Ink well caps.

[EARTHWORKS]

Hi guys:
Was bored today and being that it is cold outside I decided to clean some of the finds I found last year.
In July, at a old 1700's house/museum submerged and I found these heavy cast brass pieces. Not knowing what they were until today, I found out after cleaning they were ink well caps.
They are about 1 -1/2" across and you can still see some dryed ink between the decorative round knobs on the outside. On the top of the left one you can see three divots used as a small reservoir.
Also you can still see the scoring of the pen marks all throughout the top.
Earthworks....

 

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[Bavaria Mike]

Interesting finds! HH, Mike

 

[The Seeker]

Those are very nice finds.....You never see them found in such nice shape....and Silver to which makes them a nicer find!!! WTG

 

[lancemxt2006]

nice finds. never came across any of those. interesting...

take it easy

Lance

 

[Gypsy Heart]

Wow Thanks for the identity of those ...I have thrown several in my "cant figure it out "pile and your post made me scramble to pull them back out! Those are some nice finds.....Thank You for sharing,... and are you saying you get to hunt at a 1700's museum?? How cool is that !

 

[allen]

those are cool finds. never seen any untilnow. keepon digging...

 

[trk5capt]

EARTHWORKS, Interesting Finds, Funny How Everyday Items From The Past Can Be a Mystery Today. trk5capt...

 

[SHERMANVILLE ILLINOIS]

Earth,

outstanding artifacts. Thanks for the info, had no
idea what they were. Again nice.

have a good un..............

 

[EARTHWORKS]

Thanks for the posts. Icebergie gained access to the house with his emailing know-how last summer. It's a local historical house. Many revolutionary ideas and decisions were made here.
God only knows if these ink wells were used.
The process of cleaning was long. When it was taken out of the ground it was literally green. It started with ultrasonic then coarse pumice, rubber disk wheel, 120 grit fine abrasive, buffed with white rouge. Then I started to see the marks on top telling me what it was.
I learned today not to just throw out and take the extra step in cleaning.
Thinking of now donating it to the museum, now that it is worth displaying so all of the next generations can see.
Earthworks....
http://www.fishkillridge.org/history/vanwyck.htm