A Step Up? From the Moore Clip?

There's a common theme to the story of most writing instrument manufacturers in the United States:  most companies produced higher-quality products early on, which deteriorated over the years until the company either closed or was sold.   I attribute this trend to the advent of the ballpoint pen, which popularized the notion of the disposable writing instrument after World War II and made the production of quality writing instruments less and less profitable. 

Whatever the cause, it's depressing.

When it comes to Moore, the story is similar.  Moore's high water mark was in the early 1930s, and while the company continued to produce new and interesting pencils up until the company's doors shut in 1956, the quality of the products produced by the company in those later years just wasn't the same. 

Generally. 

Exhibit A for the case of product debasement at Moore was the company's abandonment of the distinctive looped "Moore Clip" sometime in the mid- to late 1930s, which was replaced with conventional "press clips" that were simply stapled into the barrel. 

But let's not be too fast in writing off the press clip Moores- there's some pretty nice ones out there!  A few examples are pictured on page 101 of The Catalogue . . .

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