Turning back the hands of time ………… the ink pot

I have no idea of the age or origin of the carved bird’s head.

It has just always been part of my life, first as a child growing up in Well Hall, and then as an object which has travelled with me.

For years it sat on a bookshelf, was briefly hidden away in the cellar, and is now back on the desk in the study.

And its final resting place is where my parents intended it to be, when they gave it to me.

Just when that was I can’t remember, and a bit of me wonders if it was actually a present from my Uncle George, who would hunt out “interesting things” at jumble sales, and secondhand shops.

Wherever it came from I have to say it is indeed an “interesting thing”.

I think it is a unique piece of work, possibly owned by the person who carved it.

Nor is it just a decoration, because the head is hinged and when opened reveals a space for an ink pot, which suggests we are at a time beyond the ball point pen or the fountain pen.

And as the first mass produced fountain pens only date from the 1880s, I suspect our bird may predate that event, and come from that time when dip pens were still in use.

Of course, I have no way of knowing, and there lies the fun of it.

It may be that someone will be able to date it, and dispel my assertion that it was hand crafted, offering up the name of a firm or cottage industry which turned them out in their thousands.

We shall see.

Leaving me just to say that I did once use it for what it was intended for.

The ink came from a shop, and the dip pen from school, which would have been Samuel Pepys County Secondary Modern School, which  I attended from 1961 till 1966.

In the early 1960s, dip pens were still widely used in the school, as they had been in the Juniors I attended.

I may even have been one of the ink monitors who every morning and at the start of the afternoon, were tasked with filling the porcelain ink pots which sat in  recessed holes on each desk.

With them came blotting paper, and countless ink stains, from accidental spillages to deliberate acts of vandalism, which sometimes resulted  in inky walls, stained clothes and damaged textbooks.

Looking back, those who railed against the slow intrusion of the ball point pen, were not only attempting to hold back the future, but were condemning thousands of school children to blue fingers, the temptation of ink pellets, and a lot of grief from parents angry at the ink marks on shirts, ties and jumpers.

There was a brief moment when I thought about filling it again with some ink, but it lasted just a few seconds, and sat beside my dream of opening up the coal cellar and is as impossible as turning back the hands of time.*

And I was wrong, my Eagle ink pot is not home made but was indeed made by men of business, and this I know because David Millard told me so, but  not before he also admitted,

"I was a trusted ink monitor. Added water to powder, filled the inkwells and distributed them round the classroom in a special tray that looked as though it was meant for eggs. My god! Thanks for prompting that memory.

As for the inkwell it's Black Forest. They did bears, eagles, and a whole forest of animals. Benches, hat stands and inkwell holders were very popular. Yours is a good quality one from about 1880". 

Location; our house

Picture; the ink pot, 2020, from the collection of Andrew Simpson


*Jimmy & David Ruffin - Turn Back the Hands of Time, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y-knGjxcPms

So what did you do in Book Week?

Now I came late to writing and even now I don’t pretend it will ever pay the bills.

But like many I enjoy the challenge of staring at a blank screen and letting the words tumble out.

I don’t have a plan and pretty much just go with the flow, and I suspect were I to start the same piece on Wednesday instead of Tuesday it will go off in a different direction and be a totally different piece of work.

That said because what I write is factual there is a framework determined by the historical research and if it is a commission by the demands of the people who will pay me.

But even so, as we all know history is about interpretation and the emphasis my change over the course of the project and new evidence can alter the direction and the conclusion of the story.

A by product of the writing has been the blog which started as an outrageous act of self promotion as the first book was nearing completion and expanded to cover anything that took my fancy.

So, while the core is still focused on history it has become a vehicle to show off my photographs, and highlight events, galleries and museums.

And along the way it has also become a place where others can post their historical research along with their pictures.

All of which is why I so like the site The Moving Dragons Write, which began when a group of writers decided to work together. It arose from a writing school, became a blog and facebook site and has now published an anthology.

Like the blog it now gives people a chance to have their voice and to prove that simple observation that everyone has a story or a book waiting in the wings.

In the past that talent has not always been discovered or given an opportunity but social media, and self publishing now provide a platform, be it pictures, painting or writing.

Long may it continue.

Pictures; from the collection of Andrew Simpson







*The Moving Dragons Write, https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1549881809/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_ep_dp_jsl.zbWCR4TAS