This post is mainly about the Cohen version of the Account Book pencil, but I've decided to show some other examples as well as it seems like a good place to display them. First thing of note, the Account Book pencil from Cohen is an extension of the Compressed Cumberland Lead model; it is just... Continue Reading →

The 'Royal Sovereign' pencil is very popular amongst collectors and for good reason.  There are lots of variations to make the hunt interesting, with particularly early models commanding high prices these days (rather unfortunately). You can read a pretty lengthy post about that particular pencil here. The thing is, the Royal Sovereign pencil (sort of)... Continue Reading →

Another short post today.  This time we have the Eagle Pencil Company's UK price list from 1958 As i mentioned on the Cumberland Pencil Co price list post, you could just download the pictures in this post, but I’d prefer if you came back here to review the catalogues instead! Enjoy! Quite a small selection... Continue Reading →

Just a quick post today, but an interesting one none the less.  As promised, I'm going to start uploading copies of various pencil catalogues onto the blog.  Old catalogues, particularly for British makers, are difficult to come by and so it could be a helpful resource for collectors. As with all the images on the... Continue Reading →

If you read this blog on a regular basis you might be thinking that this post title looks remarkably similar to another post I wrote - B. S. Cohen's Compressed Cumberland Lead pencils. And you'd be right.  I recommend that if you haven't read that post, you read it first before carrying on with this post. This... Continue Reading →

When it comes to collecting old Wolff pencils, the examples I always look out for are those that where manufactured when Wolff was operating as a partnership, i.e. predating the formation of the Limited Company. These are usually identified through the use of the words 'manufacturers' or 'makers' printed somewhere on the pencil barrel or... Continue Reading →

I'm sure you have come across the phrases 'Chemi-Sealed', 'Super Bonded' and 'Electronic Lead' on various Eagle (and Berol) manufactured pencils.  Let's take a quick look at what exactly these are referring to, as well as highlighting the various inception dates. I'm working off the British registered patents for this post.  It may have been... Continue Reading →

You come across these 'how a pencil is made' sets quite regularly from the likes of Staedtler, Dixon and Cumberland, however, Royal Sovereign sets appear much less frequently. There is an old Banks set which I don't have but am looking to get.  If you have that one, I'd be very happy to talk about... Continue Reading →

THIS IS PART 4 OF 6 You can go back to Part 3 HERE --------------- Next up we have the Pencils (Manufacturers' Maximum Prices) (No. 2) Directions of 1944. I've cut out the middle section as it is largely a repetition of a previous Direction. Essentially these Directions just set out the updated pricing for... Continue Reading →

THIS IS PART 3 OF 6 You can go back to Part 2 HERE --------------- If we take a quick look at the Finance Act 1942, we can see that not only were Utility items required to display the CC41 Utility Mark, but they were also exempt from the Purchase Tax that was brought in... Continue Reading →