Wednesday, June 27, 2012

Methodically Collecting Eversharps

Catalogue readers, if you check on page 84, you'll see this picture of a "Gregg"pencil.

This example should look familiar: it's a clipless Wahl Eversharp Equipoised (but Wahl didn't make a clipless Equipoised), made from mottled hard rubber (but Wahl didn't make the Equipoised in hard rubber).

The Gregg logo is the only marking on this pencil; the Wahl name is completely absent.  Gregg Shorthand, devised by John Robert Gregg in the late 1800s, was widely used and franchised in the late 1920s and 1930s, and a pen which carried the Gregg logo supposedly also carried with it sufficient ink flow for a secretary adept in the method to take dictation without fear of the pen skipping. 

Of course, that doesn't make any sense when it comes to pencils, because a pencil will leave a graphite trail as quickly as you can move your hand!  In that respect, maybe this example makes a bit more sense . ..

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




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