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 . . .

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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