Sampson mordan everpoint sterling silver propelling pencil london 1935 hallmark For Sale

Sampson Mordan & Co "Everpoint" propelling pencil. Sterling silver, hallmarked London 1935. In 1822 Sampson Mordan and John Isaac Hawkins took out the first patent on a propelling pencil. Mordan bought out his partner, set up on his own, and for the next century his firm was simply the name in British mechanical pencils, the thing a person carried in a waistcoat pocket and expected to outlive them. This is the Everpoint, Mordan's interwar design, patent 179005. Sterling throughout, the barrel covered end to end in fine engine-turned barleycorn that still has its bite. A long tapered cone at the nose, a sprung clip, and a screw-off cap at the top over the lead reservoir. The barrel cartouche is blank: never monogrammed, never initialed. Most survivors carry somebody's initials. This one doesn't. --- MECHANISM, PLEASE READ --- The twist mechanism turns smoothly and feeds lead through the nose. However, modern 1.1 mm lead (the 1.15 / 1.18 / 1.2 mm standard) will not enter the nose, and the 0.9 mm lead that does fit is undersize and slips back under writing pressure. I can't tell you whether that's a worn clutch or simply the obsolete intermediate size these were built for, roughly 1.05 mm, a size that is essentially unobtainable today. I have not opened the pencil to find out, and I'm not going to guess. Sold as not writing in its present state. A pen restorer, or anyone with the correct period lead, may well have it writing without much trouble. --- HALLMARKS --- Struck on the barrel and photographed close up: SM&Co - Sampson Mordan & Co u - London date letter for 1935 Lion passant - sterling standard Leopard's head - London assay office A second lion passant is struck on the clip, and the cap collar is engraved MORDAN EVERPOINT. That 1935 date puts it in the firm's last years. In 1941 the works was destroyed in the Blitz and Sampson Mordan & Co never came back. Every Mordan in existence was made before that. --- DETAILS --- Weight: 25.57 g Length: approx. 4.4 in / 112 mm, a large example of the model --- CONDITION --- Very good antique. No dents, no splits, engine-turning crisp, clip sprung and firm, cap threads clean. Mechanism turns and feeds; see the note above on lead size. Light surface wear and tarnish consistent with a century of pocket use, and the leopard's head is a little rubbed, all shown in the photos. Deliberately left unpolished. The patina in the engine-turning is part of what makes these look right, and a buyer who wants it bright can do that themselves. Ships insured, boxed so the cone can't be crushed.