The Secretary Pen Company

The Secretary Pen Company of Newark, New Jersey was left out of The Catalogue. I don’t know why, really, because I had a few examples, but for whatever reason, I forgot to include it. The company has an interesting pedigree: Joseph V. Wustman founded the Camel Pen Company in 1935, but Camel quickly succumbed during the depression, closing its doors in 1938.

Ever the optimist, Wustman acquired the equipment and tooling from Camel and started a new business called the Newark Pen Company. Newark Pen made some nice pens called the "Secretary," but within a few years the company apparently renamed itself "Secretary Pen Company" and started to turn out advertising pieces that were, well, kitchy.

That bunch I picked up at Springfield included several of the typical examples made by the Secretary Pen Co. . .

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

A Grand Day Out

I’ve talked a bit before about the Springfield Antique Show in western Ohio, just off Interstate 70. Janet and I don’t get over there quite as regularly as we do the Don Scott Show in Columbus, since it’s almost an hour further distant, but we did make the August show this year.

There are times in Ohio, in the dead of winter, when all is grey and wet, that it helps to think about the times in my fair state when the weather is nice and you can actually do things outdoors. Pictures of those nicer days are always a tremendous help during those short, dark days that make up nearly half of our year. And this picture, taken at the Springfield show, is one of those that I’ll use to remind me in February why I still live here . . .

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

The Quarter Inch That Makes All The Difference

"Executive" – few things have a nicer ring as far as the online hucksters are concerned. You can put this adjective in front of nearly anything, and poof! You can dress up even the crappiest Bic ballpoint. In fact, it ranks high among the other overused adjectives in online auctions, such as:

4. Early (or at least, earlier than yesterday’s breakfast)
3. Rare (sometimes I seriously believe the seller means undercooked)
2. Stunning (but they never say whether you should be stunned in a good way or a bad way)
1. Solid, as in gold (used as if even the lead installed in it is 14k – nothing like seeing a gold plated piece on a scale to make you want to take a shower).

But I’m getting off topic. In today’s episode, "Executive" has a very specific meaning when it comes to the Eversharp Skyline. Here’s the picture from page 72, frame 29 of The Catalogue . . .

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

A Close Call

Sometimes, I’ll win an online auction for a price that I consider to be just pennies on the dollar compared to what it’s worth. Usually, I’ll resist the urge to contact the seller and tell them how delighted I am to have won, and to be super duper careful packing it, and to insure the package – after all, I don’t necessarily want the seller to think he should have gotten much more.

From past experience, when a seller thinks he’s been shortchanged, that tends to trigger all manner of online shenanigans, from "oh I can’t find the item now, I must have lost it" to "accidentally" sending me the wrong item, to claiming the item was lost in the mail.

So usually, as was the case in this story, I just sit as patiently as I can and bite my nails waiting for the item to arrive safely. I had won something in an auction from a Florida seller who didn’t know beans about pencils; he or she did a great job describing the item but a pretty bad job taking pictures of it. If it was what I thought it was, it would be a truly significant find, and if it was in decent condition it would really be something special. But, when the auction closed, I didn’t end up having to pay very much for it.

After standing next to the mailbox for a few days, I received my package from Florida. I carefully opened the envelope and pulled out what was inside . . .

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

A Perfect End To The Story

Here’s a beautiful little pencil that turned up at the Springfield Antique Show.

This is a "Perfect Point" (and yes, the name is in quotations) . . .

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

The Oversized Pint-size

Here’s another one of the neat finds Joe Nemecek shared with me during our photo shoot in DC.

The top example is a typical Sheaffer golf pencil – typical, although black is a surprisingly difficult color to find in these. But the lower one is the interesting one: for the executive on the golf course, Sheaffer actually made an oversized golf pencil, complete with a 14k gold wide band on which a facsimile of the owner’s signature was reproduced.

The guy probably carried clubs that were a foot longer than everyone else’s, huh?

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

Lost and Not Yet Found

One of my greatest pleasures in collecting is finding pencils with names I’ve not yet heard of. Unfortunately, for so many of these the story behind them remains lost to history, so right now, I can’t do anything more than say "here they are."

So I’ll just document these and put them out there, in the hopes that for someone out there in cyberland these will ring a bell and with any luck, prompt an email that will bring a box, paperwork or some other additional information to light (or at least a few humorous cracks from the usual smart-alecks).

First is one marked "Master," which surfaced in an online auction . . .

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