The Shipwreck Corner

I have a large ink bottle and ink pot recovered from the SS Republic. The large bottle is a little chipped but the makers name is intact.


There was a large number of ink bottles and pots in the cargo manifest and many were recovered along with the coins we have all seen.
The bottle was manufactured by Joseph Bourne & Son at the Denby Pottery near Derby.
The specific mark "J. Bourne & Son" indicates the bottle was made after 1850, which is when Joseph Bourne took his son into partnership.
The Ink Maker: P. & J. Arnold
P. & J. Arnold of London was one of the most successful ink manufacturers of the Victorian era. Established in 1724, they became a global name by the mid-1800s. They were most famous for their "Writing Fluid," a high-quality iron gall ink that started out blue but turned a permanent, deep black as it dried. By the mid-19th century, they were producing nearly 30 different kinds of ink and exporting them across the British Empire and the United States. The company continued independently until 1942, when their London factories were bombed during the Blitz. The SS Republic was carrying a vast cargo of ink bottles and pots intended to replenish supplies in New Orleans and aid post-Civil War Reconstruction efforts. These bottles were in transit to help meet a rapidly growing demand for literacy and written communication in a recovering South, where education was seen as a vital component of rebuilding the post-war economy.

From the accompanying book I learnt that the recovered collection features more than 175 different bottle types, ranging from small, inexpensive "penny inkwells" such as my example, —designed for affordability and stability to prevent tipping—to more ornate, hand-blown glass bottles meant to be attractive desk displays.

Considering the recovery from a depth of 1700 feet the condition is remarkable.
I'll try and replace the image posted with a better one.

 

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From Chameau
AV Louis d'or 1724-H
La Rochelle Mint

 

I was moving a little off track with the last couple of posts so here is a coin I picked up on my recent trip to Florida.



I can't do better than this write up by @willieboyd2 and I urge you to visit it.

https://www.cointalk.com/threads/a-guy-named-joe.370460/#post-5143203

The story can be amplified by this book that I picked up a couple of years before the coin.



Clive's reputation did not survive in fact During the 1770s, Thomas Paine used Clive as a symbol of British tyranny and corruption. For the American colonists, the East India Company’s actions in India served as a "cautionary tale" of what happens when a distant government allows corporate interests to rule without restraint. William Dalrymple reframed Clive as an "unstable sociopath" who managed a dangerously unregulated private company. The focus has shifted from his military "genius" at the Battle of Plassey (1757) to the fact that the victory was largely secured through bribery and political treachery.
About 20 years ago I read a biography on Clive by Robert Harvey titled "Clive- The Life and Death of a British Emperor".
Having been taught at School that Clive saved the British Indian Empire from the French and was a hero albeit somewhat flawed, the biography was an eye opener for me as Harvey painted the picture of corrupt, hypocritical, greedy, ruthless sociopath.
So why did I want this coin? Simple, a pedigree to a (in)famous owner, a controversial salvage challenged through the International Courts, and I find it an attractive coin and it fits in with my New World colonial shipwreck collection.
I did a trade on 30 Morgan dollars that I had acquired over the years at probably todays melt value. I was pleased with the deal as this coin holds more interest to me than a pocket full of Morgan Dollars.
Here is an image of the previous owner!

 

Another fabulous coin @panzerman . For those that don't know. In 1725, the French naval vessel Le Chameau struck a reef near Louisbourg, Nova Scotia, during a fierce storm. Carrying a fortune in gold and silver for the colonies of New France, it sank with all 316 souls aboard. The treasure remained lost until its spectacular discovery in 1965.

 

I wrote about the Hollandia on the second page of this post. There is a lot of information available on this shipwreck and it was carefully salvaged by marine archaeologists. Here is another coin and this one is a 4 Real Pillar dollar which is less encountered than the 8 reales.



The 1740 4 reales "Pillar Dollar" is properly known as a Columnario. While the 8 reales is the most famous "Piece of Eight," the 4 reales is sometimes called a "Piece of Four"
Here is the breakdown of its specifications, design, and history:

Key Specifications (KM# 94)
Mint: Mexico City (identified by the Mo mint mark).
Assayer: MF (Manuel de Leon and Francisco de la Pena).
Composition: .917 Fine Silver.
Weight: Approximately 13.54g.
Diameter: Roughly 32–33mm.
To be topical, the current melt value is around $45.00 so thankfully only lunatics would melt these as the numismatic value is far greater.