this here is my favorite ink. I found it in the Australian outback on the western edge of NSW. I was just traipsing along on a 10 K walk and there it was. Found a bunch of stuff on that walk. Australia's outback is like the worlds biggest beach to go beach combing on...without the ocean. You can't really see it from these pix but the glass has a beautiful desert rainbow sheen to it.
Wow! Nice herd of them critters! I have found a few average ones over the years, but my body is getting old and I mostly just coin shoot these days! Thanks for posting.
The "Moore's" father and son owned a large ink producing company which they began operations in 1858. The company was located in Warren, Ma. The first ink wells from this firm were igloo style with a label. The second style was embossed J. M. & Son and are the rarest. The third style have a patent date of Oct. 31, 1865 along with the initials J. & I. E. M (which stands for John & Isaac Elijah Moore) embossed on them. The later third style ink wells was only embossed J. & I. E. M.
The earlyest examples of there ink wells were blown in cup-base mold and having a burst-off finish which received only the slightest amount of rim grinding to remove some of the sharp edges. The later ink wells having a stardard tooled finish. The company would close in the 1930s during the Great Depression.
These inks are called turtle ink wells by most collectors but are also known to be called "Monitor" ink wells. Name after the metal Civil War Navel Ship. Remarkably similar to the gun tuttet on the iron clad battle ship U.S.S. Monitor.
John Moore was born on October 27, 1802. His son Isaac Elijah was born on April 7, 1839.
I have found lots of those Monitor JIEM inks but they are always broken to smithereens. JGAS has a schoolhouse ink he dug a while back that was to drool over. Maybe he will post it up. Mine are all cones, umbrella and barrells.