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The pencil’s form is a fairly common sort of Victorian pencil, with a tip that advances when the front part of the barrel is turned. Most, like this one, are sterling and many are unmarked. But that hallmark . . .
The letter “P” inside what looks like a fountain pen nib. My first stop this time was to read my own book – American Writing Instrument Trademarks 1870-1953, and while I found and listed several trademarks for a representation of a nib, none match this one and none have the letter “P” in them. Neither was a trademark registered for just the letter P.
At the end of the book, I reproduced the pen/pencil sections from Trade-Marks of the Jewelry and Kindred Trades, which picks up several trademarks for which federal registration was never granted. There is one close and tantalizing possibility:
No, it isn’t exact, but Edward Todd’s upright nib and two P-word trademarks, for Paragon and Peerless, seems like a promising lead. I do have a few Edward Todds with this sort of barrel design, but that wasn’t exclusive to this Todd – the other Todd, Mabie Todd, also did. And there's no P in that drawing of a nib.
My other thought is Perry & Co., a British firm better known for steel pens (nibs). This piece looks American, but Perry wasn’t entirely a British concern . . . and the firm did have a thing for the letter P:
This advertisement from 1891 (about the right time for this pencil) shows Perry & Co. at 910 Broadway, New York (the same city from which Mabie Todd and Edward Todd produced). Perry touts the firm’s “P.P.P. Pens” – that’s the Perry Planished Pointed Pen.
I’d welcome any confirmation of who used this mark!
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