Glass Message Board
Glass Identification - Post here for all ID requests => Glass => Topic started by: Sue C on July 16, 2007, 03:49:55 PM
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Found this in a charity shop but dont have a clue what it is ???
http://glassgallery.yobunny.org.uk/displayimage.php?pos=-7897 BASE
http://glassgallery.yobunny.org.uk/displayimage.php?pos=-7896 TOP
The top of the piece curves inward quite deeply, at first i thought ink well?? but really dont have a clue ???
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Ink well. Wide heavy base to stop easy tipping over, curved to top to retain ink splashes. I could be wrong of course ;D
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I agree with the inkwell speculation, could have had some sort of decorative metal base (iron, bronze or similar) that held it stationary. I could be wrong, too, though. ::)
Kelli
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Christine & Kelli — Yes, I think you are wrong, but in good company, as 99 out of 100 will describe these as inks.
These are what was known in the office equipment trade as sponges — to you and me sponge holders. The water has to travel some distance by capillary action from the bottom of the ring-shaped reservoir to the action part of the sponge at the top, ensuring that it just dampens the glue on the envelope flap, label, or postage stamp rather than wets it.
All was revealed to me many years ago by Dicky Lovell RIP, retired Solicitors Clerk to ET Ray at the end of our street, and Clerk to the Stony Stratford Charities until the end of his days, which provided small but useful grants to our two daughters when they went into further education. Dicky Lovell was a lovely man, a great character, although rather diminutive in physical size. I remember him being the last to be forced to give up keeping chickens on his allotment through their destruction by foxes.
Although you could buy tailored sponge refills, it was cheaper to buy a complete real sponge and tear off a piece the correct size, which required some skill. He had to keep it under lock and key as lady secretarial staff would steal large lumps or even the complete sponge! At the end of each day you would take out the sponge, wash out and dry the holder, and thoroughly rinse out the sponge, squeezing it out, and hanging it up to dry to avoid mould.
There are actually a few collectors of sponges.
Sue — I hope that helps.
Bernard C. 8)
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Thank you Bernard, that make's perfect sence, and your freind Dicky sound's like a real character, nice memories :)
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Sue — only too pleased to help.
One other lovely memory of Dicky Lovell. Like many of his generation, he had served his time as an apprentice, and had become something of an expert at calligraphy, producing beautiful legal documents on both paper, and vellum from Cowley's parchment works just down the road at Newport Pagnell. He was the only person I have ever met who used the archaic long letter "s", which looks like a script "f" but without the crossbar. There were rules for its use, the best known being that the first "s" in a double "s" was always a long "s". So, the word possess would emerge as something like poƒseƒs (nearest I can get). He told me of being told off by younger solicitors; in response to which he would apologise, explain that he couldn't do it any other way, and carry on as before!
Bernard C. 8)
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Altered in some languages to ß (Alt+0223)
I had not realised it was in use so recently!
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ß is ess zet - if you know to read Sütterlin 8)
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Frank & Pamela — I had not made this connection — onvious really. :-[
Bernard C. 8)
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It is often forgotten that English is a Germanic language. So why is German so hard to learn :-\
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I had not realised it was in use so recently!
More recently than you might think, Frank, as Dicky was not that old — he had attempted to join up at the start of WWII, but was rejected because of his disabilities — not the Great War. So this puts him a generation nearer today than you may have worked out.
Bernard C. 8)
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suetterlin
it took me a few days to search for Suetterlin instead of Sütterlin - sorry - but guess you like this ;)
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Has anyone come across any other references to glass sponge holders? The silence over the last year has been deafening!
Bernard C. 8)
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Has anyone come across any other references to glass sponge holders? The silence over the last year has been deafening!
Bernard C. 8)
I remember seeing one of these in use too Bernard! My late father's business was in direct mail/marketing (NOT junk mail before anyone says it - they didn't get involved in consumer mailings just services to other businesses handling and fulfilling their targeted B2B mailing campaigns, member mailings etc). Anyway, I remember way back to the 1970s when the company was first established and there were a team of ladies all working on various elements of the mailing (all done manually at the time) - one of the ladies at the end of the 'line' had a glass sponge holder which she was using to dampen the envelope flaps - all the other ladies had the more basic plastic and rubber roller types - she had one too but wouldn't use it. It was larger than the one shown at the top of this thread though but otherwise similar - it was elegant but totally impractical in this instance!
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At the risk of 'going off at a tangent' again, (which I am wont to do!) after seeing this thread, I decided to look up 'glass sponge' on eBay!
This is what I found:- http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/VENUS-GLASS-SPONGE-FLOWER-BASKET-Weird-Wedding-gift_W0QQitemZ280258451384QQcmdZViewItem?hash=item280258451384
It would appear that it isn't just humans that are clever at making glass!
Who says the GMB isn't amazingly educational!!
Well, I did say it was off at a tangent. :-[