Gimborn Inkbottles, An Introduction ** Picture Heavy **

[odessa1944]

The firm of Gimborn started in the Netherlands in 1902 in `s Heerenberg. I have a cataloque of the `s Heerenberg period. Gimborn moved to Zevenaar,Holland in 1904/1905. (Holland is often used as another name for the Netherlands) So the cataloque from `s Heerenberg must be from the years 1902-1904. In this cataloque several different inktbottles are named.

 

So we start with one of the oldest inktbottles used by Gimborn, the penlayer No 40. This is a round bottle with on both sides of the neck, an indentation to lay a pen.

This bottle disappeared from the cataloques in 1939. It was used for normal writing-ink and copying-ink. It is only known with a cork, never with a bakelite cap.

Below are the labels used on these inktbottles. Note that on the first 2 labels (the yellow one and the pink one ) the small figure pouring ink over the globe is called a titan, used from 1925. Before 1925 a small devil was used as can be seen on the green and blue labels. It`s content was 45 grammes.

Edited August 30, 2019 by odessa1944

[odessa1944]

Penlayer No 20 is another inktbottle from the early Gimborn years. It is mentioned in the `s Heerenberg catalogue from 1902-1904. This bottle is used until the 1930`s and disappeared in 1939. It is always seen with a cork or metal cap,never with a bakelite cap. This bottle was used for normal writing-ink, Aleppo-ink, documental-ink, Alizarin writing-ink, Salon-ink, blue-black Titan writing-ink, chancellery & office-ink, Phenix-ink, Kaiser-ink, Normal copying-ink, fountainpen-ink, and fine coloured inks. It`s content was 70 grammes.

 

 

 

 

Edited August 31, 2019 by odessa1944

[odessa1944]

Penlayer No 15 ink bottle is first seen in the catalogue from 1910-1915. It is a round bottle with an indentation on one side to lay a pen down. This bottle disappeared in the catalogue from 1932. It`s content was 70 grammes. Used for normal writing-ink, Aleppo-ink, document-ink, Alizarin writing-ink, Salon-ink, blauw-black Titan writing-ink, chancellery & office-ink, Phenix-ink, Kaiser-ink, all normal copying-inks and fine coloured inks.

 

Edited August 31, 2019 by odessa1944

[odessa1944]

inkbottle No 3 (chimney) was an unusual bottle introduced in the catalogue of 1926. It was used until the 1950`s and was no longer seen in the 1956 catalogue. The first bottles used a cork stopper but in the mid 1930`s a bakelite screw cap was introduced. It`s content was 75 grammes and it was used for normal writing ink and fountainpen ink.

 

 

Edited August 30, 2019 by odessa1944

[DonM]

Great stuff. Thanks for posting it.

[Lunoxmos]

Thanks for sharing this!

Old ink bottles and labels are very fascinating in themselves, being often overlooked. I like how the bottles are designed, with inbuilt pen rests for when they were using a dip pen. It's interesting also to see a bottle of alizarin ink, possibly made to the original formulations, with an iron gall base and an alizarin dye added. Apparently this kind of ink was quite popular.

[bobs51]

Your introduction says they started in 1902, but the early ink labels you show clearly have the date 1855 on them. Which is correct?

 

Nice story and pictures... thanks

[IThinkIHaveAProblem]

Neat bottles and a great write up, thank you for posting it

[odessa1944]

Your introduction says they started in 1902, but the early ink labels you show clearly have the date 1855 on them. Which is correct?

 

Nice story and pictures... thanks

Heinrich von Gimborn started in 1855 in Germany behind his apothecary shop, an chemical-pharmaceutical factory, selling among medical things also inks and glues. In 1881 Heinrich sold his apothecary shop and focused on the factory.

From 1884 he also had an office in `s Heerenberg, Holland. In 1893 both his sons took over and Max Von Gimborn took over the `s Heerenberg office in holland. Eventually He started his own company from Holland in inks,glues and medical supplies.

In the beginning the 2 firms worked together, so some ink labels were very similar. The 1855 that sometimes was mentioned on labels, is more of a way to emhasize that it was already an older, experienced company.

So the German Gimborn company was active in Holland from 1884, but it really became a Dutch company from 1902 although led by a german (Max von Gimborn)) Max became a dutch citizen in 1916 and already had changed his name to Max van Gimborn earlier. "Van" is the dutch version from "von". the company also used the "van ' change from 1902 to show it to be a dutch company, although the firm`s name remained H. van Gimborn. So the father`s name !

 

Below the patent for the first Dutch label from 1902, very similar to the German label but stating Emmerich, Germany and `s Heerenberg,Holland with the dutch "van Gimborn" name.

 

 

Edited August 31, 2019 by odessa1944

[odessa1944]

an early advertisement from Gimborn `s Heerenberg, Holland showing 4 of the earliest labels.

Sometimes `s Heerenberg is wrongly written with one "e" , so " `s Herenberg".

Edited August 31, 2019 by odessa1944

[odessa1944]

Square model 4a

 

Introduced in 1926, the content is subject to change. In 1926 the catalogue lists this bottle as 40 grammes ,while the 1932 catalogue says 30 grammes. In 1939 the catalogue suddenly says 35 grammes. It comes with either a gripcork or a bakelite screw-cap and was mainly used for normal fountainpen-ink, extra-fine fountainpen-ink and hectograph-ink. For the hectograph-ink it was used until 1956, but for the fountainpen-inks it was dropped in 1950.

 

 

Edited August 31, 2019 by odessa1944

[txomsy]

Fascinating!

[odessa1944]

Dome-shaped inkbottle No 2 & 3

 

This bottle comes in 2 sizes, and is very rare. Only used for gimborn`s extra-fine coloured inks. These 2 bottles were introduced in 1910/1915 and disappeared in 1932. the No 2 is the biggest with a content of 35 grammes while the No 3 had a content of 25 grammes. It should have an aluminium cap but on the few surviving examples these are absent.

The thin labels showing at the bottom just say "extra-fine coloured ink" The colour of the label was the colour of the ink. In the front section is a built-in pen rest.

Edited August 31, 2019 by odessa1944

[odessa1944]

inkbottle No 60

Specially used for only one ink, linnen marking ink. this bottle was mentioned in the catalogue from 1926 and disappeared after the war.the label comes in three varieties, Gimborn -Doorn, Gimborn -Zevenaar and Gimborn-Zevenaar and Batavia. Linnen marking ink was an ink that was able to withstand boiling water and was thus used for marking clothing and linnen bedsheets and tablecloths and so on. In the photo it appears that this bottle is round, however it is oval.

Edited August 31, 2019 by odessa1944

[odessa1944]

Round ink bottle No 5

 

This bottle was introduced in the catalogue of 1926 and disappeared in 1956. It`s content was 145 grammes. It can be found with a cork, gripcork or a brown or black bakelite cap. Mainly used for writing and copying-inks, fountainpen-ink and for documental-ink.

 

Edited August 31, 2019 by odessa1944

[odessa1944]

Penlayer No 65 and 85

 

These bottles only differ in size. the bigger No 85 has not survived the passing of time. No surviving examples are known. the smaller No 65 is easier to find. the content of No 85 is unknown. Although this bottle is mentioned in the catalogues of 1910-1915 and 1926, no content was listed and by 1932 it had disappeared from the catalogue. The smaller No 65 went on until 1956. It`s content was 70 grammes. On top of the bottle there are in relief three "stripes". These function as penlayers. These bottles were used for normal writing ink, Aleppo-ink, document-ink, conifer-ink, and fine coloured inks.

Although not mentioned in catalogues, they can also be found with chancellery & office-ink and 1855-ink. the No 65 bottle can be found with corks, gripcorks and black or red bakelite caps.

Edited August 31, 2019 by odessa1944

[odessa1944]

Tumble bottle No 221

 

Only mentioned in the 1939 catalogue, this is a very rare bottle, introduced somewhere in 1937/1938. It has a content of 80 grammes. It was used solely for normal writing ink. Two labels exist, an early model and a later model. My own bottle has lost it`s original bakelite cap and a metal cap was used as a substitute.

 

Edited August 31, 2019 by odessa1944

[amberleadavis]

Super cool. Thank you.

[odessa1944]

You`re welcome,

more to follow soon.

[Bibliophage]

So, these inks were all sold by weight of the liquid, and not by volume?