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I have the house to myself for a time and so I'm taking this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to spread out and go through my collection of steel dip pens and update my inventory. (a Herculean task). I'm coming across pens I have forgotten all about. Here's one with a semi-interesting story I thought I might share. Most people know Milton Bradley as the famous board game manufacturer. That was their first main product and is still their main line of business. But over the years since their founding in 1860, they have produced other items at various times. One line of goods, which was near and dear to Milton himself, was a series of school supplies and educational aids geared toward the new Kindergarten movement in the late 1860's and onward. Milton became interested in the ideas behind early education and began making a whole line of educational supplies which he mostly gave away. This line continued from the 1870's up to about WWI, when it was reduced in scope. The five pens I have are Milton Bradley No. 2 School Pens. They're a little rusty and rough, but I've never seen any others. (cue five other people posting whole salesman's sample kits and advertising posters). The pens themselves are nothing to write home about, but the story and their rarity make them something interesting to me and I thought I'd share.