Rank und schlank

Soweit ich weiss han­delt es sich bei die­sen Blei­stif­ten meis­tens um Tagebuch-​Bleistifte. Ich habe einen mit dem Namen MEMORANDUM. Ein ande­rer Stift in mei­ner Samm­lung traet den Namen „Flag-​Pencil“ was damit gemeint ist weiss ich aber nicht. Bei ande­ren habe ich eine Ver­brei­te­rung am Metall­teil gese­hen. Das ver­hin­dert dann wohl das her­aus­rut­schen des Stifts aus der Lederöhse.

Lei­der steht kein Her­stel­ler draf nur: „Flag Pen­cil“ No.4000 *HB*. Auf mei­ner Web habe ich ihn noch nicht gelegt. Aber hof­fent­lich bald:)

Over in Eng­land, there have been three tra­di­tio­nal uses for thin pen­cils such as these. They are typi­cally 60-​70% of the dia­me­ter of a nor­mal pencil.

The three uses are:

i. as the article sug­gests, dance card pen­cils -or-
ii. bridge pen­cils used for scoring in the card game bridge.
iii. Spine housed diary/​address book pencil

Spine housed pen­cils in address books would be of a simi­lar dia­me­ter but sub­stan­ti­ally shorter (maybe 6cm in length to fit easily into a small address book). These pen­cils seem too long for a pocket diary pencil.

Loo­king at the pen­cils, I would say that the pen­cils with the metal loop in the end are more likely to be dance card pen­cils (typ­cally held on a chain around the neck of the lady) and pro­ba­bly post-​WWII. Prior to WWII it was more com­mon to house the pen­cil in a SILVER pen­cil holder/​extender which was more decorate.

The other pen­cils with the more usual ends could be eit­her bridge or dance card pencils.

1920s onwards: Often dance cards would be pla­ced into a dance card hol­der (owned by yours­elf). This hol­der would often be a small lea­ther wal­let type case with eit­her a space in the spine

Bridge pen­cils would hardly ever be marked with the manu­fac­tu­rer as this would be more pro­min­ently dis­played on the case (eit­her lea­ther or in a card­board box). They are typi­cally 8-​10cm long and are always cir­cu­lar in cross sec­tion. Oddly enough they are always sold in sets of four, but despite bridge being a four player game, only two would be used at once … one per­son from each part­ner­ship would record the score. Typi­cally the set of pen­cils would eb pro­vi­ded by the host.

A simi­lar game whist does not have fixed part­ner­ships and typi­cally each player would bring his/​her own pen­cil to record scores as play­ers would each move in dif­fe­rent direc­tions around the hall. As you nee­ded your own pen­cil or pen you would not buy a set of the rela­tively expen­sive bridge pen­cils as a regu­lar pen­cil would suf­fice and cost a frac­tion of the bridge set.

If I had to label the two wit­hout loops, I would pro­ba­bly mark them as bridge pen­cils. As they attrac­ted a pre­mium price (I recall a set of 4 cos­ting £8 for nice loo­king set in a card­board dis­play case in the 1990s) as usually were tip­ped in metal until recent years to try and jus­tify the premium.

The more I get to learn about the history and dif­fe­rent uses of pen­cils in past deca­des, the more I come to app­raise them.

Can only begin to ima­gine what life was when the pen­cil was not a „com­mo­dity“ as in today’s world, but a first neces­sity item or even a fashion state­ment come the turn of the past century.

Dear Lexi­cal writer,

I am Tham from SOWI S.H Co.,Ltd Vietnam,
It is very plea­sed to know your com­pany can sup­ply pen­cil pro­ducts which we are loo­king for.
Taking this chance, please be briefly intro­du­ced our­sel­ves as SOWI S.H Co.,Ltd loca­ted at 175 Thoai Ngoc Hau street, Phu Thanh Ward, Tan Phu Dis­trict, Hoch­i­minh City – Viet­nam. http://www.sowigstar.vn. Our com­pany has been estab­lished since 1995 and We are spe­cia­li­zed in sta­tio­nery and We are import­ing many kinds of sta­tio­nery pro­ducts such as black pen­cils ,color pen­cils from China/​India and now we are con­cer­ned about the high qua­lity pen­cils of your fac­tory. As you know, there were some high qua­lity pen­cils in Viet­nam such as the Staedt­ler brand of Ger­many , KOH -I- Noor brand of Czech Repu­blic etc. And now, we would like to direct work with your com­pany on the prin­ci­ple of mutual bene­fit. Please kindly give us the best FOB quo­ta­tion for items as below:

1. Black pen­cil: from 2B to 8B
2. Color pen­cils: 12, 18, 24, 36 colors

We are loo­king for­ward to hea­ring from you soon.

Have a nice week ahead,
Thanks and best regards,
Tham
Sowi SH Co.,Ltd
http://www.sowigstar.vn