Dave's post of his "holy Grail" mechanical pencil cum dip pen/knife got me to thinking about the one's I have and so I decided to post up some pictures with what little I know about them.
I'm not sure exactly when the first mechanical pencil was patented but I have an ivory handled pocket knife that has a master blade(sadly broken)on one end and a folding mechanical pencil on the other that was made by Unwin & Rogers. They were mostly known for making knife pistols and Goins lists them as being in business from 1848 to about 1867.
My first mechanical pencil knife was obtained about 35 years ago at a flea market as I recall. It was a flat piece of plastic with a small folding blade in the end marked Palmax Germany and hot stamped into the handle,"Souvenir of Havana" with a small mechanical pencil on the other end. It took a couple of days of looking at it before I realized it had a Stanhope viewer in the handle! I had never seen one before but had heard of them. Inside was a picture of a nude woman looking a lot like the early French postcards I used to sneak looks at when I was a kid.
Many years later I ran across a near identical one but with the tang stamp Neir Germany and the handle stamped in Spanish(Souvenir of Habana)and a different nude in the Stanhope.
Over the years I have come across several variations of regular mechanical pencils with knives in the end that were mostly made by B&B of Minneapolis MN. The blades of their knives seem to have patent #'s similar to the ones found on Imperial knives of the fifties which says to me that either Imperial supplied the blades for them or they made the knives for B&B.
B&B seems to have been a distributor of promotional items including many knives and letter openers. I have many stamped with their logo including a George Washington Bicentennial knife somewhat larger than the Camillus version.
That is about it as far as knowledge goes so if anyone has any further info please post it here as well as examples you might have.
Here are the pictures.
Mechanical pencil knives.........
-
- Posts: 10068
- Joined: Tue Nov 06, 2007 9:02 pm
- Location: Tecumseh,Michigan
Re: Mechanical pencil knives.........
Awesome knives, k7k! Even with the broken blade that Unwin & Rogers is very cool!
Here are the only two I have. The first is the "grail" you mentioned: a D. N. Walford dip pen/mechanical pencil/knife combination. The second is an English knife made by William Vale of Birmingham. Unfortunately, it's missing the cap which would have covered the pencil. Both knives have bone handles.
Here are the only two I have. The first is the "grail" you mentioned: a D. N. Walford dip pen/mechanical pencil/knife combination. The second is an English knife made by William Vale of Birmingham. Unfortunately, it's missing the cap which would have covered the pencil. Both knives have bone handles.
Dave
Always looking for vintage knives with Virginia, Maryland, or Washington D.C. tang stamps. Any condition.
Always looking for vintage knives with Virginia, Maryland, or Washington D.C. tang stamps. Any condition.
-
- Posts: 10068
- Joined: Tue Nov 06, 2007 9:02 pm
- Location: Tecumseh,Michigan
Re: Mechanical pencil knives.........
Beautiful knives Dave! Thanks for posting them.
Adventure BEFORE Dementia!
Re: Mechanical pencil knives.........
Nice knives Ray and Dave ... I don't have any to contribute but no doubt pretty cool mechanical knives with yet a different purpose...
____________________________________________________________________________
Lee
Lee
-
- Gold Tier
- Posts: 548
- Joined: Sun Feb 07, 2016 3:20 am
- Location: Bradenton FL
- Contact:
-
- Posts: 10068
- Joined: Tue Nov 06, 2007 9:02 pm
- Location: Tecumseh,Michigan
Re: Mechanical pencil knives.........
One of mine is a Palmax,but it is slightly different than yours in that it has a Stanhope viewer in the handle.Both of mine are souvenirs of Havana Cuba;in fact one is in Spanish. Nice catch!
Adventure BEFORE Dementia!