The Blind Squirrel Finds a Second Nut

About seven years or so ago, I was pretty new to the hobby and was just starting to exhibit at pen shows.  The stuff I was putting on my table those first few shows wasn't much to write home about - ok, it was stuff that a beginning collector wasn't all that interested in.  But everybody has to start somewhere, and I had a lot of fun doing it. 

I also had a lot of fun, as I still do today, buying box lots and sorting through them.   Today's story begins with one of those box lots, although it's been so long ago I don't remember which one.  What I do remember is that in some box of junk I'd bought there was a large, black flattop pen with a lever that looked like it was in backwards (the part that lifted up faced the nib rather than the end of the barrel).  It had a great imprint on it - "Eisenstadt."  I don't remember whether or not it had the clip, but from what I remember I don't think it did.

My next show was the DC show that year.  I didn't know enough about my find to just put it out on the table and take a guess at how much I should ask for it, so I kept it behind the table and showed it to a couple of people I trusted to ask them what they thought.

Word got around that more quickly than I ever would have thought.  High-end dealers who had dismissed me as not just a pencil collector, but as even worse -- a beginner pencil collector -- were coming up to me and asking in hushed and reverent voices, "may I please see the Eisenstadt?"

From what I recall, those who were inquired were equally split between those who wanted me to name my price and those who just wanted to see one because they never had.  It was the first time I had that rush of finding something really speciall and important that others appreciated. 

Or, as Janet likes to say, "Even a blind squirrel finds a nut once in a while."

I did end up selling the Eisenstadt that day, although I don't remember to whom it went.  I do remember feeling that I was getting a fair price, and that it was going to a collector rather than someone who was just going to fix it up and make a buck on if.  I haven't seen it or another one like it since.

In the pen, that is...

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