Goin' to Hell

This article has been edited and included in The Leadhead's Pencil Blog Volume 3; copies are available print on demand through Amazon here, and I offer an ebook version in pdf format at the Legendary Lead Company here.

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I love comments from readers, good or bad. Since I try to maintain a mix of stuff here, it’s inevitable that one week Reader A will be fascinated while Reader B sees the first picture and decides to go cut his toenails or something – two days later, with something else on tap, their roles may well be reversed. When I hear from A or B, it’s because I posted something they liked.

And then there’s Reader C, who takes deep personal offense to an article – not because it says anything about them, but for the sole reason that I didn’t write about something that interested them. "Your blog is going to hell," one particular reader said after the article concerning the 1936 Olympics souvenir pencil was posted. "I can’t believe you’re writing about those pieces of **** now. You must have run out of anything good to write about."

Well, Reader C – kudos to you for your passion. I’d give you your money back, but I didn’t charge you anything to read the article. Spoiler alert: you might want to change the channel now, because here comes another one along those same lines:

The thinner example is the one I posted about here about a month ago in "A Very Convincing Disguise," (http://leadheadpencils.blogspot.com/2015/01/a-very-convincing-disguise.html). The other one showed up in an online auction about the time my article on the 1936 Olympics pencil posted and I was put on notice to write about something better . . . or else.

This new one also shares that same mechanism found on the Brown and Bigelow Redipoint pencils and, like the other example shown, it has some nice enamel work, this time on both sides:

Like the thinner example, this one also has a "filigree" barrel. This example is a little bit less ambiguous with respect to how it was made, and I think I’m right when I tell you these were cast, rather than cut out:

My seller claimed it was sterling and it appears to show some tarnish, but the pencil isn’t marked and I’ve got doubts about the metal content – no worries for me, since I wasn’t buying it for the intrinsic value of the materials. The clip is a bit over the top, with what is probably not a real pearl set in the tang. However, note what went into making it: it features the same open work as the barrel, and the way it is mounted to the pencil is insertion through a slot in the barrel -- yet another variation on the manner these were constructed:

I figure if there’s nothing I want to write about here at the blog about a pencil, there’s no reason for me to buy it.  It’s great if the Reader Cs of the world made it to the end of this article and saw maybe a glimmer of something interesting here . . . and believe me, it’s nothing personal against you if you didn’t.

If not, oh well . . . I liked it and I shared it. Go yell at your TV.