Presto Footnote Number Two

This article has been edited and included in The Leadhead's Pencil Blog Volume 5; copies are available print on demand through Amazon here, and I offer an ebook version in pdf format at the Legendary Lead Company here.

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Now that I’ve had a few years to think about it, something that I found confusing years ago isn’t so confusing after all.

Remember that flat clip that appears in the Presto advertisements beginning in 1924?

Outside of the Nupoint/Hi-Speed/Presto family of pencils, that distinctive clip also appears on another brand . . . pencils marked “Gold Medal,” a name which pen lore traditionally attributes exclusively to C.E. Barrett and National Pen Products.  I first documented that clip in February, 2012 (see http://leadheadpencils.blogspot.com/2012/02/pair-of-gold-medals.html), showing it alongside a larger Gold Medal made by the Rex Manufacturing Company:

Some time later, in “The Monster Footnote” (see http://leadheadpencils.blogspot.com/2013/09/the-monster-footnote.html), I was tearing my hair out wondering why that same clip appeared, from left in this next picture, on the Gold Medal, the Nupoint, and on a Salz “Manhattan”:

With the benefit of hindsight, I don’t think it is quite as complicated or mind-blowing as I used to.  Since Barrett and National Pen Products had absoluttely nothing to do with the large flattops supplied to them by the Rex Manufacturing Company from 1924 on, it isn’t a stretch to believe that Barrett also had metal pencils supplied to him by outside vendors prior to that date.

The year 1924 was also an interesting one in the history of Salz Brothers, which had just been denied registration of the name ‘Salrite due to its similarity to “Shur-Rite” (see http://leadheadpencils.blogspot.com/2016/09/before-salz-was-salz-part-ii.html).   And remember . . . while the ‘Salrite was a unique product marketed by Salz, the pencils were actually manufactured by a separate (but related) company, the Pencil Products Corporation.  Perhaps in 1924, as ‘Salrites were being sold on clearance and Pencil Products Corporation closed shop, Salz started acquiring pencils from other sources – and as a New York Company, who better to turn to than another New York concern such as Kanner’s Nupoint?

I think the answer is that for a short time in 1924, Kanner’s Nupoint was also being supplied to other companies, rebadged as “Gold Medal” or “Salz Manhattan” pencils, and that distinctive clip is likely in the future (especially in combination with that pivoted top) to peg other brands as having originated from that same source.

The story isn’t neatly wrapped up with a bow on it just yet.  Kanner’s Nupoint was being supplied to others under different names, but I’m still not entirely sure whether it was Kanner himself who was making it.  We still have that somewhat confusing reference in a 1922 issue of The American Stationer indicating that Aikin Lambert was making them (see http://leadheadpencils.blogspot.com/2012/10/youll-flip-your-top-for-these.html):

. . . and an example marked ALCo with that pivoting top . . .

Which might leave you wondering why I’m bothering to consider Wahl as the maker of the Presto repeating pencils?  Because Aikin Lambert – by then a wholly-owned subidiary of Waterman – never made a repeater, and Eversharp not only made one, it was sued by the successors to the Presto for infringement of its very patent.

Maybe Kanner had Aikin Lambert supply the flip top screw drive pencils, but later contracted with Wahl to make the company’s repeaters.  In the dog-eat-dog world of the 1920s, if Barrett and Salz were acquiring pencils from more than one source, why wouldn’t Kanner?

A Useful Chronology

This article has been edited and included in The Leadhead's Pencil Blog Volume 4; copies are available print on demand through Amazon here, and I offer an ebook version in pdf format at the Legendary Lead Company here.

If you don't want the book but you enjoy this article, please consider supporting the Blog project here.

Online sellers of advertisements are rarely willing to tell you from what publication they clipped a particularly useful page – they know that if someone finds a copy of the whole magazine for $5, they won’t be able to sell them one stinkin’ page for twenty bucks. 

That hurts twice: I paid a lot more for the advertisements in this article than I probably ever would have paid for the publications, but more importantly some of the provenance (sigh . . . had to use that word again) tends to be lost in the process.  The following advertisements were dated by an online seller who refused to divulge from what publications they were clipped; however, on the positive side the dates were in the listing titles and they appear to make sense.  If anyone recognizes where these came from, please let me know.

Our topic today is the Gold Medal, which I theorize is ground zero for the whole Gold Bond-Gold Medal-Diamond Medal-Webster and such family.  I believe Gold Medal was Clarence E. Barrett’s own house brand of writing instruments – the ones he produced on his own account rather than for Sears, Montgomery Ward or what have you.  If I’m right in believing that, a series of advertisements from the 1930s would be very helpful in assembling an evolutionary timeline for all of these brands.

The advertisements I acquired from this seller were dated (by him) 1932, 1934, 1936, 1937, 1938 and 1943.  Starting with the earliest, from 1932:

This tells us a few things.  First, the earlier Rex-made pencils, like these, had been discontinued by 1932:

Note also that the clips in the 1932 advertisement match those shown on these:

If I’m right and Parker’s patent litigation  put an end to the production of the Rex flattops in 1929 (see “My Working Theory” at http://leadheadpencils.blogspot.com/2016/12/my-working-theory.html), that would date these pencils in this picture to 1930 or 1931.

Here’s what’s next:

Note that the top one is fitted with a z-clip inserted through a slot in the barrel – that one is a match for what is in the 1932 advertisement.  The lower example, however, has a pressed clip that is stapled into the barrel:

The 1932 advertisement does show some press clip models on the last page; note, however, that all are shown under a caption which reads, “Made by the Makers of the famous Gold Medal Pens” (all the other captions read simply “Gold Medal Pens”), and all have floral engraving on the clips rather than the Gold Medal name.   The pens are shown with a number 3 nib for a lower price of $3.00, while the regular line was $5.00 sporting a number 5 nib.   In 1932, the newer clip style was used with floral engraved clips on the lower-quality line of pens and pencils.

I believe that the Gold Medal name was applied to all of the newer style clips in 1933.  Note that since both flattop and pointed top pencils are offered in the 1932 catalog, I should think this set would also date to 1933 . . .

. . . because, for 1934, short-cap pencils appear to have been replaced by middle-joint pencils:

If they made pencils to match all the pens in 1934, these were offered in both pointy and black flattop models, depending on which you preferred.  These are the pencils I had concluded were made by Sheaffer – at least on the inside – in “What Lurks Within” at http://leadheadpencils.blogspot.com/2016/08/what-lurks-within.html):

Did you notice in the 1934 ad those over-the-top clips and intricate center bands on the other models?

I’ve seen those and, unfortunately, let them slip through my fingers . . . all the ones I’ve seen were unmarked so I didn’t know what they were.  I’ll have to make sure to divert the next one that comes my way.  The band is nearly identical to what I’ve seen on pens marked “Ottawa Pen Company” and made by Conklin – could that be?  There’s another research project for a rainy day.

These over-the-top clip models also appear in the 1936 advertisement, which appears to have been a transitional year in the Gold Medal line.

The pens at the top appear very Parkerish.  Again, I’ve seen the pencils, which were unmarked; I’ve had those “professional” models like the ones shown in the upper left, which bore the later “Gold Medal Pen” logo within a small circle.   Even though the 1937 ad was identical, I bought it anyway, just to show that the product line remained unchanged:

For 1938, the product lineup was noticeably lower in quality.  I think I’ve seen the pencils, which were also unmarked - but I don’t have any to show you right now (I’ll have to comb through my junk boxes now).  All of these appear to have been made by Parker - note the Parkette clips at the lower left and the Parker streamline Duofold profile on the pens at the top:

The last advertisement was attributed to 1943, for “most acceptable gifts”:

I can offer a picture of some of the things this advertisement shows:

The top and middle examples perfectly match the “Ink Lock” and “Men’s Pen,” respectively.  The bottom example, which is actually marked “C.E. Barrett,” isn’t an exact match for the “Aristocrat” in the center of the picture, but probably reflects the stylistic popularity of metal caps and plain barrels after the introduction of the Parker 51.

The Middle Children

This article has been edited and included in The Leadhead's Pencil Blog Volume 4; copies are available print on demand through Amazon here, and I offer an ebook version in pdf format at the Legendary Lead Company here.

If you don't want the book but you enjoy this article, please consider supporting the Blog project here.

Note:  it might be helpful to start by reading yesterday's post first.  The link is here.

Diamond Medal was a Sears brand which collectors have lumped under the “National Pen Products” umbrella – technically not true, since National Pen Products was a wholly-owned subsidiary of Montgomery Ward (the incorporators included a Montgomery Ward VP and C.E. Barrett’s sister in law:  see http://leadheadpencils.blogspot.com/2014/11/out-of-shadows.html and http://leadheadpencils.blogspot.com/2015/07/what-about-boogeyman.html).  C.E. Barrett, the man associated with National, also ran C.E. Barrett & Co., which I believe supplied the Sears products, including both Diamond Medal and Gold Medal.

Sometime around 1934, the Parker Pen Company began supplying Sears with obviously rebadged Parker pens and pencils marked “Diamond Medal.”

As I wandered through the museum with yesterday’s odd-looking Sheaffer in my hand, I came to the Diamond Medal section and I noticed something:

The top example was probably made by Rex Manufacturing Company, which also manufactured at least the insides of what I call “4 horsemen” patent pencils under a variety of names.

Probably.  I’ll get to that later.  And I think that top Diamond Medal was made after 1929.

I’ll get to that later, too.

The second and third examples from the top are a lot more like that top one than first appearances might suggest, so I’ve lumped them tentatively in the Rex pile, as well.

Maybe.

The bottom example is a Parker Parkette rebadged as a Diamond Medal.   But what about that one right above it?  It has the same plastic, but that nose cone looks to be a match for our mystery Sheaffer, and wait a tick – the one above it looks to be made from the same distinctive cream-pearl celluloid:

I wrestled for awhile with the burgundy and black Diamond Medal, and I couldn’t get it apart – even though I’m dead sure what’s inside it is identical to my pearl Sheaffer.  However, when I browsed through my Gold Medal collection – Gold Medal being another brand marketed by Sears, and attributed to C.E. Barrett & Co. – I found this one:

And inside:

Tomorrow's article, introducing Waterman-made Gold Bond pencils, is here..

Help with the Cheese

Note: this is the third article in a series, which began at http://leadheadpencils.blogspot.com/2014/11/before-lone-horseman.html.

Carol Strain only comes to two shows each year – Chicago and Ohio. Until a few years ago, most of us knew her as the purple lady, since she is ever dressed in her favorite color.   A couple years ago, that reputation was eclipsed by one of Carol’s other passions: she’s become for many of us "the cheese lady."

A few shows ago, Carol brought a couple chunks of quality cheese to one our late night scotch-and-cigar sociables.  I believe that first time she did so, the collective amount of liquid appetizers the group had consumed made us a voracious bunch, and we quickly gobbled down everything she brought.   Ever since, her contributions have steadily increased, and these days she comes fully prepared with cutting boards, knives, crackers and yes . . . lots of cheese.

This year, as a bunch of us hung around and talked at the hotel bar Saturday night at the Ohio Show, Carol’s presence in our midst made it inevitable that the conversation was destined to turn to . . . cheese.  At long last (none of us were trying to look to anxious about it), Carol announced it was time.   Given the rate at which Carol’s portable buffet has grown, I calculated that it would be physically impossible for Carol to bring everything down in one trip (unless she had added a wagon and a few mules to the production since last May).  So I offered to help her bring the cheese down from her room, an offer which she was glad to accept.

At her room, while Carol fished bag after bag of cheese from the refrigerator, I noticed a boxed pen set sitting on the desk, and I momentarily forgot the mission at hand.   Like a moth to the flame and with a "oooo, what’s that," I paused to open the box to see what was inside. I then had to see what was inside what was inside. And once I did, I had an answer I’ve been trying to find. For years.

I asked Carol if the set was hers, and she said she was thinking about buying it. I said (1) she had to and (2) she had to let me photograph it. She did both.

Here’s Carol’s set, on the right, shown next to the Blue Ribbon set I had found just a day earlier (see yesterday’s article):

To learn more, this full article is included in The Leadhead's Pencil Blog Volume 3, available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble and everywhere else you buy books, or you can order a copy signed by yours truly through the Legendary Lead Company HERE.

Before the Lone Horseman

What on earth, you might legitimately inquire, would interest me in this tired looking Gold Medal pencil?

To learn more, this full article is included in The Leadhead's Pencil Blog Volume 3, available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble and everywhere else you buy books, or you can order a copy signed by yours truly through the Legendary Lead Company HERE.

The Monster Footnote

As I was researching yesterday’s article concerning the Nu-Type Manufacturing Company  (for those who hotlinked here, yesterday’s article is at http://leadheadpencils.blogspot.com/2013/09/a-nu-take-on-nu-type.html), I’d stumbled across my own footprints when I found a reference in an earlier article I’d written to the fact that the Nu-Type Manufacturing Company registered a trademark for “Nu-Point”:

This was one of those things I had forgotten that I knew, and it was also a pretty weird coincidence.  Earlier this month I posted an article in which I had finally established that by 1926, “Nupoint Propelling Pencils” were in fact produced by Samuel Kanner (see “It Would Have Been So Much Easier Had I Known This” on September 3, 2013 – http://leadheadpencils.blogspot.com/2013/09/it-would-have-been-so-much-easier-had-i.html):

To learn more, this full article is included in The Leadhead's Pencil Blog Volume 2, available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble and everywhere else you buy books, or you can order a copy signed by yours truly through the Legendary Lead Company HERE.

Rex Repaired

This article has been a long, long time coming.

Every time I circle back around to talk about the Rex Manufacturing Company, I’m reminded how all of that research started with this pencil:

The pencil – or rather what was left of it – was proudly featured on page 125 of The Catalogue. Unfortunately, while it has served valiantly as a great conversation piece, it has not been able to serve as well as a pencil:

In all the years I’ve had this little guy, I haven’t tried to repair it for one simple reason: I’m a stickler for originality and correctness, and I won’t do anything to restore a pencil unless I’m absolutely certain I am bringing it back to its original condition.

This Rex pencil is obviously different from its later progeny.  Here it is, shown next to the Gold Medal I was discussing just the other day (“Rex Redux” on July 23, 2013), with the earlier single piece tip and only the McNary 1924 patent date imprinted on it.

To learn more, this full article is included in The Leadhead's Pencil Blog Volume 2, available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble and everywhere else you buy books, or you can order a copy signed by yours truly through the Legendary Lead Company HERE.

Rex Redux

When this one showed up in an online auction, I got so much more than I bargained for:

To learn more, this full article is included in The Leadhead's Pencil Blog Volume 2, available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble and everywhere else you buy books, or you can order a copy signed by yours truly through the Legendary Lead Company HERE.

A Pair of Gold Medals

There's been some discussion online lately concerning Gold Medal, the Sears store brand.  During the Depression, many of these appear to have been made by Parker.  However, before Parker became involved, it looks like National Pen Products was responsible for production of the Gold Medal brand.   Here's a pair of early Gold Medals I picked up recently . . .

NOTE:  This article is now included in the print version of The Leadhead's Pencil Blog, available anywhere you buy books, or also from The Legendary Lead Company.

To order, here's the link:  Volume 1 at Legendary Lead Company