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It’s a fairly typical Autopoint, with two exceptions: It’s fitted with a straight black plastic cap, and the trim looks really, really dirty:
Turns out the trim is supposed to look that way: it’s been blacked out, like a tricked-out special edition motorcycle. And there’s a special reason behind it.
Larger pen companies are often lionized for their contributions towards the war effort during World War Two, but Autopoint’s contribution has been largely forgotten. In 1943, the company introduced this special edition, with trim blacked out like headlights for night operations, to promote sales of War Bonds. Michael shared with me a photograph of a boxed example, complete with war bonds paperwork, that had been sent to him by fellow Autopoint collector Jim Stauffer:
Great discovery. Did Autopoint do any work in war industries, like Sheaffer and Parker?
ReplyDeleteHello John, from my research, the military wanted Autopoint to do exactly what it was doing, but selling all of its pencils to the armed forces.
ReplyDelete