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.

To order, here's the link:  Volume 1 at Legendary Lead Company