walsh Walsh closed, and some of their workers moved to Whitefriars and kick started their paperweight ( and related object) production. The close collaboration between Whitefriars and Walsh Walsh in the late 1940s in their lighting department is an accepted fact.

Alan