Captain Obvious

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I recently ran an article concerning a few pen and pencil sets that came my way at the Ohio Show, and I left one of them out – this one came from a different source, and someone’s going to have to remind me who.  While it didn’t come with a box, it did come with an instruction sheet.  Go figure.

I’ve always liked the imprints on these, and this was the first time I’d run across a set priced reasonably enough to jump:

“The Collegian Pen Company / 333-339 Hudson Street / New York City.”

For those who wonder why I’m being Captain Obvious here, always typing in things which are easy to read in the pictures, such as the name and address of the Collegian Pen Company, there’s a reason for that.  If I don’t type in the text, the internet search engines won’t pick up details like “333-339 Hudson Street” and people who are searching for information about that address won’t catch this article.

People like Marc Shiman, who has been researching New York pen companies for some time for a book he’s working on.  Of course, Marc already knew all about 333-339 Hudson Street:  when I showed him these pictures he instantly recognized the address as one occupied by The New Diamond Point Pen Company.

Of course, I thought . . . that’s why the Collegian looks so much like the Diamond Point . . .

All together now . . . thanks again, Captain Obvious.   I did poke around a little bit for independent confirmation of Diamond Point’s address, and I did find it, in a 1932 directory:

And I found one other thing which may not be as obvious.  Here’s a part of an advertisement from Kennedy’s, a drug store in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, which ran in 1925:

Hmmm. . . granted, store advertisements often lumped unrelated pens together in an advertisements, and there’s other ads lumping Collegians in with LeBoeufs – and we know that isn’t right.  But this one is pretty tight, and suggests that there’s one manufacturer guaranteeing all three of these brands.  And flattop pens and pencil marked “Ambassador” as well as “Banker” do look a lot like Diamond Points, too . . . did Diamond Point make all three of these?

At least that isn’t so obvious.