House of Hutcheon

As we left things yesterday, I had narrowed down the likely manufacturer of the Mabie Magazine Pencil, including the versions marked for Salz Brothers, Hutcheon Brothers, Hallmark (United Jewelers), and the Carey Pen Company, to one of two manufacturers: Mabie, Todd & Co. or Hutcheon Brothers.

There’s good reason I can’t narrow it down more than that.

I laid out the history of Hutcheon Brothers in “The Hutcheon Brothers Sidebar” (July 12, 2017: Volume 5, page 41). The firm was originally named O’Neill & Company, and Alfred G. Hutcheon purchased the company in 1913. Hutcheon had for several years been associated with – you guessed it – Mabie, Todd & Co. The American Stationer reported Hutcheon’s departure from Mabie Todd on August 23, 1913, and Hutcheon left on good terms. “[N]aturally he leaves the old house with some regrets,” the announcement states:

In that previous article, I also included an early advertisement for Hutcheon, published in The American Stationer on October 27, 1917. It shows . . . you guessed it . . . a Hutcheon Magazine Pencil. “We also manufacture various styles of pens, pencils, pen mounts, etc.” the announcement reads; that’s terribly ambiguous. It neither states that Hutcheon made these pencils, nor understandably does it fail to emphasize, if they were supplied by Mabie Todd, that Hutcheon didn’t make these.

Alfred Hutcheon’s good relationship with his former associates at Mabie Todd means tells me that short of finding concrete documentation, we will never know whether it was Mabie Todd, or Hutcheon, or a partnership between the two firms that was responsible for making all of these Magazine pencils. The cooperation between the two firms was further illustrated here in “The Mabie Todd - Hutcheon Connection” (July 13, 2017: Volume 5, page 44), in which I noted how similar the patterns on some Hutcheon “Hutch Clutch Pencils” are to those already in use over at Mabie, Todd & Co.

The Hutch Clutch Pencil was Alfred Hutcheon’s first order of business after he acquired O’Neill & Co. This announcement for the model’s introduction was published in The American Stationer on November 15, 1913 – just three months after Alfred acquired the firm. Note that the firm was still known as O’Neill & Company, but the new pencils were named after the firm’s new owner.

Gabriel Goldsmith has been able to add some context to the Hutcheon story:

The top two examples of the Hutch Clutch Pencil were in his first care package, and the demonstrator at bottom was in the batch that just arrived last week. The clutch pencils are unusual in that the gold-filled barrels are completely unadorned.

But what is even more unusual is that these are not marked with the typical diamond-shaped hallmark Hutcheon was using by 1917, when that announcement in American Stationer was published. Instead, both of these have an H inside what looks like a house – for the “House of Hutcheon,” perhaps?

My working theory is that these Hutch Clutch pencils were the earliest ones made - shortly after August 1913, before Alfred Hutcheon brought with him his metalworking experience honed over at Mabie Todd and before he had settled on a new logo for the business he had just purchased.

And now for a closer look at that demonstrator pencil, which by all outward appearances is a Finepointer or Finer Pointe Hutcheon pencil:

Several cutouts show the internal workings of the pencil, but it’s going to take a lot of work to get all the rust removed and get it working again. Challenge . . . accepted – but not right now. That’s a good snowy day project for this winter. Although I’m certain the pencil was made by Hutcheon, the only marking on the barrel is “Nickle Silver/Made in USA”

Now to back up a bit . . . as mentioned earlier, Hutcheon pencils along these lines are found marked either “Finepointer” or “Finerpointe,” a distinction that I discussed in an early article here at the blog - see “I Say Finepointer, You Say Finerpointe, Let’s Call the Whole Thing Off (January 26, 2012: Volume 1, page 92). In that article, written before I knew a lot of things I know now, I theorized that “Finepointer” sounded so much like Mabie Todd’s “Fyne Poynt” line that Mabie Todd objected to the use of the name and forced Hutcheon to change it.

I was sooooo close . . . now that I know how close the relationship was between the two firms, I don’t think it was as adversarial as I had suggested. In the end, Hutcheon was granted trademark registration number 166,978 for a mark including the word “Finerpointe,” as included in American Writing Instrument Trademarks 1870-1953:

There’s a lot of information to digest in this registration certificate. First is that the Hutcheon Brothers numbered four: Alfred, Robert, William, and Forbes. Then there’s something of an open question as to what exactly is being registered - the name “Finerpointe,” the diamond-shaped hallmark, or the combination of those two things along with a dog (a pointer, of course). 

That exact mark – including name, diamond mark, and dog – is found etched on the Hutcheon display case that houses all of my Hutcheon pencils at the museum (see “A Box, A Display, and a Clue” (July 31, 2021: Volume 7, page 304)).

According to the trademark registration, Hutcheon Brothers first used “the mark” – whatever that means – on February 1, 1922, and since the application was filed on February 25, that’s a fairly reliable date. However, that does not adequately explain this one, at least to me:

Ringtops in this configuration are much harder to find than the full-length versions; this example is nice and clean, and while many collectors turn up a nostril or two at owners’ inscriptions, historians generally don’t have aversions to them as long as they are tastefully done – and when those inscriptions add a bit of context, they help rather than hurt. This example bears a 1922 presentation inscription.

If the trademark registration is accurate, I would expect this one to be marked “Finerpointe,” but it isn’t.

“Finepointer” it is, along with the diamond-shaped hallmark. I still lack definitive evidence that Hutcheon called these the Finepointer until February 1, 1922, then flipped a few switches to call them the Finerpointe, and the transition may have been gradual; after all, 1922 is when my ringtop was engraved for its new owner, not necessarily when it was made. 

During my discussion about the Magazine pencils yesterday, I had mentioned that Hutcheon Brothers was almost exclusively a manufacturing firm which did not buy rebadged products to sell – with the possible  exception of Mabie Todd. What would add credence to the argument that Hutcheon actually made all of these Magazine pencils would be evidence that Hutcheon supplied other manufacturers with its products.

We have that evidence.

First, there was the “ERCO” pencils made for the Eagle Regalia Company – see “The Other Eagle” (August 4, 2021: Volume 7, page 316), shown here alongside a Hutcheon Finepointer:

And then there are these . . . 

Both of these are clearly Hutcheon-made Finerpointe pencils, even though one has a little different finish on the clip.

Both are rebadged for the Edison Pen Company, one with the Edison name and the other marked “Ever Ready.”

I discussed the relationship between the Ever Ready brand in “A Pesky Brand” (June 7, 2021: Volume 7, page 173). Edison pens were sold alongside Ever Ready pencils, we know, in 1922 and perhaps a little earlier; that Edison script logo was first used in 1920. The Ever Ready brand name was passed around to other manufacturers later, after the Finerpointe and likely Hutcheon itself went the way of the dodo.

And then there is this Hutcheon-made pencil, which fits in so nicely with everything I’ve been discussing for the last couple days . . .

The cap is a bit bent up, but all I cared about was the imprint on the barrel:

Hallmark. Apparently the United Jewelers relationship ran strong with Hutcheon Brothers.

So there you have it: Hutcheon made rebadged Finerpointe pencils and supplied them to others, but there is no evidence that Hutcheon sold rebadged products which were supplied to it with the Hutcheon name . . . with the possible exception, of course, of Alfred’s old friends at Mabie, Todd & Co.

A Pesky Brand

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 As the writing instrument industry developed in the late teens, offering pencils to accompany fountain pens became a point of parity rather than a point of distinction.  Having pencils in the product lineup was keeping up with the competition rather that being a step ahead.  

Some companies developed their own unique pencil designs, while others established relationships with others to supply them.  While some companies had one supplier, a pesky few pen companies seemed to order from whomever was running a special on that particular Tuesday.  

Enter the Edison Pen Company, and the pencil which leads me to today’s story:

This one has an outstanding Edison imprint:

That unique logo was granted trademark registration on an application by George S. Bernard, President of the Edison Pen Company, filed on May 3, 1920 and granted as number 137,993 on December 14, 1920.  Bernard wasn’t in much of a hurry to file the mark: he claimed to have first used it in April, 1913 on “fountain-pens and pen-points”:

I’ve known about these metal Edison pencils, but this is the first time I’ve run across one.  It is a dead ringer for a Hutcheon “Finerpointe”:

I commented on the notion that Hutcheon made pencils for the Edison Pen Company a few years ago, in connection with a discussion about the “Ever-Ready” brand (see Volume 2, page 68).  On page 196 in Schneider and Fischler’s The Book of Fountain Pens and Pencils, four early advertising blotters from Edison illustrate Hutcheon-made Edison metal pencils:

The book dates these blotters to around 1924, and now that I’ve looked into it a little further I think that is a little late – and “a little late” might as well be the theme of the article.  Note that the lower right hand blotter indicates that Edison pens were accompanied by Ever-Ready pencils:

All of the other pencils I’ve found that were supplied by Hutcheon to the Edison Pen Company are marked with that Ever-Ready imprint (the bottom one shown is missing the top):

I concluded in Volume 2 that the Ever-Ready name had started with the Edison Pen Company, and then was handed off to the American News Corporation like a football.  Now I know that wasn’t the case – there were two footballs.  

I was so close to having things right in Volume 2.  I’d noted that the “Ever-Ready” name appeared to be in use simultaneously by the American News Corporation and the Edison Pen Company.  The A.N.C. connection came from an advertisement in The American Stationer on August 3, 1922 (see Volume 2, page 66):

Meanwhile, the name was attributed to The Edison Pen Company in the 1922 edition of Trade-Marks of the Jewelry and Kindred Trades:

I was only missing one piece – or rather the absence of one piece – when I wrote that article in 2013.  Note that both the Edison and Ever-Ready listings in Trade-Marks of the Jewelry and Kindred Trades have an asterisk next to them; as the footnote at the bottom of each page indicates, that asterisk designates trademarks which were “filed for registration” with the Patent Office.  

What I didn’t know in 2013 was whether that was accurate.  It wasn’t until 2017, when I wrote American Writing Instrument Trademarks 1870-1953, that a comprehensive list of trademarks granted registration had been compiled.  The wording in Trade-Marks of the Jewelry and Kindred Trades is clumsy: “filed for registration” doesn’t really answer the question, since trademark registration is a three-step process.  

First, after an application for registration is filed, patent examiners look through registered marks to be sure there is no obvious conflict - if, for example, someone other than the Parker Pen Company tried to register the word “Parker” on writing instruments, no matter how different the letters appear from the marks Parker had registered, the application would be rejected out of hand.  

If the application passes that initial review, the second step is to publish the mark for opposition in The Official Gazette and allow anyone else who might be using the same or a similar mark time to object.  After there is no objection or if objections are received but overruled, the mark is granted registration, and notice that the mark has been registered also appears in The Official Gazette.

Only those trademarks which passed that third step are included in the book.  Fortunately, I saved all of my research notes, including the annual indices of marks which were published for opposition in The Official Gazette.  The Edison Pen Company did not file an application to register its Ever-Ready mark until May 5, 1922, claiming to have first used the name on March 1, 1921.  The mark was published in The Official Gazette on February 13, 1923.

Edison’s application was never granted, likely because the American News Company objected.  That answers a question I raised in Volume 5, page 293: I can now say for certain that this “Ever-Ready” metal pencil had nothing to do with the Edison Pen Company, and had everything to do with the American News Company:

This also explains why these Eclipse-made pencils shown in Volume 5, page 294 bear an Ever-Ready imprint which is similar to Edison’s, but not identical - note the lack of an underline connecting the first and last letters. 

That distinctive logo evolved separate and apart from Edison . . . but although American News Company apparently prevailed in its efforts to prevent registration of the mark by Edison, the company never took steps to register it, either.

The scuffle over the name might explain why my Hutcheon-made Edison pencil isn’t marked “Ever-Ready.” Perhaps it was made before Edison began using the name in March, 1921, or perhaps it was made in 1923 after registration of the mark was denied.  

Now to circle back to something I said a few minutes ago – that I know that Edison blotter was printed earlier than 1924.  By 1924, Edison was no longer souring pencils from Hutcheon:

All of these are marked Edison rather than Ever-Ready, and all but the top and bottom examples were made by the Rex Manufacturing Company, starting with the 1924 McNary patent pencil at the top.  

As for that bottom example, it is a generic, nose-drive pencil.  I don’t know who made it, and there are dozens of suspects.  Another rainy day project . . .

Ever Emblemed

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From what I recall, David Nishimura approached me with these several years ago at the DC show:

The outstanding feature on both is the fraternal emblems where you’d normally find the ball of the clip; the one on the left is a Masonic symbol, while on the right is the emblem of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks:

The imprint on each is “Embleco,” and the clips are marked Pat. Pend.:

Although no federal trademark was registered, according to American Writing Instrument Trademarks 1870-1953, the book does contain excerpts from the Jewelers’ Circulars Trade-marks of the Jewelry and Kindred Trades from 1922, in which is found a listing for the Emblem Pencil Company of Providence, Rhode Island:

And, with absolutely nothing else to say, this one fell by the wayside, awaiting the day when I might have something more intelligent to say.  I thought that day came a couple years later, when I spotted this one online and hoped there might be a bit more I could glean from it:

It has a nice Elks emblem:

But I worried a bit about the cap – it’s a little different color, suggesting it might be a replacement.  This one had a different imprint, too, but there just wasn’t enough left of it to make out what it reads:

Finally, in the last few months, one came my way that added a bit to the story:

It doesn’t have a fraternal emblem, but that’s obviously what that flat spot on the clip is for.  Note the cap, which matches the sterling ones at the beginning of this article and appears to support my suspicion that the cap on that last one came from something else.  Unlike the other, this one has a nice, clear imprint:

Ever-Ready, Does this have anything to do with the Ever-Ready of Edison and American News Company fame (see Volume 2, page 67-70)?  I don’t know, but there’s one other thing to consider:

Barrel chasing is like a fingerprint – different manufacturers tended to use very distinctive patterns.  That’s the Ever-Ready alongside a DeWitt-LaFrance made “Signet.”   The two are nearly identical, with the exception that the pattern runs the other way.

And now, for an unrelated footnote concerning the Ever-Ready, I’ve always suspected these later Ever-Ready pencils were made by Eclipse:

The colors certainly look like they might be Eclipse . . . but there isn’t anything else that clearly ties these to Eclipse, and the Ever-Ready brand was handed off like a football so many times that absent something more conclusive, I’ve been loathe to speculate.

In the last couple weeks, an online bid brought home a side clip model, shown here alongside an Eclipse:

This side clip model answers two things, actually.  First, here’s confirmation that these were made by Eclipse: the clip is the Eclipse clip patented in 1923:

Note also the “E R” on the clip.   I’ve seen clips like these before, with no accompanying barrel imprint to help explain them.  I think Howard Edelstein had one on his table at the Ohio Show a few years ago (I also think I bought it, but I can’t lay my hands on it right now).  My best guess at the time was that it was some sort of British Commemorative piece, but I knew that wasn't right: if it stood for Elizabeth II Regina, it looks too early to celebrate a coronation in 1953.