Our Friend Rex Surfaces Again

I’ve seen this same pencil for the last few shows I’ve attended, and most recently in Philadelphia. Its owner doesn’t want his name used:

The Century Pen Company of Whitewater, Wisconsin has been the subject of a couple articles here at the blog. The early metal pencils produced by the company appear to be an original design, and the later 1930s examples look like they may have been made by Eagle.

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.

Ever "Sharp" Style

Here’s a trio of Eversharp-style Dur-O-Lite pencils, all of which came to me through my Ohio Show swapathon with Michael Little:

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 Dur-O-Lite Ejectors

Now that I understand these Dur-O-Lite Ejector Pencils (see "Dur-O-Lite Repeaters Revisited, September 29, 2012), I’ve made a point to keep an eye out for interesting variations on the theme. Here’s a couple that caught my eye in recent months:

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.

Nope . . . It Isn't Broken

I think the reason I got this one so cheaply in an online auction was because from the photographs, it appeared to be broken. Truth be told, I thought it might be, too:

But the auction title was for a John Holland pencil, and it looked interesting enough to throw in a small bid that brought it home. The seller was right – it is in fact marked "John. Holland":

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.

Final Thoughts on Straka's Eversharp

As mentioned earlier, John Straka’s patent for Wahl Eversharp’s removable-nose pencil was applied for in 1920 but wasn’t issued until 1928. By the time the Straka patent was issued, both Dur-O-Lite and Autopoint were producing similar pencils.

Charles Keeran, who had been ousted by Wahl in 1917, was the president of Autopoint in 1928, and in February, 1928 he was still writing letters to Wahl Eversharp demanding additional compensation from Wahl for the Eversharp pencil he invented.

Every time I see one of these "Eversharp-Autopoint hybrid" pencil, I instinctively pull the nose off to see if it says "Pat. App. For," which would indicate that they were made prior to 1928 (when John Straka’s patent was assigned a patent number). I’ve never found one – not that they aren’t out there somewhere, but if Wahl had made them in any quantity prior to the issuance of the Straka patent in 1928, you’d think a few would turn up once in a while.

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.

Should We Call Them "Eversharp-Style" Autopoints?

I have always been under the impression that when Wahl-Eversharp produced these Autopoint-like hybrids, Eversharp was copying Autopoint’s removable-nose feature. But the more I look at this, particularly after examining the patents from yesterday’s article, the more I think it was actually the other way around.

A removable nose cone is what makes an Autopoint an Autopoint. The feature is still used on the company’s pencils today, the same as it has been since the mid-1920s:

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.

I'm Monitoring These Pretty Closely

Another fuzzy picture from an online auction brought this one to my doorstep:

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.