Identifying inkwells, stoppers, and small glass objects
The little glass things that survive whole.
Small thick-walled glass objects often survive intact where vessels shatter. Victorian ink bottles come square, octagonal, and 'penny ink' round, in aqua glass with sheared or burst lips; earlier inkwells include square lead-glass examples. Glass stoppers — ground, faceted, or moulded — outlive their decanters and scent bottles.
Related small survivors: linen smoothers (dark glass domes with a polished base, medieval onward), glass marbles (some from Codd-neck bottles, which used a marble as the seal), lens fragments, and dumps or paperweights.
A ground-glass mating surface identifies a stopper immediately — frosted band where it seated. Record form, colour, and any embossed lettering (ink makers named their bottles); these humble objects date sites and rubbish scatters neatly.