Pencils

One doesn't often find stickered, New Old Stock Sheaffer pencils from the 1920s, but this Sheaffer GN is just that. Its original price sticker is on the flat end of the tail cap. It simply states "GN $4.50." Pull out the tail cap to reveal the hardened eraser and spare 1.1mm leads. The main lead still advances and retracts. The mechanism is a little stiff but still works. Only light wear is on the Green-Gold Filled pencil. Amazing for a museum piece or daily writing. 13cm.

The granddaddy of all pencils is here: Sheaffer Titan. This is what we like to call the lemon-lime jade version, as it features bright yellow swirls and flecks in the bright jade green celluloid. Our vintage pencil is in good working order. Twist the gold-filled crown on top to advance or retract the lead. As is the case with most of these, the crown is a bit dented around its edges. There's brassing on the ball and top of the pocket clip. Overall, the pencil looks great. No cracks or deep scratches. It fills with 1.1mm lead. There's a hardened eraser plugging up the space where we can hear spare leads rattling around. 13.2cm.

Tortoise shell pens are among the most sought in the Pelikan line, and here we have an even rarer .5mm pencil. It is a clicker in good working order. Pull off the clicker to reveal spare leads and a hardened eraser. Our pencil shows some wear from use but no cracks or deep scratches. The clicker logo plating is a little thin, showing a mama pelican with a single chick. 13.6cm

Bronze and black flecks glitter in the light of this Conklin Endura pencil. In great working order, you'll smoothly advance and retract the 1.1 lead with a twist of the tail piece. You can still see yellow accent paint in the rings around the celluloid. The imprint is still legible. There isn't much brassing. However, there are scratches on the nose cone and bite marks on the tail. Spare leads are under the tail cap. 12.2cm.

Mottled hard rubber looks fantastic with gold-filled trim on this vintage pencil. This pencil looks fantastic. The steel nose cone has the only wear that is really showing. Twist the top of the pencil to advance the lead. Pull back on the topper to expose a compartment to store spare 1.1mm leads. There is a lead loaded in the pencil but there are no spares. 13.5cm

Matching its pencil lines to its TouchDown-filling fountain pens, this vintage pencil was released as the Sheaffer Sentinel pencil. A two-tone chrome and gold cap contrasts beautifully against a dark green barrel. Minimal wear mars the surfaces of this classic pencil. A twist of the tail cap smoothly advances and retracts the .9mm lead. Cooler still is that this pencil is loaded with a red lead! Remove the cap to reveal a hardened original blue Sheaffer eraser. 12.9cm.

Parker Vacumatic pencils sold far less than their fountain pen counterparts, which Parker chalked up to the Great Depression. Nevertheless, Parker didn't stop innovating the Parker Vacumatic line. In 1939 it released the Parker Non-Stop pencil to pair with Vacumatic fountain pens. Unique to the Non-Stop was that it was a cap-activated click pencil! This was not a common feature in that era. Plus, the .9mm leads now fed directly from the spare lead reservoir. As such, these pencils held much more lead and required way less effort to keep writing. Our vintage pencil has a couple of deep scratches, which you can see in the tail cap in the photo. Especially unique is the wide stacked-coins cap band, which has a blank initials' plate. A hardened eraser and spare red leads are included. 13.1mm.

We don't know the first thing about this brace of Cross mini pencils. They are very skinny and just about as wide as a tie clip pencil, but they don't have tie clips. The front writing instrument is made of solid sterling silver. It has some dents in the nose cone but it seems to work well. You twist the nose cone to advance or retract the lead that we think is .9mm. Its matching pencil is "1/30 10k Gold RGP." We think that mean Rolled Gold Plating. It works well, too, and there is much less damage or wear to the RGP pencil. Both measure 8.8cm.