Nice old double inkwell with the original bakelite covers for black and red ink, patent information is on the inside of the covers and also in the glass at the bottom of one of the wells.
The relevant patent here is 1043288, which doesn't picture this inkwell but patents the design whereby the covers are in place to keep the ink from evaporating and are rotated in place to allow the pen to be dipped in a small front reservoir attached to the main inkwell without removing the cover, then rotated back.
The front trays were to hold various attachments, nibs and whatever else and I suppose the scalloped edges were to lay pens across.
