Inkwell? Perfume bottle?

Chipk

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Jacksonville / Yulee Florida
Found this at the site of an 1876 hotel. It was in the same hole as a massive ax head.

Anybody able to identify it?

Also, how can I clean it ?

Thanks
 

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Nice work not busting it! Diggin' axe heads ain't a delicate process. Just weighing in.. no help cleaning or identifying it. Cool find.
 
This is an ink bottle, and is called an umbrella ink, based on the shape and the multi paneled sides. Looks like a nice pontil scar on the underside of the base.

This indicates that the ink bottle pre-dates the hotel, as these umbrella pontiled examples generally date from the 1840's up to the late 1860's. Umbrella style examples without the pontil scar date ca 1870- 1880's generally. This style was replaced in popularity by the "cone" shape. Nice find! As for cleaning, I would not do much as it looks pretty cool with that patina. Just get the dirt out and put it up for display!
 
Yup they nailed it, absolutely a pontil umbrella ink. As mentioned, if you do clean it, be very careful, those umbrella ink are usually the first bottles to break. Congrats great find!
 
That thing looks cool. I would just do what has been suggested and rinse and keep it
 
Nice old-timey inkwell! To clean the inside, put a spoonful of dry rice grains in it, with a drop of dish soap and some warm water, and shake it for a while. This is at your own risk of breaking it, of course.
 
Oldest Inks

This is my Umbrella ink, and a few of my other oldest 1800s inks. The Umbrella is pontiled, the Cabins and the Igloo inks are not. Most have "sheared" lips, making them look broken at the tops, but they are not. Keep an eye out for these really old inks.
 

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Nice Ink Chip. I still have a small collection and one umbrella ink and two shears just like the three pictured here. they make a nice display. the umbrellas are really nice ones to get.

just gently washit out use a small bottle brush or pipe cleaner. be careful of hairline cracks. NO DISHWASHER. use room temp water.
 
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