Posted 6 years ago
AnnaB
(85 items)
My 8-yr old son came back from his walk in the farm fields with his grandparents today, ran up to me, his face covered in dirt, eyes lit up: "Mom, I have a super special present for you! Guess which hand!" I guessed the left one. He stretched his empty black dirty hand to me (we live in a black dirt region famous for its rich soil for growing all sorts of stuff)...I went "OMG, look at your hands!" He then stretched his right hand to me with his find. He was holding this small broken bottle he found in the fields. I went "OMG, this is so cool!" ...He brought me glass fragments and bottles before, most of which had to go to recycling. "Is this antique? How old is it? Do you like it?" For me, that was the moment of pride and realization that some things sometimes do sink in in that little daredevil's head of his... "So how old is it?" he kept asking. I looked at the bottom and said "Well, it's from 1897, so do the math, it's an easy one!" The excitement quickly changed to annoyance "I don't wanaaaaaa!" and he ran away. Ok, back to Earth... =)
This is a small hand tooled 2 1/2" Carter's Ink Well marked 1897 Made in USA. From what I understand, not a rare one, ebay has a few of them. But this one will never be for sale, obviously because it's broken, but mostly because it means a lot. It is in the front center of my partially displayed collection now. I hope this excitement and appreciation of old things stays with him through his life.
Thank you for looking!
What a wonderful little fellow you have there for a Grandson Anna!! I love the story and the ink bottle is just wonderful. Broken or not.
He's such a kind boy Anna, a fledgling collector like mom, that is a very pretty aqua bottle he found for you and quite antique, looks great in the center of your colorful collection
Thank you for your love and comment Scott! He is my son but sometimes i wish he was my grandson as i could just enjoy him being a kid and leave the tough parts of raising children to the parents LOL
Jenni, thank you for your kind words and compliments. Yes, he is a collector all right, maybe even a bit of a hoarder. There's only a fine line separating the two =)
Cindyjune, fortapache, thank you for stopping by and your loves!
It is awesome finding things at that age. Metal detector for his birthday and send him hunting. The coolest glass pieces always seem to be broken sigh! Thanks for sharing:)
I love this- the piece, the story! Isn't it fulfilling when our children appreciate and understand the value of the past?
Wonderful story! What a sweet, sweet boy.
Nice son and story.
Just to clarify : the 1897 is basically a copyright date, not a date of manufacturing. For example, you see Hemingray insulators with the 1891 patent of their drip points on insulators whose styles were not produced before the 1920s.
Looks like you have a pontiled phial on the far right, too. The flared lip one.
Roy, thank you for a wonderful idea! His bday has just passed, so he's getting one for Christmas =) And you're absolutely right about the coolest pieces being always broken, i so can relate to this.
Laura, thank you for your love. Yes, i absolutely agree. Wish more kids were interested in the past and preserving it.
Anik, thank you for your lovely comment and kind words.
Roy, Karen, Mike, bottle-bud, Laura, Thomas, Anik, Spirit- thank you for stopping by and your love!
Beautiful story! Love it.
Spirit, i don't know why your comment didn't show when i was responding, strange...anyways, yes, i figured that 1897 wouldn't be the date of manufacture, i was just trying to get my son more excited about his find but asking him to figure out how old it is...maybe not too smart of me. I'm guessing it was made sometime before 1915?
Yes, the phial came from an antique store, it was just about a dollar. I get my bottles from there occasionally as they have pretty good deals...when they are open, like once a year Lol.
Iggy, thank you for your nice comment and love!
Ken, thanks for stopping by and your appreciation.
What a treasure, and the warm story is captavating. This one is a beauty even in its state of repair !~
What a great story :) I got a feeling you will have many treasure hunting adventures together :)
Again a superb find, I remember how exciting it was for me to dig up old ink wells. Beautiful story worth reading over again !~