That's About Right

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.

A few weeks ago I bid on a group of crap . . . er, I mean interesting treasures . . . in an online auction.   It appeared to be what was left in the bottom of someone’s junk box, with a mix of early ballpoints that didn’t work, parts and a few interesting looking pencils.  It was cheap and there were just enough things in that group that looked a little interesting that I knew it would keep me busy for a couple hours.  What the hell, I thought.  It’s cheaper than a movie ticket these days.

What I didn’t even notice was that the seller was Rob Bader, a longtime friend with enough great stories to fill an evening and  a reputation for being a bit of a prankster.  After you see this one, if you know Rob, you’ll say as the title of the article suggests, that’s about right.

One of the things in Rob’s bag of tricks – and it wasn’t one of the things I thought might be interesting, mind you – was this one:

Hmmmm.... unmarked, and not American . . .

Jon’s unwritten laws of pencil collecting specify, in the absence of American origin or manufacturers marking, that this one must be either (a) attributable to a manufacturer or (b) freakishly awesome.  I have no idea who made it, so you know where this one was going.

I couldn’t figure out how to advance the lead - no amount of twisting the cap made any difference, so I decided to jot something to see if maybe the lead advance was tip-actuated . . .

. . . and as I pressed the “lead” onto the table . . .

Sproing!

Timely Mail Call

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.

This one showed up in an online auction at a most inopportune time:

Inopportune, that is, because it was won, paid for and speeding towards pencil central as fast as the USPS was willing to bring it – the day before the beginning of the Ohio Show, at which I hoped to share this with people and find something out about who made it.

There was good news and bad news.  The good news is, since I live close enough to the Ohio Show venue that I come home on Thursday night, I checked my mail when I got home and lo and behold, my package made it in time.  The bad news is, after showing it to people Friday . . . and Saturday . . . and Sunday, no one has been able to tell me anything.

When the pencil is disassembled, it’s even simpler inside than it looks:

The inner portion has little nubs which engage the screw threads on the outer shell.  As far as a “mechanism” goes, that’s all there is to it.  The lead is simply stuck in the end of the inner portion.  It’s kind of like a Dow, but with a screw drive rather than a slider.

The pencil is unmarked.  Can anyone shed some light on this?

Before I Could Even Unpack

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.

I had just arrived at the Michigan Show last month, pushing a cart heavily laden with totes, when Jerry Adair rushed up to me before I even reached my table.  There was a pencil, he said, that I just had to see and probably would have to have.

Fortunately, the fellow who had it was set up right next to my assigned table, so I was at least able to park my cart before I had a look.  Of course I had to see it.  Of course I had to have it.

Because, of course, I have no idea what to make of this thing:

If you’re wondering what that metal bar is on the side of the barrel, I am too.  My best guess is that it exists solely to create enough friction to hold what’s inside:

There are, infuriatingly, no markings whatsoever on either the barrel or the sheath to indicate who might have made this.  It has a faint “National Pen Products” kind of look, but all the long-short pencils I’ve seen screw into the sheath and aren’t held by friction.  Also, that tip looks newer than the 1920s.

All I can do is throw this on the back of a virtual milk carton, ship it out there and ask if anyone else knows what this thing is.

Off to the Races

This article has been edited and included in The Leadhead's Pencil Blog Volume 3; 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.

There’s an old joke about a farmer who advertised a rooster for sale for a million dollars.  When another farmer was later seen with that same rooster, he explained that he didn’t pay a million dollars - instead, he traded two hens worth half a million dollars each for it. 

Today’s pencil wasn’t like that, really, but Richard Vacca has had it on his display for quite some time.  The price had always been just a bit higher than what I could justify paying, so it wasn’t until the Baltimore show, when Richard needed some lead from my table, that I had enough hens to finally bring this rooster home:

“Horse pencil,” the tag read.  No markings, trademarks or anything to go with this one.  I got nothin’ except for an intriguing observation someone made when they noticed this unusual item being shown off: maybe it isn’t supposed to be a horse at all.  Notice the sticker on the side?

A horse might seem random in connection with Washington, DC, but a donkey would make some sense – particularly if there’s a matching blue pencil out there with an elephant clinging to its barrel.

We’ll see what surfaces in the future.  If this is supposed to be a donkey, it’s the worst depiction of one I think I’ve seen – it looks a lot more like a giraffe than a donkey (or a horse, for that matter).   Imagine what that elephant will look like if the same designer depicted it!

Enough To Keep Me Up At Night

I’ve only got a handful of unidentified, unmarked pencils in my collection, and out of that handful, only one or two of them did I go out of my way to pick up. This is one of them:

I saw this thing in an online auction and had to bite, because I was convinced there must be a marking on it somewhere to identify it.

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.

Someone Has Just Got to Know What This Is

These two, just like the unmarked Redipoint lighter pencil I wrote about here yesterday, defy my usual rule against adding unmarked pencils to my collection:

The reason I’ve kept them is because the way they work is just so incredibly . . . cool.

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.

What The??

There’s a guy who has been set up every month I’ve attended the Springfield Antique Show. In the busy months, like the Extravaganza weekends, he’s in the same place as he is during the off months, when he looks like he’s been stranded aground ‘way out there after the tide went out. He has display cases out in the direct sunlight, and only recently – after many of his pencils had warped into writing instruments suitable for a Salvador Dali painting thanks to the heat – did he think to keep the lids propped open a bit to prevent his wares from cooking.

Don’t get me wrong. He’s a really nice guy and I have bought some things off of him over the years. This summer I found something on his table that I just haven’t been able to explain. Here’s the pencil part . . .

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

Have You Seen Me?

If we pencil collectors drank our own brand of milk, a picture of this one would be on the back of it, because it just looks like someone ought to know what it is and what family it belongs to:

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