According to Grace’s
Guide, the Eagle Pencil company, which had been founded in New York by German
immigrant Heinrich Berolzheimer in 1859, opened its London office in 1864. In
October 1894 a London office, Warehouse and Showroom, opened in the City of
London at 14 Fore Street, where today stands the Barbican Centre, and the 1897
catalogue already referred to prize medals awarded to Eagle pencils. This is
all according to Berol’s
website where one learns that Eagle’s Turquoise (or “Turquois”) pencils were
first produced in 1901 together with innumerable coloured pencils and “anti-nervous
pen holders.”
The Eagle Pencil Co. started
operating in Tottenham in north London in 1907. The History of the County of Middlesex, vol. 5 (1976) mentions that by
1920 “a few more firms, including the Eagle Pencil Co., had opened north of
Ferry Lane, in wartime buildings along Ashley Road.”
In 1922 the Eagle
Pencil Company advertises itself in the British Industries Fair as the largest
manufacturer of its kind in the world producing black lead, copying ink,
coloured, carpenters’ and diary pencils. They were also contractors to Her
Majesty’s Stationery Office, Colonial, and Foreign Governments and Schools.
Pencil manufacture, which
had stopped during the Second World War, resumed in 1946 first with plain
unbranded pencils and later with the traditional pencil ranges of Turquoise,
Verithin and Mirado. A presentation pencil
set of coloured and lead pencils from the above ranges is included in the
Exploring 20th Century London website. I’d love to find out more
about the changing fortunes of this company and its pencils.
A selection of Eagle
pencils from Australia, Canada, England, Mexico and the USA in Brand Name
Pencils.
Object in the Inklinks
shop today: Vintage
Eagle pencil box set from Eagle Pencil Co. London. Includes a pen holder
too (don’t know if it’s “anti-nervous”).
Lito, do you have any idea why Eagle felt confident enough to open a London office in 1864? Was there a price or quality advantage, or unsatisfied market demand? Lack of capacity by British manufacturers? (BTW--We have excellent English-made Derwent wood-cased pencils reasonably available here in the States.) Jack/Ohio (USA)
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