A Beautiful Mystery

 At the Chicago show a couple years ago – I think it was the post-pandemic “catch up” Chicago Show in 2021, when there was a second Chicago show in September – Jon Martenson had piles of things from the late Susan Wirth’s collection on hand. Most of it was likely stuff that Susan herself didn’t know she had.

Deals were made by the box, not by the item, and I bought several. One such box included this gem:

The similarities to Charles Keeran’s Eversharp are overwhelming, particularly with that floral crown top. However, it has no identifying markings - not even a stamp to denote that the fittings and overlay are sterling silver, which they appear to be. It bears a strong resemblance to other pencils of the 1920s, all of which have one thing in common: a connection to Keeran:

From the top, there’s our mystery pencil, a Heath-made Ever Sharp (two words at the time) made between 1914 and 1916. Next are two examples of “The Keeran Pencil,” produced by Keeran after his departure from Eversharp in 1917 and likely after Keeran was ousted from Autopoint for the second time in 1924. The clipless example is a shame, but I include it to show that Keeran also used that same or very similar red celluloid.

At bottom are two Swanberg pencils. After Keeran struck out on his own, he briefly associated with Julius Swanberg, inventor of the “Shur-Rite” pencil. Earlier celluloid Swanbergs were rebadged Keeran pencils, but later examples like the example at bottom were more streamlined.

What is going on inside of our mystery pencil, however, doesn’t resemble any of these:

Starting at left, note that the later Swanberg and our mystery pencil share a similar ribbed metal washer: that’s a distinctive design feature one doesn’t see often outside of Swanberg pencils. However, the cap on our example unscrews to reveal spare leads - it is a nose drive pencil. That nose drive sets our pencil apart from the Eversharp to the right of our pencil. While both The Keeran Pencil and Swanbergs are both nose-drive pencils like this, both have caps which are friction fit over a straight top.

The quality of our mystery pencil is top notch; it is a shame more were not made and that this one is not marked. My best guess is that this is something Keeran had made during the time he was set adrift from Autopoint in 1921, although nothing says he might not have been tinkering with new designs before he left Autopoint. The timeline is tight, since he associated with the owners of the startup Realite Pencil Company almost immediately in 1921, but perhaps his agreement was not exclusive.

The use of celluloid in the barrel rules out the possibility that it was made earlier than 1924, and likely rules out the possibility that some other unknown maker turned this one out with design features that copy Keeran’s work . . . I’ll talk about that tomorrow.

So, for now, this one rests comfortably among my examples of The Keeran Pencil.