Addison & Co. Silver Pencil with Onion Top
Spectacular Gold, Engraved Dedication Columbia College
John Hague circa 1840
Rarely is a working model of mid-19th century gold pen-pencil case design recovered for analysis or viewing. Identified as Richardson’s Patent OCTR . 24 1854, this working development model of John Richardson’s pen-pencil case is attractively engraved.
Listed in 1850-51 as pencil case makers, William Richardson and his son John were located at 4 Liberty Place in Brooklyn.
Next door was Edward Deacon at 5 Liberty Place, and Jacob J. Lownds, multi-patent awardee for his unique pencils and Gold Pen holders. operated at 6 Liberty Place.
See https://portecrayons.com/american-pen-nib-makers
The Richardsons are relatively unknown as pencil case makers, much less so was John as patent holder for a pen-pencil holder mechanism based on the Bagley 1850 extension pen-pencil holder.
John Richardson may have commissioned the Bagley factory to provide an extension holder blank or embellished with the engraving we see. The cap may be an indicator of a Bagley To-The-Trade acquisition. The form of the extension holder is quite similar to the early Rauch form extension holders produced by the Bagley factory.
The classic Bagley extension mechanism, including extruded, swaged fit for the top extension is present in the case.
The simplistic claim language is further revealed in the accompanying patent drawing, providing insight into the complexity of the design.
The photo images are overlaid onto a portion of the patent drawing to exhibit the work in progress on Mr. Richardson’s design. He cutaway a segment of the case to reveal part of the inner working mechanism. This may be an item that was carried and presented by John Richardson during his appeal of the Hicks award for Richardson’s novel design.
Copyright © 2023-2024 JOHN B. MINOR - All Rights Reserved.
We use cookies to analyze website traffic and optimize your website experience. By accepting our use of cookies, your data will be aggregated with all other user data.