How to Collect Carter's Ink Memorabilia
Carter's Ink was a mainstay of American business for more than 100 years. You can still find full bottles of Carter's Ink, more than fifty years old. Some fountain pen lovers feel these vintage inks work better than the modern ones. With an array of ink bottles, pens and advertising, you'll find a variety of memorabilia to seek out and enjoy. Read on to learn how to collect Carter's ink memorabilia.
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Instructions
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Study the history of the Carter Ink Company and familiarize yourself with their products. From their original inks, they branched into stamping inks, colored inks including gold and silver, ink eradicator, bluing, show card colors, photo library paste, carbon paper and typewriter ribbons, as well as a line of fountain pens.
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Understand your reason for collecting. If it is for investment and profit, study the trends of pricing and be very cautious about purchasing. If it is for your own enjoyment, you can indulge in that pricey item because it fills a gap in your collection or you simply like the look of it.
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Decide which Carter's Ink items you are going to collect. You may focus solely on fountain pens, advertisements and brochures, or vintage inks. You may only want memorabilia of a certain era. Collectors love to specialize but you may enjoy a variety display of all Carter's memorabilia.
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Learn to identify the age of bottles. Molds used in making bottles leave seam lines. As technology changed over the years the position of these seam lines changed. The line may run the entire length of the bottle, it may stop below the lip or there may be lines around the shoulder and the base.
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Establish your standards of quality. Will you accept bottles with minor scratches or chipped edges, pens with cracked barrels and missing parts or torn labels?
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Display your collection. Empty ink bottles make a striking arrangement in a window. You can showcase delicate items such as pens, printed boxes and jars with labels on glass-fronted shelving. Preserve sheets of advertising in vinyl pages in a notebook or have them framed. Use a professional picture framing service and follow their advice on preservation techniques.
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Tips & Warnings
Develop relationships with shopkeepers from local antique shops. Let them know what types of items you are searching for.
You can still find full bottles of Carter's Ink more than fifty years old. Some fountain pen lovers feel these vintage inks work better than modern ones.
