Topic: Thomas Lane & Son inkstand combination, RD 289894 of 13 March 1875.

[Anne]

I found reply #5 above as a separate topic on the board so have merged it with this one for completeness.

[mhgcgolfclub]

Thanks Kevin and Anne

Thomas Lane & Son was one of the 2 options I had got down to if the day was 13 and not 15. Well found and thanks for merging the 2 .

Roy

[Paul S.]

success  -  and pleased to say I've now found the Kew pic in my archives, and will post some time later this morning.          I should have seen this long before now, and really don't know how I missed it, but better late than never.

[Paul S.]

Here then is a copy of the original drawing held by The National Archives for the Thomas Lane inkstand combination - Reg. 289894 dated 13th March 1875.         
For those who like me are very ignorant of the various watermarking and IrfanView technical facilities and potential, it's only just dawned on me having used the watermarking programme for five years plus, that by starting the process with your image based on a higher pixel rating, then the end result after tweaking with IrfanView appears sharper than if you start out with a low pixel rating of say 250.

In other words what appears to happen is....................            if you watermark with the first dimension quite small i.e. c. 250/300 and subsequently resize to accommodate the Boards optimum first dimension of 700, then you will create a less sharp final image than seems to be the case if you start with 700.        In fact if you start with 700, then the watermarking programme appears to automatically resize your pix down to 500, which means that after watermarking you will need the IrfanView resizing programme to bring your image back to 700, but this doesn't seem to affect the clarity of the end result.

Unfortunately, this is a bit like me trying to teach Chinese - it all sounds utterly nonsense when I write it all out - but I think I know what I mean.

In the course of reading the above - plus the related links - I notice there was a request from Fred for any images of Reg. 288295 dated 07.01.1875, which was another of Thomas Lane's inkstand related inventions.                  Just to say that I do also have a National Archive picture of this slightly earlier Registration if it's of interest still.
Please let me know, and if wanted I will post later this afternoon.

[agincourt17]

Thank you for posting the design representation for RD 289894, Paul, and I would pleased to see the design representation for RD 288295 in due course.

Fred.

[Paul S.]

Picture attached of Rd. 288295 Registered on 7th January 1875  -  obviously for the busy author or diarist who needed four separate ink bottles and didn't have the time to refill just the one.         With my passion for fountain pens, then I could make an exception and collect ink bottle stands such as these, but unlikely I shall see them.
Quality of this image not quite so good as 289894, because after watermarking the returned size came back to me as 375  -  probably due to the fact that my original photo was side on, and in order to correct this I had to 'turn' the picture, thus resulting in a smaller size ready for  watermarking which came back smaller than I would have liked - this then needed resizing to 700.              Anyway that's my excuse.

Word description on the original drawing reads.............  'Combined Four Bottle Ink Stand, Wafer Dish and Pen Tray'        .......    at least it appears that the word is 'Wafer'.              Might 'Wafer' be a word related to ink sands etc., or could the word be something else  -  perhaps it means wafers of blotting paper, possibly??

P.S.    In 1875 when this particular Registration was allocated, the fountain pen hadn't yet been invented, and almost certainly all pens at that time were dip pens, which is all the more remarkable when you consider the quality of the Victorian's copper plate handwriting.

[agincourt17]

Thank you for posting the design representation for RD 288295, Paul -  another wonderful example of Victorian design extravagance.

I haven't yet been able to find clarification as to what the "wafer" might be.

Fred.

[Anne]

A "wafer" was used for sealing letters - it was a dry paste disk that provided a quick and easy alternative to sealing wax - see here for how they were made and used: https://herreputationforaccomplishment.wordpress.com/2015/08/25/sealing-with-wafers/ and http://www.victorianpassage.com/2009/07/unfolding_the_mysteries_of_sea.php

[Paul S.]

many thanks Anne for the very interesting link - so, a wafer it was.           Thank goodness some people do take the time and trouble to record the smaller details of our social history.
I can remember my mother using red sealing wax when I was very young, and applying it to the knot on the string which was formed when tying a parcel up - which was tied over the brown wrapping paper.........   probably somewhere around 1850 I should think

[flying free]

Paul, once again, thanks so very much for doing this.  I find it absolutely fascinating to see the archive documentation and the actual piece 'side by side' on a thread.  It's fantastic.  Thank you.
m