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American Pencil Co Autograph FP?


Wil D

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On the barrel it says: "American Pencil Co" and below that  "Made in U.S.A."

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Your pen was made by the American Lead Pencil Company, which was incorporated in 1885 in New York. Better known for their wood-case pencils, among them the Velvet and the Venus, the American Lead Pencil Co. offered their first propel/repel mechanical pencil, the Phantom, and their first fountain pen, the No. 880, in 1890.

 

That same year, 1890, the American Lead Pencil Co. introduced its wood-case pencil, the Senator No. 2. Advertisements in trade journals show these pencils were stamped "American Pencil Co. N.Y." This was common practice for decades. For instance, when the Venus drawing pencils were introduced in 1905, the advertisements were sponsored by the American Lead Pencil Company, while illustrations showed the new pencils were stamped "American Pencil Co."

 

Advertisements in the early 1940s were sponsored by the "American Pencil Co." There had been no official name change, which is why so many get the name wrong. In 1956, the American Lead Pencil Co. officially changed it's name to the Venus Pen and Pencil Co. Venus bought Esterbrook in the early 1970s. Venus, itself, was bought in the mid-1970s and ceased to exist.

 

Jon Veley, in The Catalogue of American Mechanical Pencils, states Autograph mechanical pencils and Venus MPs were identical except for the name stamped on the clip.

 

Jim Mamoulides, on his website penhero.com, says the Venus LFs from the 1940s were good second-tier pens, "nicely made and could be good writers."

 

HTH

 

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  On 6/6/2024 at 5:50 PM, PPPR said:

...Venus bought Esterbrook in the early 1970s. Venus, itself, was bought in the mid-1970s and ceased to exist.

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Faulty memory and laziness resulted in the above. Henry Petroski, in The Pencil, reminds us that Venus bought Esterbrook in 1967, and was itself taken over by Faber Castell in 1973.

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