I think I did ok giving $21.72 for this old inkwell

[tamrock]

Just found this tonight. Marked Tiffany Studios, New York. It's not anything worth the big money and I see a few online with asking prices from $150.00 and up. Overall it looks to be in okay condition, but I'm pretty sure the original inkwell reservoir is no longer with it, as I reviewed one online that had a brass well. There this screw on the bottom that has a flange piece that may have been brazed to the bottom of the original brass one which looks as that screw was used to torque down the well in tight and secure. This sloppy fitting glass well in it now, just looks off to me. It appears to be over a hundred years old, from what others are claiming theirs are online. It measures 3-3/4" sq. by 1-15/16" tall not including the top lid.

 

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[Clay Diggins]

I've seen several complete Tiffany Studios pieces in this style. They were always part of a set to my knowledge.

The original well was glass also, although smaller and thinner than the example you have. There was a brass boss that was attached to the body that the glass inkwell slid into. I seem to recall the brass boss was mounted on a green felt ring, probably to soak up any minor spills from the well.

This is a base model. More expensive models incorporated pieces of the famous Tiffany glass. Some are quite elaborate and beautiful.

I think you are right on the age. It's thinner metal than Tiffany Studios' earlier work, with that and the design motif I'd put it somewhere in the mid 1920's to 1930.

You do understand this is a Tiffany Studios piece (Queens) and not a Tiffany & Co (Manhattan) piece? Although the two companies are in the same family Tiffany Studios was the later company founded by the son in 1888. Often Tiffany Studio pieces were sold at the jewelry store but Tiffany Studios had a much larger high end commercial and architectectural customer base.

 

[tamrock]

Thanks for the info Clay D.

 

[Clay Diggins]

I found an example that shows the boss for the inkwell still attached to the body. This boss is upgraded to silver on this one instead of brass but the design of the glass well receptacle is the same on all the examples I've seen.

The one in the picture is a little earlier than yours, notice how the lid has thicker metal? It also has 5 pierced panels with Tiffany glass inserts and the design is an earlier style. I like the design on your inkwell better but this earlier example has a lot more collector value.

You got a smokin deal - nice find!

 

[tamrock]

I found an example that shows the boss for the inkwell still attached to the body. This boss is upgraded to silver on this one instead of brass but the design of the glass well receptacle is the same on all the examples I've seen.

The one in the picture is a little earlier than yours, notice how the lid has thicker metal? It also has 5 pierced panels with Tiffany glass inserts and the design is an earlier style. I like the design on your inkwell better but this earlier example has a lot more collector value.

You got a smokin deal - nice find!

Now that would be the example of Tiffany Studios work I would really like to score for dirt cheap. This one I found isn't near as interesting as something like that. What I found is more common it seems. Still I believe I could triple my money out it. Looking closer at this example I glanced at earlier I believe I can see how the missing brass cup went together. The screw and flange I mentioned are with mine. That brass cup has a hole and that flange would pull down tight and secure on the cup insert once thighted down by the screw. So now I'm thinking the glass well might be original to it, as it would fit much better in this additional brass cup if it was there to be dropped into. This example in the link sold only for $180.00

Vintage 1905-1910 Tiffany Studios New York Bronze Desk Art Inkwell 1801

Vintage 1905-1910 Tiffany Studios New York Bronze Desk Art Inkwell 1801

www.savacoolandsons.com

 

[Red-Coat]

Very nice.

Tiffany inkwells like this would have been sold as part of set as Clay Diggins says. At minimum probably with a pen tray and a rocking blotter. But you could buy larger sets and individual items as replacements or to expand the set: blotter pads, paperweights, letter-racks, magnifying glasses, mail scales, picture frames and such, all in the same pattern.

The pattern numbers are usually three or four digit numbers and occasionally you will see two digits in addition, but these are component codes for assembled pieces (and usually hidden beneath the exterior). The ‘1801’ pattern is known as “Graduate” and dates from around 1910 (but was in production for a while).

These were made in what is known as “bronze doré” (bronze gilded with a thin layer of gold applied via a mercury amalgam) and sometimes also enamelled. I’ve seen pink and blue.



The liner would originally have been plain glass but if yours is ill-fitting it may have been replaced by cannibalising from another piece that may or may not have been Tiffany Studios.

 

[tamrock]

Well thank you fellas and as always especially you Red-Coat for you taking the time to add as much information about these particular items that folk asked about here on treasurenet. Always fun.

 

[detectorcowboy]

You stole it for that price.
Nice job

 

[tamrock]

You stole it for that price.
Nice job

Thanks, but I am a bit put out about the missing part. Still if and when I ever get around to selling my finds again I'm not going to asking a whole bunch for it. Just being something unique found in a thrift store is what it's all about with me and my weird hobby my wife seems to think it is. To me its fun looking for treasure in this manner, as it's rather quick to do, but it's not the same as searching for a lost treasure worth maybe a fortune, though I do have some possible ideas on one supposedly lost treasure here in Colorado from what I was doing back in the 1980s roaming the mountains as I did back then. One of these days I'll maybe take the time to rule out my hunches.