My Autopoint Conundrum

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On the way home from Chicago, I should have been basking in the afterglow of a great show, seeing great friends and buying great pencils.  Instead, my copilot John Hall was checking my online auction every few minutes for me to see if anyone else was figuring out what this one was:

Yes, it’s an Autopoint, missing its cap.  There were a whole bunch of reasons to go after this one.  First, it’s an early Autopoint in what I consider a pretty rare, flourescent pink color dating to about 1930.  Second, it appeared from the picture to be an oversized model, and I thought it would look great next to the standard sized one I picked up from my friend Michael McNeil a couple years back (I featured Michael’s pencil at http://leadheadpencils.blogspot.com/2012/07/a-couple-mcneil-autopoints.html):

Third, I really liked the imprint:

Harrington and Richardson is best known for their 22-caliber revolvers, which had cylinders accommodating eight rounds rather than six.  They also developed some significant calibers, such as the .32 H&R magnum, a not-your-father’s-wussy-.32 caliber that will knock significant holes through concrete, especially when fitted hollow-point bullets.  That’s what I have loaded in my personal home defense weapon.  Yep.  I like both the pencil and the company it advertises.

And fourth, for the real trick up my sleeve: the cap is the hardest part, and I had just recently picked up a duplicate oversized Autopoint online, currently en route to my house,  for not too much money.  I thought I could get this one for a song and swap the caps.

But when my duplicate arrived, I was simultaneously elated and disappointed.

It didn’t have the green gold filled trim, but instead had Autopoint’s nickel-trimmed “Silvonite” furniture.  According to the 1930 catalog, the oversized “Deluxe” models in this series all had the green gold-filled trim, so I’m not sure whether this was factory or was assembled from parts after the fact.  Regardless of how it came to be, this wasn’t going to satisfy my needs.  So, much as I hated to do it, I did have a duplicate in blue:

And one of them now shares cap custody with the pink one.

I’ve got several black oversized Autopoints, all of which have Silvonite trim.  If I can establish that Autopoint made Deluxe oversized pencils in both levels of trim, I may have to swap parts over . . . just to see how they look . . .