Four Sampson Mordan silver mechanical pencils from the 1st quarter of the 20th century showing today. The top piece is sided. The others are rounded. Three were heavily tarnished. The cloth missed some places. 😀

Tunbridge ware is an inlay woodcraft style produced in England during the 18th and 19th centuries. Today, desktop storage boxes in this style from that time are fairly common - pencils not so much. Many months ago I showed my lone example - a four-sided Tunbridge ware pencil. All sides of this piece feature distinct mosaic patterns. Three new pencils have found their way into my stash. All are shown here. The new prize of the bunch is the rounded full inlay piece (second from the top). Pieces three and four use the Tunbridge ware inlay only on the tops of their caps. All are 3 1/2 to 4 inches in length. The time of production is the 1850 vicinity. The pencil third from the top was never sharpened.

Wikipedia elaborates on this type of inlay methodology: The decoration typically consists of a mosaic of many very small pieces of different colored woods that form a pictorial vignette. Shaped rods and slivers of wood were first carefully glued together, then cut into many thin slices of identical pictorial veneer with a fine saw. Whew!

 Three Parker Duofold flattop mechanical pencils. Circa 1920's. Great!

   Today's posting is a silver figural mechanical pencil produced by Sampson Mordan of England. The piece possibly represents Fagin, the Dickens character. Circa 1880 - 1890. The material is silver. The writing section pulls out telescopically from the base. Without the ring assembly, the piece measures 1 3/8 inches long in the closed position and 2 1/2 inches in length extended.