Carter's and DeWitt-LaFrance: An Important Missing Link

This article has been edited and included in The Leadhead's Pencil Blog Volume 5; copies are available print on demand through Amazon here, and I offer an ebook version in pdf format at the Legendary Lead Company here.

If you don't want the book but you enjoy this article, please consider supporting the Blog project here.

Recently I posted an article about an announcement I found in a 1925 issue of Office Appliances that Carter’s Ink Company had purchased DeWitt-LaFrance (http://leadheadpencils.blogspot.com/2016/12/my-christmas-gift-to-you.html), settling a longstanding argument concerning what became of DeWitt-LaFrance.

This find is equally convincing:

Dents and all, this little ringtop fills in a very important gap in the historical record.  We have the 1925 announcement in Office Appliances, and back in 2009 “Ordo ab Chao” posted this instruction sheet on Fountain Pen Network:

This indicates that the Superite pencil – DeWitt-LaFrance’s flagship line – was “Manufactured by The Carter’s Ink Co.”  Ordo indicated the instruction sheet accompanied a boxed pen and pencil set marked only “Superite.”  But did Carter’s actually own the brand?

This is the only example I have ever seen marked both “Carter’s” and “Superite.”