A VICTORIAN ORMOLU NOVELTY COCKATOO INKWELL, 1850, by Messenger & Sons, Birmingham, the cockatoo perched on a branch formed as a pen rest, with its head turned to one side, with blue glass eyes and hinged head concealing a glass inkwell (damaged), the underside of the tail with maker`s plaque 'MESSENGER & CONS, PUBLISHED NOV.R 1ST 1850 BIRMINGHAM'.

15.5cm high x 12cm wide x 11cm deep

Notes: Thomas Messenger founded Messenger & Sons in the early 1810s as a maker of furniture mounts. By the 1830s he and his sons were producing chandeliers, lamps and candelabra in brass and ormolu. The firm were based at Broad Street in Birmingham, expanding to premises at Hatton Gardens, London. They gained great recognition at the Great Exhibition of 1851 and the international exhibition of 1862.

Dimensions: 15.5cm high x 12cm wide x 11cm deep