Still Not Done . . . After Three Tries

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The “Redypoint” is among the earliest pencils made by DeWitt-LaFrance (better known as manufacturers of the “Superite”), for Boston stationer Samuel Ward Manufacturing Company.  

I first started shooting some photographs of my Redypoints when the one at the bottom of this picture came my way:

The top example is the Redypoint which unraveled the whole story of “Wahl, Sheaffer and the Race for Boston” (Volume 4, beginning on page 300) - it is identical to an early Sheaffer Sharp Point pencil, and the pattern engraved on the barrel is unique to early Sheaffers.

Other than the name on the side and some really weird, heavy wear on the crown, this new one was the cleanest example I’ve found:

And I thought I was done.  Kind of a short article, so I didn’t do anything with it.

Then along came another example, in sterling, with something else that I’ve been itching to delve into a bit more:

As mentioned earlier, the only Redypoint I’ve found in a pattern also used by Sheaffer is that Sharp Point lookalike – but that checkerboard chasing on this example is closer to a Sheaffer pattern than any other I’ve seen to date.  Of course, it’s also close to a pattern found on pencils made by another character in the Wahl/Sheaffer story:

The silver Redypoint is shown here flanked above by an early Heath-clip Ever Sharp made by Heath for Charles Keeran before Wahl started making his pencils.  Below it are two Sheaffer Sharp Points - the one with the broken clip has a normal gauge barrel, while the bottom one is much lighter and thinner, more like the GF (General Fireproofing) pencils I’ve speculated about.  

Here’s a closeup of the Redypoint and the Ever Sharp:

They are close - on both, you can see how the chasing blades bounce a little with each cut.  However, the Redypoint has squares consisting of four lines, while the Ever Sharp has five.  

The more refined of the two Sharp Point pencils has squares consisting of six lines, and the engraving is more even:

While the other example with the thinner barrel has more pronounced lines like the Redypoint, but in squares of five lines:

And with that, I thought I was done with this article . . . again.  All I have to report is that this latest Redypoint has engraving which is similar to both a pre-Wahl Ever Sharp and two Sheaffer Sharp Points, but not identical to either.

Then I received an email that a package was being shipped to me from David Nishimura’s Vintage Pens, LLC.  Curious, I thought: I hadn’t ordered anything from David’s website, and all I was expecting from him was a check for the things I bought for him at the Krinke auction.  Maybe he was sending me one of those really big checks as a gag or something, I thought.

Nope.  A normal-sized check arrived in a box accompanied by a small “thanks for bidding for me” gift . . . one David knew would grab my attention:

There’s another Masonic emblem, the third to arrive since John Hall passed.  I swear my buddy is pestering me from the hereafter:

However, there is no manufacturer’s mark, which is infuriating since it is a dead ringer for a General Fireproofing pencil:

That’s a ringtop GF pencil in the same pattern, and the lighter Sheaffer Sharp Point.  As to the GF, I mean the same pattern, not a similar one –  boxes made up of four lines, just like on my new sterling Redypoint:

The last time I was muddling around with GF pencils, it was to discuss an example I had found that shared the same triangle/dot pattern found on my Redypoint/Sharp Point lookalike (see Volume 6, page 197).  I was so close to proving that the GF pencils were made by DeWitt-LaFrance in 1917-1919 that I could taste it: “All we need now is documentation to establish when General Fireproofing began offering pencils for sale,” I concluded.

You can see lettering on the barrel of the Masonic pencil . . . could this be the missing piece?

“Wieland - No. 714 / 1871-1921.”  Geez . . . this pencil is almost what I’ve been looking for in so many ways.  It’s almost a General Fireproofing pencil, but without any markings there’s no way to know for sure.  It almost fits within the timeline, but just a couple years too late – after Sheaffer had set up its pencil manufacturing plant in Fort Madison.  

And the embossing for that commemorative inscription?  Raised lettering rather than stamped is something I haven’t found on a GF, a DeWitt-LaFrance pencil or a Sheaffer.

Almost . . . almost . . . almost.  I’ve taken three swings at this article, and I still haven’t found the answers I’m seeking!