History of Pencils

I don't know about you but I've never given a second thought to where pencils come from. Who really cares, right?  I'm finding as I grow older (becoming a bit of history myself) that    history is becoming more interesting with each passing day and I'm starting to care... who'd of thunk!

The oldest known pencil in the world, from the early 17th century, on display at the Faber-Castell castle near Nuremberg, Germany.  History of the Pencil

We have a great group of dealers here at #TheFrog but one of my favorites (I know, favorites are bad) is a gentleman with cases who comes in every couple weeks to change things around and add new goodies.  He's 90 years young and always has interesting items with lots of History to share.  It's thru this dealer that my love affair with pencils... well, pencil boxes really, began.

Trying to find anything on pencil boxes has been a nightmare, all I could find out is that older ones (1800's) were made of precious metals or ivory and were for the affluent, to hold their expensive pencils of course.  Many were not rectangular as we've come to see but rounded in shape.

Boxes like what you see here were first patented in 1946 and have become the zippered pencil cases you see today.

Here's a peek at a few styles of pencil boxes we've got in the shop today:

Single Hinged Pencil Case

Top swings out from one side to reveal storage underneath.

Roll top... can't believe any of these have survived.  If this was mine as a kid it wouldn't have lasted very long.

Double Layer Slide Top Pencil Case

The top slides open revealing a space for an eraser and slots for pencils.

The top swings outward on a hinge of some sort to reveal a second layer of storage.

Extra Wide Single Layer Slide top Box

Well used....

Single Hinged Top with Lock

Lock no longer works.

Love the pencil storage.  The "eraser" pops off.

Don't see a business name on this one but a town.  Cute

There were a couple triple deckers but they sold fairly quickly.  Still kicking myself for not scooping one of them up.

Here's a few articles with some interesting history about pencils and other items you'd find in a pencil box:

Vintage Pencils
What's In My Pencil Box?
How The Humble Pencil Conquered The World

Any pencil collectors out there?