Barritt & Co. – Silver

Interesting silver pencil from around 1847. Barritt & Co. was listed as a bible and prayer book wholesaler at 173 Fleet Street in London. Why a bible sales company would be producing pencils is anyone’s guess at this point but the same address appears in their pencil ad (see pic 4). The registration # on the barrel is 1086 , given to Barritt & Co in 1847 for their design improvements to the existing mechanical lead pencil. It is in excellent working order. Name of original owner is also engraved in barrel. The slider is actually at the very top of the barrel which allows for a much longer length of lead to be inserted into the pencil mechanism. This is quite unique and is the reason for the design #1086 being created (normally the slider is in the middle of the barrel when closed and bottom of the barrel when extended and this is much more limiting in terms of the length of lead that can be used).