Ink bottle, salt-glazed stoneware, cylindrical with slightly cranked, squared-off neck; foot, impressed factory mark and registered design mark with encoded date of 28th December 1976, made by Doulton and Co, Lambeth, London, 1876+the item would have b

Ink bottle, salt-glazed stoneware, cylindrical with slightly cranked, squared-off neck; foot, impressed factory mark and registered design mark with encoded date of 28th December 1976, made by Doulton and Co, Lambeth, London, 1876+
the item would have been registered under the amendment to the 1842 Act, allowing for the registration of non-ornamental designs
the registration date indicated in the mark does not tally with the original patent office records, which instead suggest that the design was registered on 28th March 1876 by Henry Stephens, the ink manufacturer