W.S. Hicks – Ryne Patent – 1867

A rare combination pencil/pen, this is the first one I’ve seen that has Hicks’ name on it and not just the patent date. These occasionally show up as “pencils” but in fact they are combo pencil/pens. The patent applies to one filed by Richard Ryne, who assigned it to Hicks in 1867 (this is patent # 72,684). Barrel is imprinted with “Hick’s Pat. Dec. 24, 1867” on one side and “Goodyears Pat. May 6, 1851” on the other side. The nib was missing so I replaced it with a common one.