Putting A Name To It At Last

Eversharp pencils like these show up on page 78 of The Catalogue, in frame 48 ("Eversharp in Decline").  Although I’ve lumped these in with the other end-of-the-line Eversharps as "simply awful," these simple nose-drive pencils do have interesting clips . . .

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

Once A Year Ain't Bad

Ever since my girls were very little, I’d take them up for a weekend trip to Cedar Point in Sandusky, Ohio each summer. We’d stay at the Breakers Hotel, we’d see Snoopy, we’d play on the beach, and we’d ride ourselves silly on rides.

My girls are growing up these days, and are both in High School now -- Heather’s going to be a senior and Hannah will be a sophomore. When I tell a corny joke these days, they roll their eyes instead of giggling – and that’s only if they weren’t texting or listening to an iPod and heard me. And, since they live with their mother, I see them less and less each year. This year they were both so busy that I wasn’t sure they’d want to go at all – in fact, we had to cancel our trip up there last month when one of their schedules unexpectedly changed.

But both of them reassured me that they really wanted to go, so we rescheduled – for this last weekend, in fact. We picked them up Thursday night and, bright and early Friday morning, we loaded up the car and off we went.

For something a little different this time, Janet suggested that we stop off on the way up and check out an antique mall on the main drag in Norwalk, Ohio. Norwalk is one county seat shy of Sandusky on our way up Route 250, and it’s a really nice, well put-together town with a downtown packed with beautifully restored Victorian storefronts. Of course, I’m always game for a stop at an antiques place, but this time I thought a stop would be a good chance for Janet to get to do something she’s interested in, since she doesn’t like roller coasters and – as she patiently does every year – she was going to spend a lot of time in souvenir shops and people watching while the girls and I rode the coasters.

The girls were bored. OK, they were boh - oh- oh- ored. Usually a stop in Norwalk means a round of mini-golf and some Ice Cream at Vargo’s, not a tour of some dusty old antique store! Heather doesn’t mind them as much, but she’d seen it all in ten minutes and was sitting on the curb next to the car in no time. Hannah occupied herself for a while with a vintage pinball machine, but after I pointed at the price tag and suggested that she probably didn’t want to blow her Cedar Point budget buying that if she broke it, she contented herself strolling up and down the street outside, peering in occasionally to see if we were done yet.

Janet found a nice sterling ring that made her very happy. As for me, I did find something I’d been scouting around for . . .

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.

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That's Heavy, Dude

Here’s another neat name I’d not seen on a pencil before. On the clip is simply the word "Atlas" . . .

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Somewhere Between Sublime and Ridiculous

I’ve commented before that the Zaner-Bloser Company of Columbus, Ohio was essentially a one-trick pony when it came to mechanical pencils. Nearly all were cheaply made nose drive pencils, distinctive only in their unusual shape – although this doesn’t make them any less dear to a Columbus, Ohio native like me!

But I did say "nearly all," to take into account the super-rare Parker streamline Duofolds made for Zaner using Zaner’s unique shape. The Parker Zaners go for several hundred dollars if you can find one.

And I’d thought there was nothing in between the dollar junk box Zaners and the gee-I’d-buy-one-if-I-were-ever-lucky-enough-to-see-one Zaners, until these surfaced a little while ago . . .

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A Victorious Find

The Victor appears at page 160 of The Catalogue.  I’d noted in the book that these have a "Waterman-style" joint that is well above the center band, but I stopped short of suggesting Waterman had anything to do with the brand. Good thing, because it didn’t. A little while ago I managed to scrounge this up in an online auction . . .

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

Real Housewives of Minneapolis

At an online auction recently, I noticed a group of pencils – mostly not very good ones – in a single lot. One attracted my attention, because the seller indicated it was stamped "Dow Patent 3-6-23." As I am always the sucker for names and patent dates I’ve not seen before, I had to bite just to see what it was all about. Here’s the pencil,  and just as the seller described, there was the imprint on the bell 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.

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Ah . . . Now I Remember

Since we were talking about over-the-top clips, here’s another one. It’s just the top half, and I found it in one of Terry Mawhorter’s junk boxes.

I broke two rules when I bought it – I don’t buy unmarked things and I don’t buy parts unless I need it. But that clip was just so distinctive I decided to bring it home and poke around a bit to see what I could find out.

After a bit of searching, I sent out an S.O.S. to some pencil buddies to see what they thought, and Joe Nemecek answered the distress call in a manner I wasn’t expecting: "Don’t you remember?"

I had to confess that I didn’t. But after Joe reminded me, I did remember. And I remembered everything.

The year was . . . ok, so maybe I don’t remember everything. It was a few years ago at the Washington DC show. I was a little noncommittal about whether I was going to set up that year, and by the time I finally decided to do so, the tables in the regular area were sold out. Bob Johnson did accommodate me, by putting me and a few other last-minute stragglers in what used to be the old bar area in the hotel lobby.

Another last-minute straggler, set up just a couple doors down from me, was a fellow who had a collection of some 50 or 60 pens and pencils to sell. From what I remember, he wasn’t a regular dealer, just some guy that picked up this bunch from somewhere, didn’t know anything about them except what he read in a pre-bust price guide somewhere, and thought he’d try to sell them at a pen show.

I went though what he had during the feeding frenzy, and there were a few pencils in there that I liked, but there was a catch . . . the deal was all or nothing for one price, and it was a collector’s price, not a dealer’s price. That meant that there was a frenzy, but nobody was feeding. I circled back occasionally during the show to see if they’d decided to start parting things out, but the deal was always the same.

Then my old buddy Joe Nemecek stops by my table to show me what he picked up . . .

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These Are Over the Top

Over the winter, I received one of those emails from a guy who doesn’t collect pencils, who had a few pencils, and who decided he could use money more than he could use pencils. The conversation began innocently enough, with him asking some questions about what he had, and me (thinking he was interested) explaining to him as best I could what I could see from the fuzzy pictures he had.

The conversation turned quickly to "how much are they worth," followed closely by "how much would you give me for them." Sigh. I felt like I needed a shower when I was done talking to this guy. I ended up giving him some money for four pencils.

The full sized pencil in this picture was one of the ones I got from him, and it disappointed me that there was hardly anything left of the imprint on the barrel . . .

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.

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The Twist is in the Plot, Not Just the Pencil

Back on July 13, we were discussing an interesting cable-twist pencil made by the J.E. Mergott Co. That got the attention of Dan Linn, a frequent contributor of information here (most recently with regard to the "Beats All" pencils), who emailed me some pictures of a nearly identical pencil.
I complimented him on the find and asked if he was keeping this one to himself – instead of a reply, I received a package. Here’s Dan’s pencil, at bottom, next to the Mergott from the article a few days ago . . .

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A Couple McNeil Autopoints

A while back I picked up a slew of pencils from Michael McNeil of Northwest Pen Works, two of which I’ve had photographed for awhile but I haven’t gotten around to posting them. The first is one of the earliest of the Autopoints, in sterling silver . . .

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.

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Another Kind of Classic

I picked this one up sometime last winter at the Scott Antique Market.

There were actually two of them in a box of stuff, on a dealer's table that looked like someone emptied out a house with a shovel and a few boxes.  These were the only two pencils in all those boxes (and I looked).  One example had a barrel that was a little worse for wear, and the other had a nice barrel but was missing the top.  Each had an $8 sticker on it, which I thought was a little steep, but since there's a neat story behind it, I switched the cap over to the one with the nicer barrel and took both up to the owner of the booth to chat.

"I took the cap off of the beat up one and put it on this one instead.  Is that OK?" I asked.

He glared at me.  "Well then, you aren't getting any discount," he snapped.

OK buddy, I'm thinking to myself.  Most guys wouldn't even have told you what they were doing what I just did.  I'm trying to be nice and honest here and there's no reason to bite my head off.  Besides, with all this crap on your table, I'm surprised you even knew that you HAD these, let alone whether it was the good one or the bad oen that had the cap. And another thing, you . . . you . . .

Fortunately, all that came out of my mouth was "thank you," so I walked away with the pencil. . . .

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.

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A Couple "Moore" At My Fingertips

Matt McColm is bad for me, but in a good way.  I'll receive an email from him every so often, giving me an item number to check out in an online auction, because he suspects it might be the kind of thing I'd be interested in.

Nine times out of ten, he's got me pegged and I'll bid.  In fact, he knows me well enough that the last time he sent me an email, like one of Pavlov's dogs I entered a bid, without thinking to see if I already had one, and now I have two.

Matt emailed me awhile ago to ask me if the Moore Fingertips shown on page 103 of The Catalogue were all that I had . . .

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.

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This Eversharp Has Me Stumped

I saw this one in an online auction and thought it deserved a closer look.  Several closer looks later, I still don't know quite what to make of it. . .

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.

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Another Bucket of Lead

Sager is one of those great brands that just don't come up that often.  Here's the picture of one from page 131 of The Catalogue.

Until a couple weeks ago, this was the only one I'd seen.  When a second one popped up in an online auction, I did what I had to do . . .

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.

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Beats Making Tractors, Maybe

I don't remember how this one came to me, although I do remember it was with a bunch of other stuff and wound up in the purgatory that is a box of things I'll look at more closely later.  When "later" arrived, I took a closer look and noticed some faint lettering on the side . . ."Advance-Rumely . . ."

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.

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While Most Pen Companies Dabbled in Pencils . . .

Autopoint was a pencil company.  That's what Charles Keeran set up to create after he was ousted by Eversharp, and that's pretty much all that he was interested in. 

But for a very short time, probably in the early 1930s, Autopoint decided to take a crack at making a fountain pen, and their effort was a little-known but truly spectacular footnote in the company's history.  The Autopoint Tab-Filler was a an impressive, large flattop pen, had a unique filling system, in which a tab underneath a blind cap compressed the internal sac, and they were very well made.  All the ones I've seen were in black and pearl.

They are also extremely rare, and most Autopoint collectors would do considerably more than what they'd do for a Klondike bar to get their hands on one.  So imagine what they'd do for the matching pencil?

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.

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Tuning into a New One

I don't remember where this one came from, but I stumbled into it somewhere during the Raleigh show. It's just a short little guy, and when I first saw it I thought it might be an Eversharp in the unusual checkerboard pattern.  But this one's a little different . . .

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.

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Helping Terry Out of One . . and Me Into It

At Raleigh, I was excited to see this pop out of a junk box on Terry Mawhorter's table.

This is one of the elegant, oversized Mabie Todd "Fyne Poynt" pencils from the 1920s, and unfortunately there was a reason it wound up in a junk box -- there's a crack in the hard rubber cap.  When I asked Terry about it, he gave me the universal pencil collector's grimace as he told me he'd missed the crack when he bought it.

Terry was eager to get this one out of his sight, so I paid much less than I would have without the crack.  It's nothing that interferes with the function of the pencil, and besides, there's something a little more special about this one.  It's difficult to see in these pictures, because it's extremely hard to catch in a photograph, but even though this trim work is fancy by any standard, it's even fancier when you examine it closely . . .

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.

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One of a "Few Metal Specialties"

As the Chicago Pen Show drew to a close this year, Frank Hoban just wanted to lighten his load a little more (like Mike Little hadn't cleaned him out of a couple hundred pencils already).  So Frank comes over to me with several trays full of stuff and says simply "fifty bucks."

And I said to myself, what the heck.  If I went to a casino and dropped fifty dollars at a blackjack table, I'd call it entertainment and I wouldn't have anything to show for it.  At least with a gamble like this, I'll have something, even if it isn't anything I'm fond of!

This little guy was in that bunch . . .

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.

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"Well YOU Probably Did"

Whenever I stop by Richard Vacca's table, I try to make sure I've got plenty of time to look at everything, because I always miss things.  If Joe Nemecek hadn't asked me why I passed up on the red bumblebee Eversharp dollar pencil at his table in Baltimore, I never would have seen it -- and a red bumblebee pencil hiding on a table is like a rhinocerous hiding behind a tree!

I made several swings by Richard's table while we were in Raleigh, and I don't think I caught this one in my first pass . . .

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.

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One More Sheaffer Guy

The early Sheaffer demonstrator pencil, with cutaways to show off how they work, appear at frame 2a on page 136 of The Catalogue.

Yeah, it's cool, but it's not nearly as cool as the one Gary Garner had in tow at the Raleigh show . . .

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.

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More Sheaffer Guys Showing Off In Raleigh

Just as the Raleigh show was getting started, on Friday before most of the dealers were getting set up, Pat Mohan came over to tell me he had some things to show me.  Boy, did he ever!

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.

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Sheaffer Guys Showing Off in Raleigh

Before the Raleigh show, I'd sent out a call for anyone that had interesting pencils to bring them along so I could photograph them, even if they weren't available for sale.  A couple guys took me at my word and showed up with some great things to show me -- and methinks by coincidence, all came bearing Sheaffers.

Dan Reppert was right across the aisle from me, and during the show, he came over with something in his hand, cautioning me before he'd show it to me, "Now, you're not getting your hands on this one!" 

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.

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Because They Were So Darned Cheap

Terry Mawhorter loves it when I go to his auctions.  It's not that I'm a big spender that will drive the price of a $2,000 pen up to $5,000 or anything, it's because usually, assisted by a couple of drinks, I'm bidding on stuff when nobody else is just because I think something's going a little too cheap.

But at the Raleigh show, I had to make a special effort not to indulge in liquid encouragement before auction time, since Terry had asked me to help out auction and I was not sure what level of sobriety would be required for the job.  I assumed that my newfound lucidity would dampen my enthusiasm and keep my hand from flying up in Pavlovian response to the words "Lot Number . . ."

I was wrong.  Well, ok, I didn't buy a bunch of things that are completely unrelated to my collection (I'm still wondering what I was thinking at the Ohio Show's auction last November), but I did bid on some things that I wouldn't normally go for, like these . . .

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Nothing Could be Finer

As long as I've been going on about Hutcheon these last couple of days, here's another one that I've been waiting for the opportunity to show off.  This is one of the Hutcheon "Finepointer" pencils . . .

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In My Clutches

One of the reasons I was really excited about the Hutcheon glass-plate negative from yesterday's article was a picture of a particularly rare pencil shown second from right.

This is the "Hutch Clutch" pencil, a leadholder that works much like an Aikin Lambert or other rear-drive leadholder:  unscrewing the top counterclockwise just half a turn or so releases the lead, and screwing it back in place locks it.   These are easy to spot due to their interesting shape -- but only if you can find one, and finding one is no small task!

I finally located one at the Chicago show . . .

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.

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So THAT's What It's Supposed to Look Like!

I've had this laying around the house for awhile now.  It came from an online auction, and I was surprised no one else went for it.

It's a glass plate with a negative image of Hutcheon pencils, which would be used to make "contact prints" in a darkroom.  This plate would have been laid directly onto a sheet of photographic paper; when light would be shot through it onto the paper, the lighter areas would allow light to pass through and expose the paper (which would turn dark).  It was probably used for the company's catalogs in house, since a glass plate would have been far too fragile to send off to newspapers for advertising . . .

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.

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The "Other" Centennial

On Independence Day, this one seemed like the right choice for a story.  This is the Eagle Number 257, made to celebrate the anniversary of the founding of the United States, but not the Centennial nor the Bicentennial.  This one commemorates the "Sesquicentennial," or 150th anniversary, in 1926 . . .

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The Neatest Lighter Pencil I Never Heard Of

A few weeks ago, I was trolling about online and stumbled across a pencil I hadn't heard of before.  The clip reads "Lektrolite," and the color is really superb . . .

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

Leftovers Are Good

The headline from this year's Triangle Pen Show in Raleigh, North Carolina was the staggering collection Ross McKinney brought to liquidate.  The frenzy that surrounded him for the better part of the day was an indication of just how good that stuff was.

One of the advantages to being a pencil guy is that while the pen guys are doing their thing, we are generally content to sit back and wait until the activity dies down, then we come in and pick over all the pencils, which are generally left behind.  Believe me, it's great for the blood pressure!

So that's what I did -- and I found some great stuff that I haven't gotten around to writing about just yet.  Joe Nemecek was over there a bit before I was, since I had a table to look after, and he got some great stuff, too.  But there was plenty to go around.

After a few hours, all of us predators had picked the proverbial wildebeast down to the bones, and what were full pen cases full of prizes were now mostly empty, with just  a few lonely stragglers that no one wanted left behind.  Mostly, the things that were left were things that should have been.  But late Saturday, as the show was slowing down, I had some time to peek around a bit and I swung back around the carcass of this collection, after everyone else had spent themselves silly, for some quality time looking at what was left.

One of the last remnants was 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.

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I Can't Think of a Better Name

Every so often, Janet and I make the trip to Springfield to visit one particular antique mall -- the Heart of Ohio Antique Mall just off of 70 - it's a huge building with a green roof that says "Antiques" on it.  If you miss it from those directions . . . well, let's just say there are people that shouldn't leave their house without a GPS. 

Anyway, the reason we keep going back is that this mall is huge.  Its owners claim it's the biggest in Ohio, and if someone else claims to have a bigger one, I'm game to go have a look.  More often than not we don't get through the whole thing, and we always end up leaving with more than we ever expected to buy. 

Usually, though, I don't find much in the way of pencils.  Seems like most of the people there that have a few pens also have a 20-year old price guide, and they've factored in cost of living increases over the last 20 years. 

But this time, I did find something, though I'm still not quite sure what it 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