Sunday, September 18, 2016

Better than "Hybrid Repeater" - The Eversharp Victory

This article has been edited and included in The Leadhead's Pencil Blog Volume 4; copies are available print on demand through Amazon here, and I offer an ebook version in pdf format at the Legendary Lead Company here.

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These Eversharp repeating pencils appear on page 70 of The Catalogue, and since I didn’t know what else to call them, I called them “Hybrid Repeater pencils.” 


They are similar to, but not quite like, anything else in the Eversharp lineup.  The repeating mechanism is common to the Coronet, Doric and Skyline series; the clip suggest more of a Doric flavor, but it is unique to the model.  The dark, flat colors are more reminiscent of the Skyline, but it has the earlier round double-check seal.  I’d made a couple observations in the book: first, I’d noted that they appear to come in black and maroon, although one of my examples appears to be navy blue under very strong light.  Second, I noted that the series was uncataloged.

;I was mostly right.  It was cataloged – although not by Eversharp.

Matt McColm recently found an advertisement for these sets, attributed to the 1941 Bennett Brothers catalog.  Bennett Brothers was a jewelry firm with offices in Chicago and New York, which published its hardcover “Blue Book” catalogs annually.  I just missed out on this copy:


Another seller had hacked individual pages out of a 1941 Bennett catalog (I HATE that), and was offering this page for sale individually:


And viewed closely:


We have a winner: future editions of The Catalogue will refer to this properly as the Eversharp Victory.  Note that the catalog states these are available in dubonnet or navy blue, so I don’t think I was seeing things when I suggested one looked blue under strong light – whether the others are also blue darkened to black with time I don’t know.  Elsewhere in the advertisement, notice that while some have Eversharp’s gold seal and others do not, all Victory sets are guaranteed forever – and the one pictured doesn’t have a gold seal.

2 comments:

Unknown said...

Hello Jon, sorry for my comment not being in reply to your intetesting post. I am looking for some help to date and unusual propelling pencil. It is made in bone and brass ans it cam holds up to 6 leads. I suppose is victorian but I'm not able to find anything.if you could provide me an email address, I can share with you few pictures. Regards Francesco

Unknown said...

Hello Jon, sorry for my comment not being in reply to your intetesting post. I am looking for some help to date and unusual propelling pencil. It is made in bone and brass ans it cam holds up to 6 leads. I suppose is victorian but I'm not able to find anything.if you could provide me an email address, I can share with you few pictures. Regards Francesco