No, I still have no idea what my “favorite” pencil is out of the more than 20,000 in the museum. Heck, I couldn’t even tell you which one of the pencils Gabriel Goldsmith has sent me over the last couple months is my favorite, since each has its own merits.
That being said . . . at least out of Gabriel’s stuff . . . it’s this one.
“Bullet pencil” typically refers to those cartridge-shaped holders containing a reversible wood pencil mounted on the rear end of the “bullet.” This is a more convincing representation of a rifle cartridge, other than the ringtop at the end, with a nose-operated leadholder clutch at the business end (sort of like those Mabie Magazine pencils from a few days ago). The back end extends for more comfortable writing, and it has an American hallmark:
What looks like an H in brackets identifies the pencil as made by George W. Heath & Co. The mark is included in American Writing Instrument Trademarks 1870-1953, but not as a federally registered trademark; it is included in the appendix, which excerpts the writing instrument trademarks included in various editions of Trade-Marks of the Jewelry and Kindred Trades. The Heath mark was first listed in the 1904 edition:
Before I got around to writing this one up, David Nishimura and I had partnered on that Victorian collection from Rob Bader and two other Heath pencils found their way into my pile. I offered them to David first, since Heath is a special interest of his, and I was surprised he didn’t claim them:
At top is one that is near and dear to my heart: Heath advertised these as its “new clutch pencil for insurance men” in 1912, as detailed on page 42 in Eversharp: Cornerstone of an Industry.
The reason I like these so much is because shortly after Heath introduced these, Charles Keeran darkened Heath’s doorstep and hired the firm to make his first Ever Sharp (it was two words in those days) pencils. Heath simply retrofitted these clutch pencils to accept Keeran’s screw drive mechanism, and the rest is history.
I didn’t have a plain gold filled example, and this one is just pristine. The “G.W.H. Co.” mark is only visible when the top is unscrewed a bit to release the lead:
I thought I might have overestimated David’s interest in these until David Yager stopped by my table later during that DC show to chat. Yager had a tray of Heath pencils for show and tell, and Nishimura’s eyes lit up like a kid who just got his first ten-speed for Christmas when he saw them.
Alas, these were for show and tell only, and I’m just glad to get a reasonably good cell phone photograph to share. Most of these are Heath clutch pencils, including the three more scarce short versions at left. The three with steel tips at right are early Ever Sharp pencils made by Heath.
The other Heath pencil that came from Rob’s collection is that high-relief magic pencil. I knew I had something along those lines at the museum, but this is the sort of thing that you don’t turn away even if it’s a duplicate. I was glad to find when I got home that the new addition was related to but very different from the one I had.
As I was writing this up, I stumbled across something in my notes – Nishimura posted a nice article about George W. Heath & Co. at his blog which included a link to an advertisement for Heath’s magic pencils. I had seen the ad before, but at a website that didn’t fully attribute its source – thanks to David’s link, here it is, as published in The Jeweler’s Circular on August 20, 1902.
The advertisement matches the pattern on the one at bottom and identifies it as Model 905M. I would suspect that the other had a different designation, but until a detailed Heath catalog emerges, that bit of esoterica will have to wait.
Both of these magic pencils also have Heath’s hallmark on the extender; while I previously indicated the Heath mark was first reported in the 1904 edition of Trade-Marks of the Jewelry and Kindred Trades, we know from the advertisement that it was in use earlier. Also, since the 1896 edition of the book was so rudimentary, I can’t rule out that Heath might have used this mark even earlier and perhaps from the outset, when the firm was first established in 1892.
After I shot these images for this article, I was disappointed that they did not do justice to Heath’s craftsmanship, since the fine engraving on the bullet pencil was obscured by the patina.
“W.W.D.D.,” I thought to myself – as in what would David Nishimura do. First, do no harm. Second, don’t overclean, because sterling is soft enough that the detail I want to reveal can be worn down as quickly and easily as Lady Liberty’s flowing hair on a silver coin as it rattles around in your pocket. Carefully, carefully . . .
Now THAT’s what I wanted to show you.
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