Our Friend Rex Surfaces Again

I’ve seen this same pencil for the last few shows I’ve attended, and most recently in Philadelphia. Its owner doesn’t want his name used:

The Century Pen Company of Whitewater, Wisconsin has been the subject of a couple articles here at the blog. The early metal pencils produced by the company appear to be an original design, and the later 1930s examples look like they may have been made by Eagle.

To learn more, this full article is included in The Leadhead's Pencil Blog Volume 2, available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble and everywhere else you buy books, or you can order a copy signed by yours truly through the Legendary Lead Company HERE.

Ever "Sharp" Style

Here’s a trio of Eversharp-style Dur-O-Lite pencils, all of which came to me through my Ohio Show swapathon with Michael Little:

To learn more, this full article is included in The Leadhead's Pencil Blog Volume 2, available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble and everywhere else you buy books, or you can order a copy signed by yours truly through the Legendary Lead Company HERE.

A Pair of Dur-O-Lite Ejectors

Now that I understand these Dur-O-Lite Ejector Pencils (see "Dur-O-Lite Repeaters Revisited, September 29, 2012), I’ve made a point to keep an eye out for interesting variations on the theme. Here’s a couple that caught my eye in recent months:

To learn more, this full article is included in The Leadhead's Pencil Blog Volume 2, available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble and everywhere else you buy books, or you can order a copy signed by yours truly through the Legendary Lead Company HERE.

Nope . . . It Isn't Broken

I think the reason I got this one so cheaply in an online auction was because from the photographs, it appeared to be broken. Truth be told, I thought it might be, too:

But the auction title was for a John Holland pencil, and it looked interesting enough to throw in a small bid that brought it home. The seller was right – it is in fact marked "John. Holland":

To learn more, this full article is included in The Leadhead's Pencil Blog Volume 2, available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble and everywhere else you buy books, or you can order a copy signed by yours truly through the Legendary Lead Company HERE.

Final Thoughts on Straka's Eversharp

As mentioned earlier, John Straka’s patent for Wahl Eversharp’s removable-nose pencil was applied for in 1920 but wasn’t issued until 1928. By the time the Straka patent was issued, both Dur-O-Lite and Autopoint were producing similar pencils.

Charles Keeran, who had been ousted by Wahl in 1917, was the president of Autopoint in 1928, and in February, 1928 he was still writing letters to Wahl Eversharp demanding additional compensation from Wahl for the Eversharp pencil he invented.

Every time I see one of these "Eversharp-Autopoint hybrid" pencil, I instinctively pull the nose off to see if it says "Pat. App. For," which would indicate that they were made prior to 1928 (when John Straka’s patent was assigned a patent number). I’ve never found one – not that they aren’t out there somewhere, but if Wahl had made them in any quantity prior to the issuance of the Straka patent in 1928, you’d think a few would turn up once in a while.

To learn more, this full article is included in The Leadhead's Pencil Blog Volume 2, available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble and everywhere else you buy books, or you can order a copy signed by yours truly through the Legendary Lead Company HERE.

Should We Call Them "Eversharp-Style" Autopoints?

I have always been under the impression that when Wahl-Eversharp produced these Autopoint-like hybrids, Eversharp was copying Autopoint’s removable-nose feature. But the more I look at this, particularly after examining the patents from yesterday’s article, the more I think it was actually the other way around.

A removable nose cone is what makes an Autopoint an Autopoint. The feature is still used on the company’s pencils today, the same as it has been since the mid-1920s:

To learn more, this full article is included in The Leadhead's Pencil Blog Volume 2, available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble and everywhere else you buy books, or you can order a copy signed by yours truly through the Legendary Lead Company HERE.

I'm Monitoring These Pretty Closely

Another fuzzy picture from an online auction brought this one to my doorstep:

To learn more, this full article is included in The Leadhead's Pencil Blog Volume 2, available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble and everywhere else you buy books, or you can order a copy signed by yours truly through the Legendary Lead Company HERE.

Seen At The Ohio Show

Hey, they don’t call them "shows" for nothing, right? At the Ohio Show, quite a few guys stopped by to "show" off some things they’ve found lately. Greg Christy wanted to show off this black and pearl Eclipse and a really nice Univer in turquoise and bronze:

To learn more, this full article is included in The Leadhead's Pencil Blog Volume 2, available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble and everywhere else you buy books, or you can order a copy signed by yours truly through the Legendary Lead Company HERE.

Clear As They Come

My father, Roger Veley, is quite the Autopoint collector. When he dropped by my table at the Ohio Show to show me this one, I had to confess I didn’t understand what was special about it:

To learn more, this full article is included in The Leadhead's Pencil Blog Volume 2, available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble and everywhere else you buy books, or you can order a copy signed by yours truly through the Legendary Lead Company HERE.

What They Are and Where They Got the Idea

These unusual pencils are a frequent sight at antique shows and flea markets:

To learn more, this full article is included in The Leadhead's Pencil Blog Volume 2, available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble and everywhere else you buy books, or you can order a copy signed by yours truly through the Legendary Lead Company HERE.

Rex Manufacturing Company: Father of the Triad

As I was mentioning yesterday  (https://leadheadpencils.blogspot.com/2013/03/prequel-lets-make-that-birth-death-and.html), my research into the history of the Tri-Pen Manufacturing Company, makers of the original Triad pens and pencils, was yielding unexpected evidence that there may be a connection between the Rex Manufacturing Company and Tri-Pen.

The first clue I found came from a book titled "Michnapert the Citadel: A History of Armenians in Rhode Island," by Varoujan Karentz (iUniverse, Inc. 2004). At page 190, Karentz presents a brief autobiographical sketch of one Harry (Movsesian) Burt, and states that Burt owned several prosperous companies in Providence, including "Rex Mfg.,Triad Pen and Royal Moulding."

Karentz’ sketch appears to be based on oral history and contains a couple of inaccuracies. There was no "Triad Pen" (there was a Tri-Pen Manufacturing Co. until 1932 and a Triangle Pen Co. after 1940). Also, while Harry Burt was a Vice President of Tri-Pen, Burt’s contributions to Tri-Pen and Rex appears to be overstated – apparently George Coby and Howard Sweet, the president/design patentee and sales manager of Tri-Pen, respectively, weren’t Armenian.

However, after I enlisted David Nishimura’s help in piecing together the Tri-pen puzzle, I was able to confirm more of a connection between the two companies. David’s study of the 1931-2 Providence directories revealed that Charles Okoomian, the secretary of Tri-Pen Manufacturing Company, was also the president of Rex Manufacturing Company; George Coby, president of Tri-Pen, was the treasurer of Rex.

Rex was located, according to the 1931-2 directory, at 69 Gordon in Providence. As was also the case with Tri-Pen, that was the last time Rex was listed.

The following year, 69 Gordon was occupied by Edgewood Pen and Royal Moulding, both in connection with none other than Harry Burt.

All of these clues put together a nice story, but what I really wanted to see was an artifact that would definitively connect the two companies. The good folks at Google, bless their hearts, led me straight to it.

The thumbnail picture which popped up in the "images of Triad Pencil" section of my Google search was described as a "Rex Triad pencil." Since it was just a thumbnail the picture was pretty grainy, but it appeared to show two views of a yellow pencil that looked like it had a Rex clip assembly. The picture linked me back to an online auction that had closed a few months earlier -- long enough ago that all it provided was a blank error message for that item number.

So I Googled the auction listing number, which led me straight to the feedback forum for the buyer and the seller.  That enabled me to send each of them a message asking for a better picture from the auction. The seller never responded, but the buyer did and his response and generosity bowled me over.

It turns out that wasn’t two views of the same pencil in that thumbnail picture – there were actually two identical pencils in that auction. Since they were identical, and one was missing the cap, the guy offered to send me one if I provided him my address. I jumped at the opportunity and, about a week later, I received a package from Puerto Rico. Here’s what was inside:

To learn more, this full article is included in The Leadhead's Pencil Blog Volume 2, available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble and everywhere else you buy books, or you can order a copy signed by yours truly through the Legendary Lead Company HERE.

Prequel: Let's Make That Birth, Death and Transfiguration

While I was researching the Triad articles that posted here recently, I stumbled upon a little detail that I thought was just an interesting side note to the Triad saga.  I was suspecting that there may be a connection between the Tri-Pen Manufacturing Company and another Providence, Rhode Island company: the Rex Manufacturing Company.

For a long time, I have championed the Rex as the great-granddaddy of so many brands of pencils. The example I have pictured on page 125 of The Catalogue is pretty tired, but until recently it was the only one I had seen:

It’s kind of hard to tell from what’s left of this poor thing, but there’s a whole gaggle of pencils that were spawned from this design. Here’s just a few:

To learn more, this full article is included in The Leadhead's Pencil Blog Volume 2, available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble and everywhere else you buy books, or you can order a copy signed by yours truly through the Legendary Lead Company HERE.

The Long Way Around The Barn

When I wrote the articles on the Tri-Pen Manufacturing Company and the Triangle Pen Company, the one thing I didn’t have on hand to show you was the V-Mail pencil that started it all. I came close to getting one when another example popped up in an online auction a couple weeks before the article was going to publish – excitedly, I bid crazy money on the lot of four pencils to ensure that I would get it, so my article would be complete . .
.
And I lost. Outbid in the final few seconds.

I knew I was partly responsible. I listed these as "Triads" in The Catalogue, and with more-than-usual hubbub at the Philly show about these, it’s easy to see how a small feeding frenzy over these would happen.

But the funny ending to this story comes at the Baltimore show, when Jim Carpenito says he’s got some things to show me:

To learn more, this full article is included in The Leadhead's Pencil Blog Volume 2, available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble and everywhere else you buy books, or you can order a copy signed by yours truly through the Legendary Lead Company HERE.

The Clips Tell the Story

Note: this is a followup to two articles posted at https://leadheadpencils.blogspot.com/2013/02/death-and-transfiguration-part-i-death.html and https://leadheadpencils.blogspot.com/2013/03/death-and-transfiguration-part-ii.html)

.As I was writing the articles on the demise of the Tri-Pen Manufacturing Company (makers of the original Triad) a few weeks ago, I was at a severe disadvantage. Not only was I lacking an example of the Triad, but I’d never even been close enough to one to handle one. I was on the phone with Joe Nemecek several times, asking him to look at this or that on his Triads, to make sure that everything I said about the pencils themselves was accurate.

I asked Joe to bring his Triads to the Baltimore Show for me to photograph separately from the later triangular pencils made by the Triangle Pen Company, because future editions of The Catalogue will have separate entries for the two types:

To learn more, this full article is included in The Leadhead's Pencil Blog Volume 2, available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble and everywhere else you buy books, or you can order a copy signed by yours truly through the Legendary Lead Company HERE.

A Wee Bit O' Green

I wanted to post something green for St. Patrick’s Day, and Joe Nemecek brought something to the Baltimore Show for me to photograph that fits the bill:
.

To learn more, this full article is included in The Leadhead's Pencil Blog Volume 2, available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble and everywhere else you buy books, or you can order a copy signed by yours truly through the Legendary Lead Company HERE.

Neck and Neck

On the way back from dinner at the Baltimore Show, Rick Krantz had just one thing on his mind: the turquoise and bronze Chilton set that was going to be in the evening’s pen auction. "It will be mine," he said with an air of confidence and authority. I believed him.

Cliff Harrington, on the other hand, had other ideas. Part of me wanted to call out to Cliff, "Hey! Let him have it! He’s been talking about that thing all night!" But that wouldn’t be right – first, because I was working in the auction behind the tables putting lots with the correct bidder numbers. But more importantly – the whole idea of an auction is that the person who is willing to pay more than anyone else in the room wins.

And this time, it wasn’t Rick.

When the hammer fell and Cliff was the victor, I thought maybe I’d approach Cliff and see if I could talk him into splitting up the set and selling me the pencil. But blast it if Joe Nemecek didn’t have the same idea, and since he was runway boy, strutting stuff down the aisle for viewing, he was the early bird to the worm hunt this time. Cliff ended up selling Joe the pencil and Rick Krantz the pen, for what amounted to the price he paid for the set.

After all, as Cliff put it, he’s had four or five of these. So everyone ended up happy that night: the seller got a fair price for the set, Cliff got to win the auction but didn’t end up having to pay for it, Joe got the pencil and Rick got the pen.

And as for me, I’m content to have pictures of the pencil:

To learn more, this full article is included in The Leadhead's Pencil Blog Volume 2, available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble and everywhere else you buy books, or you can order a copy signed by yours truly through the Legendary Lead Company HERE.

A Colorful Mystery Is Solved

I wish I could say I’m a great researcher with the power to conjure specific answers from the depths of the historical record with pinpoint accuracy. But the truth is most of the time I learn things because I’m galloping through some old book like a bull in a china shop, usually looking for something else, and find things by accident.

For a long time I’ve been hunting for more information on the "Colorgraph," which I’ve written about here on December 8, 2011 and October 21, 2012 (see https://leadheadpencils.blogspot.com/2011/12/this-one-reallly-puts-color-in.html and https://leadheadpencils.blogspot.com/2012/10/adding-both-color-and-texture.html):

To learn more, this full article is included in The Leadhead's Pencil Blog Volume 2, available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble and everywhere else you buy books, or you can order a copy signed by yours truly through the Legendary Lead Company HERE.

Keen Eye For Keen Points

At the Philly Show, I inevitably found myself at Richard Vacca’s table, pawing through tray after tray of pencils. It was inevitable that I would visit, and it was inevitable that I would find something that would interest me. After a bit of hunting, I turned this one up:

To learn more, this full article is included in The Leadhead's Pencil Blog Volume 2, available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble and everywhere else you buy books, or you can order a copy signed by yours truly through the Legendary Lead Company HERE.

Dummies For Pencils, Instead Of Pencils For Dummies

Desk pencils generally bug me. The bases are big and heavy, the pencils never fit in the folders I carry around at the shows, and I’m always fearful that if I spend any serious money on one, it’s going to get broken. Besides, desk sets usually come with one of those pesky pens!

Even so, every so often I get the urge to splurge on one, just because they are a pretty rare sight. Since the image of an executive writing instrument and that of the lowly pencil are at opposite ends of the spectrum, I don’t think they were ever in high demand, and if they were it would only as an occasional mate to a desk pen.

So when Don Lamkin had this solo desk pencil with base on his table at the Ohio Show, it was just too much for me to resist:

To learn more, this full article is included in The Leadhead's Pencil Blog Volume 2, available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble and everywhere else you buy books, or you can order a copy signed by yours truly through the Legendary Lead Company HERE.

Hey . . . Wait A Minute . . . Again . . .

By the time I wrote The Catalogue, I’d learned enough to know that these early pencils marked "Signet Sold only in the Rexall Stores" were made by DeWitt-LaFrance:

Fortunately, I’d also learned enough to know I shouldn’t say things like "all the early Rexall pencils were made by DeWitt-LaFrance," because lurking in the back of my mind I knew that something like this might be lurking out there somewhere:

To learn more, this full article is included in The Leadhead's Pencil Blog Volume 2, available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble and everywhere else you buy books, or you can order a copy signed by yours truly through the Legendary Lead Company HERE.

The Coolest Thing I Saw In Baltimore

It’s a good thing when I don’t come home with the coolest thing I see at a show, because I’d probably get bored with the hobby if I always did. This time, it was Jim Carpenito who showed me this little gem – I bought a lot of things from Jim at the show, but he made it clear that this one was for sale, and I didn’t even try to wheedle it out of him (although I’ll admit to telling him if he ever decided to part with it, he knew who he should talk to).

And so, with great pleasure, I introduce the single coolest thing I saw at the 2013 Baltimore Pen Show:

And the crowd goes silent . . . crickets can be heard chirping . . . so, you may ask, what’s so cool about this pencil? Four things, actually. The trifecta plus one of cool, I should say. First, the imprint at the top:

To learn more, this full article is included in The Leadhead's Pencil Blog Volume 2, available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble and everywhere else you buy books, or you can order a copy signed by yours truly through the Legendary Lead Company HERE.

Just Because You Can . . .

I received permission from an online seller to use these pictures. Since he was such a good sport, I’m not going to use his name here.

This was the Eversharp he had listed in an auction:

To learn more, this full article is included in The Leadhead's Pencil Blog Volume 2, available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble and everywhere else you buy books, or you can order a copy signed by yours truly through the Legendary Lead Company HERE.

The Makings of a Champion

Every so often this one comes up in online discussions, and I think I’ve also received an email or two I haven’t gotten around to asking about it. The question involves the heritage of the "Champion":

To learn more, this full article is included in The Leadhead's Pencil Blog Volume 2, available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble and everywhere else you buy books, or you can order a copy signed by yours truly through the Legendary Lead Company HERE.