Sale: CNG 70, Lot: 1309. Estimate $1000.  Closing Date: Wednesday, 21 September 2005.  Sold For $1000. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

[Antiquities] ROMAN. Bronze ink pot. 1st-2nd century AD. Height 70mm, diameter 48mm. Spun bronze traveling ink pot having a hinged lid with slide locking mechanism. Flat top is decorated with finely inlaid design in silver of double endless waves. Some of the original tinning remains. Very thin, fragile metal, with several cracks and missing fragments. Lid does not open. Some encrustation, and a few scattered spots of verdigris. A rare, high quality Roman domestic utensil. ($1000)

Ancient ink (atramentum) took many forms. Sometimes made from carbon (soot) bound with some form of resin, while at others, the ink of cuttlefish (sepia) was included in the recipe. Pliny notes the manufacture of ink from the dregs of wine.