An Eagle Update

Some people have a hard time admitting when they are wrong, but I am not one of them.  When I admit I'm wrong, in doing so I'm saying at the same time that I've learned something new that is right.

Today I get to admit I was wrong twice, in both cases regarding statements I've made about The Eagle Pencil Company.  This article corrects statements I've made concerning the "Stars and Moons" Epenco pencils (page 49 of The Catalogue, as well as my entry here on November 22) and the "Arrow clip" Eagles (page 48 of The Catalogue and my entry here on November 20). 

I'll start with the "stars and moons," because it was a discussion of that article on the Zoss List that led me to make both discoveries.  When Mike Kirk said that he had heard the "stars and moons" pattern was called the "Merlin" (and Mike Little suggested I should be turned into a frog for some reason), I started digging into the history of these pencils a little further to see what I could find . . .

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

And Presto! My Good Deed Definitely Went Unpunished

At some point, most collectors end up buying things against their will.  We've all had someone come up to us and say, "You're the pencil guy, right?  I've got something to show you . . ." and then we end up looking at something they are a lot more thrilled to show to us than we are to look at.

What I always try to remember in those circumstances is that while antique dealers are in the business to make a profit, they wouldn't be doing it if they did not get a sense of pleasure out of finding things that make people happy.   I figure, as I mention in the collecting section of The Catalogue, that if someone has taken the time to put something aside to show me, I'm going to take the time to appreciate the gesture and, unless the price is unreasonable, I'm going to buy what they are offering even if I'm not really interested.  If nothing else, I'll take the time to explain to the dealer what the piece is and how although I'd love to have it (sometimes it's a little hard to keep the straight face when I say this part) I would just have to pass this time.

After all, if this dealer finds a really spectacular piece next week, what I'd want that dealer to remember is to save it for me -- not that I'm the guy who never buys anything from him or her anyway.

This story started out as one of those stories.  One of the regular dealers from the Scott Antique Market still remembers me from a couple of years ago, when I was excited to find a few nice pens and pencils that I bought from him.  Every month since, when he sees me, he says "You're the pen and pencil guy, right?"   Unfortunately, most of the time he follows that with, "You know, I had a bunch of pens here this morning, and I sold them to someone.  They were really nice pens,  Don't remember what they were though."

Yeah.  I love hearing that.   But I've always managed to keep a pleasant face and say "Oh well, maybe next time you will show them to me?"

I thought maybe this time it had finally sunken in.  I arrived at his booth and he said to me, "Hey, I've got a pen to show you that you might be interested in."  He hands me a small box and I open it up to find this . . .

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

Adding a Bit More Balance to the Collection

At page 138 of The Catalogue, I illustrated what I thought was a fairly comprehensive set of the "rigid radius clip" Sheaffer Balance pencils, which date from around 1935 to 1940 . . .

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

The Piercepen

It's early Sunday morning, and Janet and I are getting ready to head back for day two of the Scott Antique Market at the Ohio State Fairgrounds.  I don't have much time this morning to write, so I thought I would just introduce another of the "no-names" that I recently came across . . .

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

A Conklin That May Be a Metal Duragraph

Metal Conklin pencils appear at pages 31 and 32 of The Catalogue and divide nicely into two groups:  the earlier design, patented by Harry P. Fairchild, and the later design, patented by C.N. Johnson.

And then there's this . . .

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

Ford's Junior Junior

In The Catalogue at pages 80 and 81, I include entries for the Ford's Deluxe, a rear drive, middle joint pencil measuring about 5 1/4 inches, and the Ford's Jr., which was a nose drive, middle joint pencil measuring 5 inches and made in some really wild colors.

And then came along this little guy . . .

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

An Imperial to be Thankful For

Happy Thanksgiving, all!

This weekend is always a busy one, with family in town for the holiday and the Don Scott Antique Show starting tomorrow (more on that later).  We've got a full house, but things are still pretty quiet after playing euchre into the wee hours of the morning last night, so I've got a few minutes to post a nice find.

Those of you who are frequent flyers on ebay are probably familiar with the seller "speerbob," who in real life is my friend Robert Speerbrecher.  I've bought a lot of things from Bob over the years, and he's a very honest and reputable guy.  That doesn't mean, however, that we don't haggle, sometimes vigorously. When it comes to today's find, while we were in the midst of a good haggle someone else swooped in and hit the "buy it now" button, but Bob was willing to grant me the use of his picture. . .

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

A Different Keystone

On page 93 of The Catalogue, I illustrate three different examples of the Keystone, all of which are middle joint, nose drive pencils.   This example, a rear drive flattop, surfaced a couple weeks after The Catalogue went to press. . . .

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

More Stars and Moons for the Constellation

At page 49 of The Catalogue, there's a crude picture of the Epenco "Stars and Moons" pencils.  Truth be told, that picture was taken with my cell phone at the DC Supershow in August, because at the time I just couldn't swallow the price the fellow wanted for all three.  I don't even remember how much he said he wanted for them.  I think I was just having one of those guilty moments thinking about how much money I'd spent, how I should really be at my table selling stuff rather than shopping around, etc., etc.... anyway, they were the ones that got away at DC.

Fortunately, this fellow and I see each other at DC and Ohio every year, so in November, there he was, there they were, and I'd love to have tape recordings to compare our conversations from August and November, because I'm sure they were identical.  This time, however, when we got to the part where I was saying I thought that was just too much, and he was saying he couldn't take any less, at the end of that long pause I zagged instead of zigging and brought them home with me (for a little more than the price I listed in The Catalogue).  Here's a better picture of them now, taken with a better camera under controlled conditions . . .

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

Auction of the Century

For those who haven't been to the Ohio Pen Show in the first week of November, you should go.  It is my favorite show of the year, and I'm not just saying that because I live just half an hour or so away from the venue.  Besides having about the best selection of vintage writing instruments of any show, the atmosphere is just more relaxed and social than at the other big shows (well, I can't speak for LA, but certainly compared to DC and Chicago). 

One of the highlights of the Ohio Show each year is the auctions.  Saturday's auction is usually the one featuriing a wide variety of rare and mostly mint pens and other writing instruments, some of which sell for significant prices.

This story is not about that auction.

The other auction is held on Thursday night, and although the advertising doesn't call it such, it's more of a "parts auction" featuring lesser quality items, parts, and larger lots.  Many of the people who exhibit at the show like to buy these items for repair, restoration or simply to restock their parts bins.  That's usually where I find the pencils.

This year, there was only one lot I was going to bid on:  the "Eversharp Pencil Lot" . . .

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

The Great Thing These Pencils Have in Common

Today I'm offering a pair of seemingly unrelated pencils, which are now forever linked in my mind by a single commonality. 

The first is a mid-1930s Eagle with the distinctive arrow clip that I theorize in The Catalogue is probably Canadian. The celluloid,a  mix of brown and red, is very unique among vintage pencils and could be said to be ahead of its time, since many fountain pens currently in production are made in acrylics using a very similar color pallate. . .

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

The Amazing Karmo

"Karmo". . . for me, the name conjures up images of a sideshow magician who, regardless of the promoting, just isn't very amazing.  Or maybe a Buddhist superhero whose superpower is to make what goes around, come around. . . 

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

Rite-Rite Threadline: new finds from the Hopalong Cassidy Museum

I mentioned earlier that while Janet and I were communing with nature on our recent getaway at Salt Fork State Park (near Cambridge, Ohio), we saw the insides of antique stores a lot more than we saw the outside at Salt Fork . . . not that I'm complaining at all, mind you.  One afternoon, we ventured into downtown Cambridge to explore the sights, one of which was the combination 10th Street Antique Mall and Hopalong Cassidy Museum.  A Hopalong Cassidy Museum, we thought?  That's something we had to see!

(As an aside:  the museum is not as random as it sounds.  The star of the Hopalong Cassidy TV series from the 1940s and 1950s was William Boyd, who was born in Hendrysville, Ohio, near Cambridge, in 1895.)

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

A Sheaffer that's flat in one too many ways

We will start today's article with a review of the evolution of the Sheaffer pencil, picking up with the introduction of Sheaffer's celluloid or "radite" models . . .

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

The one I didn't think I really wanted

We pen and pencil collectors drive the people that work in antique malls nuts.  We are always asking to look at things in locked display cases.  Most of the time, as soon as we see whatever it is close up we say "no thank you" and hand it right back.

Be honest, now -- how many times have you bought something you didn't really want just because you felt obligated to buy something after looking at things in seventeen different cases?

I thought that was going to be the case with this piece . . .

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

The pencil might have been longer - if it hadn't been in Iowa

Yesterday I mentioned stopping at an antique mall while I was in Indianapolis meeting Agent X for Operation Sheaffer Lead Display, and posted a teaser picture of the finds that came from there.  Since this one really stands out, I thought this would be the one I should start out with . . .

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

Leadhead's Lead: Part 2 (Janet gets the kitchen table back)

Yesterday's post was written in the wee hours of the morning on Sunday, while Janet was getting herself prettied up for our road trip to Indianapolis to meet the man who had a Sheaffer lead display cabinet for me to look at.  

The weather was calling for wind gusts of up to 40 mph, which from the relative shelter of eastern Ohio's Appalatian foothills is no big deal.  It was a different story out on Interstate 70 after we passed through Columbus and out onto the flatness that is western Ohio and Indiana - even driving in that long, straight line my steering wheel was oriented to the 11:30 position most of the way (10:00 when a really good belt would blow through). 

Webb's Antique Mall in Centerville, Indiana made for a nice rest stop on the way.  I've never found much in the way of pens or pencils there, and this trip was no exception.  But my wife, the glass collector, was in heaven and I did find a 1984 Detroit Tigers Championship commemorative mug for a friend of mine.

My meeting with our contact (I asked him if he wanted me to reveal his identity and he declined, so we'll call him "Agent X") was quite the cloak-and-dagger affair.  He lives northwest of Indy, and since I offered to drive out to pick up the Sheaffer case, he said he would meet me on the east side somewhere.  After Janet and I had picked our way through Webb's, I gave Agent X a call to tell him we were approaching "the drop zone," and we agreed to meet in the parking lot at an Arby's restaurant on Shadeland Avenue.

It wasn't until we rolled into the parking lot that I realized I forgot to tell Agent X I'd be wearing a yellow carnation, but since mid-afternoon on a Sunday is not peak eating time at Arby's, I assumed the man sitting in the only vehicle at the rear of the lot was our man Agent X.   I waved . . . he waved back . . . excellent!  Either we were all clear to do the deal, or Janet and I had just made a dinner date. 

Nope, we were clear.  Agent X dropped the tailgate on his truck and showed off "the goods."  He's a very soft spoken man, a woodworker primarily, who had bought this case about 10 years earlier, just as his passion for collecting all things Sheaffer was starting to fade.  It had become, in his words, a dust collector.   The $85 on which we had agreed prior to the drive out was very reasonable to me, but as I reached in my pocket for the cash, he insisted that I give him only $80 since we'd made the drive to Indy and spared him the shipping.  

Nice guy.  His collecting bug probably hasn't faded completely, since he did make the trek to Columbus for the Ohio show.  I hope we'll see more of him.

After a stop at a nearby antique mall in Indy (more on that later), Janet and I made our way home, pulling in well after dark.  That didn't stop me from diving in to stock the old chest, which I am proud to say now looks like this . . .

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

Leadhead's Lead

At the Ohio Show this year, I decided to do something a little different.   I had an old Sheaffer lead display and I had recently come across a large stash of NOS Eagle and Faber-Castell leads, so I decided to load up the display, put sample leads with varying hardnesses into some pencils and let people try them out.  Here's what the display looked like . . .

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

The Other Happy Madison

No, there will be no aging comedians from Saturday Night Live here.  Readers of The Catalogue will recall the Madison from page 98 . . .

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

The Mythical Waterman Pencil of 1909

The L.E. Waterman company, as an American pen manufacturer, leaves a legacy of being a pioneer.  In fact, at dinner last night, one of my friends (a non-collector who is for lack of a better word "amused" that I not only collect pencils, but actually took the time to write a book about it) asked me, "Didn't Waterman invent the fountain pen?"

As a pencil manufacturer, however, Waterman wasn't exactly out in front of the pack.  While Sheaffer and Wahl had introduced pencils in 1917 and 1918, respectively (Wahl, of course, having acquired the rights to Charles Keeran's Ever Sharp design of 1913), Waterman didn't offer any pencils at all until 1919, and those weren't even made by Waterman.  As I explore in The Catalogue (pages 161 and 162), Waterman did not introduce a pencil of its own design until 1922.

Here is a fairly typical example of that first generation of original Waterman pencils, imprinted simply "Waterman's" at the top . . .

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

A Tweeten update

Skip Nemecek, the president of Tweeten Fibre Co., was kind enough to email me a link to a picture of our man Oscar Tweeten (see "The Tweeten" posted on November 8), which has been posted at the Chicago Billiard Museum's website . . .


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

The Self Sharpening Pencil Co.

Some time ago I was trolling around the U.S. Patent Office records, and I ran across this patent, which I had put in my "gee, wouldn't it be cool to find one of THOSE" file:

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

Is it a Waspy Sheaffer, or a Sheaffery Wasp?

Today I'm introducing a neat find from the Ohio Show (Dan Reppert's table, in fact) - one of those things I saw, walked right by, thought about, thought about some more, said to myself "now wait a minute, that's not right...," and then realized what I'd just passed up.  Fortunately, it was still there when I circled back around.  Before I introduce it, here's a picture to illustrate why this one is special . . .

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

The Tweeten

Janet and I decided on a much-needed weekend getaway after The Catalogue went to the printer, so we booked a room at the lodge in Salt Fork State Park (outside of Cambridge, Ohio) to enjoy a bit of fall foliage, commune with nature and, of course, scrounge around in a few out-of-the-way antique stores we'd not been to before. . . .

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

Hello and welcome!

Greetings, pencil fans!  
My name is Jon Veley, and this past weekend I launched my new book, "The Catalogue of American Mechanical Pencils," at the Ohio Pen Show in Columbus (well, actually Dublin), Ohio.   Whew.   Books are heavy.  Here's a shot from Sunday:

I suppose if I had stayed at my table all weekend, I probably would have sold a few more books and I certainly wouldn't have spent as much money as I did.  But thanks to the kindness of friends and family (thanks Janet, Heather, Michael and John) I did manage to find the time to roam around a bit and empty my wallet.   Here's what I ended up coming home with:

Now in all fairness, the lower case contains mostly stuff that I had found between the time my book went to press and the Ohio Show.   However, I have found all these things since The Catalogue went to press, so none of them are in the book.  Some are minor variations on themes already covered in the book: maybe a different band here, or a different color there, nothing that significantly changes what's already been written.  But others are really neat discoveries that I really wish I had known about when I was finishing up the book.  And of course, every day I learn something new.
That's why I decided to start this blog: to update the world on what's been turning up since The Catalogue was written.  I'm not sure how often I'll be adding material (I do have a day job that sometimes gets in the way), but I'll shoot for daily and play that one by ear.   A couple of my fellow pencil fanatics have expressed some interest in contributing guest blogs, which sounds like a pretty good idea to me, too.
So stay tuned and enjoy!