If it is indeed an imitation, it may have no
reverse, especially if it were made for this particular purpose or for similar
types of things where the
reverse would never be seen. Is there a way to see if the
reverse is absolutely flat against the lid or if it may be uneven because of
reverse relief? Or, I may be overthinking the entire thing. Such a cool item as I
still use fountain pens and fill them from a
bottle inkwell with a lid, spilling ink is one of those things you never want to happen. LOL. I also have a few old
glass inkwells from the late 19th century that I found in an old dump in South
Africa along with lots of other cool bottles and a few other interesting things like a metal soldier and a bone or ivory toothbrush.
Regards,
Virgil