As kids growing up in the backwoods of Quebec in the mid-20th century, my siblings and I had somewhat limited exposure to our immediate relatives.

various interesting “one offs” Barritt & Co – from bible sales guy – Pam Sutton has several of their pencils so they no longer qualify

For many collectors of Victorian pencils & penholders, the 1898 Sampson Mordan Catalogue is a familiar reference resource. Reproduced and published by Jim Marshall (The

The father of a friend of ours passed away last year, and our friend was the Executor of the estate. Over a period of several

While “weighing” the merits of taking the time to write this blog entry I decided I needed to take a closer look at some of

“The hand is the tool of tools” – so said Aristotle, a little over 2300 years ago. Over time, our tool of tools gradually came

the two “lownds in the collection – one is marked; the other isn’t… background on lownd’s patent; also latest Mosley pencil has similar and so

Supposedly, you could do a single copy of several different documents at once as long as they were stacked, and separated, properly. I believe that

I would assume the number of copies obtainable this way would be rather small – 1 or 2. Probably also depended a lot on the

In a blog entry from 2017 I showed a few of the Mordan travelling inkwells I have – “Mordan Travelling Inkwells“. I’ve also blogged about

On a cold, dreary, Sunday afternoon last fall I was feeling like I needed a nap.  looking into a few things related to my collection

“I think what the world needs is a good steel pen.”; and so he made one, along with a nice bone handle to hold it.

extract info from the Berry travel inkwell entry and expand on Berry’s inventions… A note from an article in the July 21, 1832 London Spectator

James Watt is credited with inventing a document copying device in 1780 (although he is far more widely known for his work with steam engines). As

There are currently over 120 Mordan pencils in my writing equipment collection. Most of them can only be dated to within a few years of

If we could go back in time a few years… let’s say maybe 150 or so… long before internet & cell phones, even before rotary

My pencil collection consists of a variety of mechanical/propelling pencil designs, manufacturers, and materials used. Over time, I became more interested in the 19th century

I blame my grandmother for kickstarting my collecting bug. At the ripe old age of 5, she gave me a World Stamp album and an envelope

Last night’s temperature here was a rather frosty -19C (-2F) with the wind chill. What better reason than that to crank up the furnace and

This is a followup to the June, 2019 entry – Commemorative Pencils, and shows a few of the non-pencil commemoratives/souvenirs in my collection. While humans and

Maiden Lane is a short street (barely half a mile long) located in Manhattan’s Financial District. The street has a very interesting & colourful history

Ever since we humans first clued in to the fact that we are not immortal, many of us have quite naturally pondered our own mortality

Commemorative “souvenirs” have been a big deal for collectors for centuries. At one time or another almost all of us have fallen prey to the

Seriously? I agree, what's the point (no pun intended)? Seems a lot of work for very little gain, although also little risk I expect.

For me, one of the great joys in being a collector has been the learning opportunity that accompanies each and every acquisition. The knowledge so

Several years ago, our daughter and son-in-law moved to a small community in the Lakes District in northern England. Our travels to the UK had

I almost shed a few wee happy tears yesterday when the first of my recent KB Collection auction purchases arrived, which included three musket pencils.

I suspect that few of us that are currently alive in the 21st century have received a letter or document in the mail that has

A collection of Victorian and early 20th century writing equipment wouldn’t be complete without at least a minor nod to some of the other interesting

The mighty oak has been around much longer than we humans have, so as obvious as the title statement may seem, it apparently wasn’t until