Before I Could Even Unpack

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I had just arrived at the Michigan Show last month, pushing a cart heavily laden with totes, when Jerry Adair rushed up to me before I even reached my table.  There was a pencil, he said, that I just had to see and probably would have to have.

Fortunately, the fellow who had it was set up right next to my assigned table, so I was at least able to park my cart before I had a look.  Of course I had to see it.  Of course I had to have it.

Because, of course, I have no idea what to make of this thing:

If you’re wondering what that metal bar is on the side of the barrel, I am too.  My best guess is that it exists solely to create enough friction to hold what’s inside:

There are, infuriatingly, no markings whatsoever on either the barrel or the sheath to indicate who might have made this.  It has a faint “National Pen Products” kind of look, but all the long-short pencils I’ve seen screw into the sheath and aren’t held by friction.  Also, that tip looks newer than the 1920s.

All I can do is throw this on the back of a virtual milk carton, ship it out there and ask if anyone else knows what this thing is.