Note: this third installment in a three-article series was published in the Spring 2025 issue of The PENnant, Journal of the Pen Collectors of America. The first installment is here.
When I attended the 2021 Chicago Show, I had in tow those three spectacular ‘Salrite pencils from the last installment of this series for ooooing and aaaaahing, and there were plenty of ooos and aaahs to be had. My antennae were up even more than usual for other examples of the ‘Salrite.
Rob Bader was also in attendance at the show, and as I pawed through the pile of things on his table Rob didn’t even know he had, he showed me a pencil he brought knowing I would jump all over it (Figure 1). I recognized it as a ‘Salrite, with James Salz’ patented mechanism and spare lead chamber (Figure 2), but the clip was an unmarked z-clip secured by a press-fitted trim band rather than the usual press-fit ‘Salrite clip – above which was a spectacular enameled emblem. The metal cap lacked the usual “Pencil Products Corporation” imprint, consistent with later examples of the ‘Salrite in my collection.
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| Figure 1. At top is a later ‘Salrite discussed in part one of this series, marked “Chase Pencil Corporation. Chase apparently took over production of the ‘Salrite between January and November 1924, and this was previously thought to be the final incarnation of the pencils. The example at bottom, acquired from Rob Bader at the 2021 Chicago Pen Show, clearly shares the same lines, but it is not marked ‘Salrite . . . and it adds one final chapter to the ‘Salrite story. |
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| Figure 2. The new acquisition is clearly a ‘Salrite, complete with its patented mechanism and spare lead storage consisting of holes drilled around the barrel. The pencils are identical, other than the clip and the attractive enameled emblem above it. |
Rob told me how much he wanted, and the deal was done as fast as I could whip the cash out of my pocket. I would have whipped that cash out even faster had I been examining it more closely with a loupe; back at my table, a closer examination of this new find revealed an imprint I had not yet seen: “Royal Pencil Corp. / Corona, N.Y.C.” (Figure 3).
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| Figure 3. ‘Salrite pencils are typically stamped “Pencil Products Corp.” and Lucifer Most’s patent date of December 23, 1919, and later models also include a reference to James Salz’ patent of May 2, 1922. This new example, however, is stamped only with the 1922 patent date followed by “Royal Pencil Corp. / Corona, N.Y.C.” |
Recall from the first installment in this series of articles that the ‘Salrite’s demise began with an unfavorable decision by the Patent Office, which denied Salz registration of the name “Salzrite” in March, 1923 due to a likelihood of confusion with the Sandfelder Corporation’s “Shur-Rite” trademark. The ‘Salrite was last offered for sale in January 1924, and by November a “Chase Pencil Corporation” had taken over production of the pencils.
I was fairly confident this Royal Pencil Corporation was not connected with the makers of those crappy, later third-tier pens and pencils marked “Royal,” and the reference to Corona, New York ruled out production across the pond (where “Royal Imperial” wood pencils were made for distribution in the United States). A “Royal Pencil Corporation” fit nowhere into my research, and this was the first time I couldn’t wait for a pen show to end, just so I could research Rob’s pencil as soon as I got home!
My research took only a few seconds, after a search for “Royal Pencil Corporation” turned up as its first result a 2007 blog post by New Zealander “Kiwi Dave” over at Dave’s Mechanical Pencils, who included low-resolution images of a Royal Pencil Corporation brochure in his article. Dave was kind enough to supply better quality images of the brochure, which includes Salz’ “Machine Gun of Commerce” catchphrase and also refers to the pencil as the ‘Salrite, even though the pencils are not so marked (Figure 4). There is an illustration of one pencil with a red hard rubber nose, begging the question of whether an all-red hard rubber pencil was made by or for Royal (Figure 5).
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| Figure 4. It took only a few minutes for the author to find “Kiwi Dave’s” 2007 article about the Royal Pencil Corporation at his “Dave’s Mechanical Pencils” blog, which included a low-resolution image of this Royal Pencil brochure. Dave graciously supplied this higher resolution image of the brochure. |
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| Figure 5. The back side of the brochure shows various models. Note the “Machine Gun of Commerce” catchphrase, which had been used by Salz to promote the ‘Salrite since 1921, and the text describes the pencils as the ‘SALRITE, even though the pencils themselves are not so marked. Note that the example at left has a red nose, presumably also made of hard rubber; as of this writing, no red ‘Salrite pencils have been found, and the possibility of finding an example like this or with a matching red barrel is tantalizing indeed! |
Other details in the brochure fill in more of the story: note the Copyright date in the bottom corner is 1928 (Figure 6) – four years after the brief emergence of the Chase Pencil Corporation, and long after the Sandfelder Corporation’s “Shur-Rite” was out of production.
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| Figure 6. This brochure includes a copyright date of 1928, four years after the Chase Pencil Corporation had taken over production of the ‘Salrite. By that time, many manufacturers had discontinued the use of hard rubber in pencil barrels, making the Royal a last gasp for both the ‘Salrite and hard rubber pencils generally. |
There’s more. The front cover indicates the Royal Pencil was marketed – but not marked – as the “Lodge-I-Cal” pencil (it took me a minute to catch the play on the word “logical” – Figure 7).
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| Figure 7. The “Lodge-I-Cal” trademark is shown in this portion of the brochure in Figure 5, with a pencil forming the letter I, is a play on “logical” and Royal’s business model of producing pencils with fraternal emblems. The “Reg. U.S. Pat. Off.” Legend sent the author back to read his own book, American Writing Instrument Trademarks 1870-1953, to see if a trademark was registered for the mark. |
The “Reg. U.S. Pat. Off.” notation accompanying the mark signifies that the Royal Pencil Corporation at least claimed to have registered a United States trademark, and I happen to have written an excellent book on the subject: American Writing Instrument Trademarks 1870-1953. I flipped through my book, and there it was: William H. Watt, president of the Royal Pencil Corporation at 110-64 Corona Avenue, Corona, New York, applied for registration of the Lodge-I-Cal mark – complete with its stylized pencil in place of the letter I – on March 7, 1929.
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| Figure 8. In the author’s defense, the only documentation connecting the “Lodge-I-Cal” mark to the Royal Pencil Corporation was the image in Figure 4. William H. Watt, president of the Royal Pencil Corporation at 110-64 Corona Avenue, Corona, New York, applied for registration of the Lodge-I-Cal mark on March 7, 1929, claiming that the mark was first used in commerce on February 1, 1929. Registration was granted on December 10, 1929 as Trademark 264,864. |
The Lodge-I-Cal mark was granted registration on December 10 1929 as Trademark 264,864 (Figure 8). The certificate states that Royal claimed first use of the mark in commerce on February 1, 1929; if that is true, Royal’s brochure was printed before the pencils themselves were produced. By 1929, most manufactures had discontinued the use of hard rubber in favor of brightly colored celluloid in the manufacture of writing instruments, making the Royal Lodge-I-Cal a last gasp for both the ‘Salrite and hard rubber pencils.
Perhaps that is why it has taken me so long to find one – then again, without any identifying marks on the pencil other than “Royal Pencil Corp.,” perhaps I have been searching the online auctions in all the wrong places, since I haven’t actively searched for those lousy, third-tier “Royal” pencils.
But wait . . . there’s even more.
Note that every pencil in the brochure has an emblem affixed above the clip: “Lodge-I-Cal” referred to the Royal Pencil Company’s business model of producing pencils “furnished with emblem [sic] of all Secret, Civic, and Fraternal societies.” The pencils illustrated include fraternal emblems for the Knights of Columbus, the Elks, the Masons, and the Lions . . . plus a few others I don’t recognize. The emblem mounted on the example I acquired from Rob is incorporated into the border on the front page (Figures 9 and 10).
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| Figure 9. Detail of the enameled emblem on the Royal, with a mysterious “JrOUAM” designation. The compass and square strongly suggests a Masonic connection. |
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| Figure 10. The JrOUAM emblem is incorporated into the border of the Royal brochure in Figure 4. |
The compass and square incorporated into the emblem evoke a Masonic connection, although the meaning of the “JrOUAM” legend and arm-and-hammer in the middle eluded me. My friend John Hall is no longer with us to drive up in his miniature Tin Lizzy and tell me what this means, but fortunately he isn’t the only Mason I know: Bruce Mindrup, who was also in attendance at that Chicago show, took one look at Rob’s pencil and recognized the insignia . . . almost.
“I’ve seen this,” Bruce said several times, racking his brain for where and when. “I think I have a badge at home with this on it.” He puzzled for the remainder of the weekend until his puzzler was sore, and I felt guilty knowing that he wouldn’t rest until he remembered what it meant. I felt even more guilty when I received a letter from Bruce more than a month later: he still hadn’t found the badge, but he did find something that at least partly scratched the cranial itch I had given him. A Masonic meeting hall in Greenport, Long Island has a sign mounted on the outside, with this same logo indicating that “JrOUAM” stands for the “Junior Order United American Mechanics” fraternal organization (Figure 11).
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| Figure 11. The author asked Bruce Mindrup, an active Mason who was in attendance at the show, what “JrOUAM” meant. Mindrup had seen it, but he couldn’t remember where. A month after the show, the author received this letter from him: a sign on the outside of a Masonic meeting hall in Greenport, Long Island indicates that “JrOUAM” stands for the Junior Order United American Mechanics. |
The JrOUAM was founded in Germantown, Pennsylvania (near Philadelphia) on May 17, 1853, and unfortunately, the organization has an ugly past. Among its stated objectives, according to the History of the Junior Order United American Mechanics (1897), was nativist xenophobia: “to use such means, when able, as will prevent the current system of emigration of foreign paupers to our land” (page 19). Wikipedia suggests something even darker, that the organization was founded as an overtly anti-Catholic order.
While there is no reference to “Catholic” in the 1897 history, the Wikipedia article notes that membership in the JrOUAM remains restricted to Protestants to this day. Its numbers have dwindled, but it continues to maintain a website at which only virtue, liberty, and patriotism are identified as the “principles of the order.” No publicly available source documents any formal relationship between the JrOUAM and the Masons, but the compass and square incorporated into its logo and its presence on the side of Masonic meeting hall suggests at least collaboration, if the JrOUAM has not been fully absorbed.
According to the Mason’s website, “Freemasonry is not concerned with theological distinctions or particular religious beliefs,” but the order requires its members to “believe in the existence of a Supreme Being.”
The Catholic Church objects to the Masons’ noncommittal views as to what particular flavor of “Supreme Being” its members attorn, and beginning in 1738 Catholics were forbidden from joining the Masons under pain of excommunication. Pope John Paul II removed the penalty of excommunication in 1983, but reiterated the Church’s ban on joining the order.
Times change, and perspectives change with them. As for me . . . I simply prefer to enjoy a neat pencil with a great story to tell.
