They Didn't Only Make One

I have had to tell myself this more times than I can count.   I'll see something interesting, but the price is more than I want to pay (or the effort to weedle it away from its owner seems insurmountable), and all I can do is think to myself:

There's got to be more of these out there.  They didn't make only one . . . they didn't make only one . . . they didn't make only one . . .

And then I click my heels together three times and I'm no longer frothing at the mouth.  We're back in Kansas (or Ohio) now, Toto.

When Michael Little and I were discussing his Nichols Tri-point in Chicago, with the built-in magnifier (see my article on May 10), I had to do the same thing.  It was a super cool find, so I made him an offer and he said no.  So I asked him whether the offer was too low or whether he just wanted to keep it, and he said he wanted to keep it.   So I needed to respect that.

Click.  Click.  Click.  No, I wasn't wearing sparkly red shoes, but it did the trick anyway.  And we moved on.

(Turns out Michael just needed a night to think about how much he'd spent during "Hobanpalooza" that day  -- next day Michael's Tri-point was on its way back to Ohio.)

Still, the thought that there might be a few more of these Tri-point magnifier pencils out there yet to be discovered was a handy trick during those dark moments when I really wanted to bring it home but knew that it wasn't going to happen.  And it would have been even easier to walk away had I thought things like this were out there . . .

NOTE:  This article is now included in the print version of The Leadhead's Pencil Blog, available anywhere you buy books, or also from The Legendary Lead Company.

To order, here's the link:  Volume 1 at Legendary Lead Company