Filling Mechanism: Pencil

Mottled hard rubber looks fantastic with gold-filled trim on this vintage pencil. This pencil looks fantastic. The steel nose cone has the only wear that is really showing. Twist the top of the pencil to advance the lead. Pull back on the topper to expose a compartment to store spare 1.1mm leads. There is a lead loaded in the pencil but there are no spares. 13.5cm

Matching its pencil lines to its TouchDown-filling fountain pens, this vintage pencil was released as the Sheaffer Sentinel pencil. A two-tone chrome and gold cap contrasts beautifully against a dark green barrel. Minimal wear mars the surfaces of this classic pencil. A twist of the tail cap smoothly advances and retracts the .9mm lead. Cooler still is that this pencil is loaded with a red lead! Remove the cap to reveal a hardened original blue Sheaffer eraser. 12.9cm.

Parker Vacumatic pencils sold far less than their fountain pen counterparts, which Parker chalked up to the Great Depression. Nevertheless, Parker didn't stop innovating the Parker Vacumatic line. In 1939 it released the Parker Non-Stop pencil to pair with Vacumatic fountain pens. Unique to the Non-Stop was that it was a cap-activated click pencil! This was not a common feature in that era. Plus, the .9mm leads now fed directly from the spare lead reservoir. As such, these pencils held much more lead and required way less effort to keep writing. Our vintage pencil has a couple of deep scratches, which you can see in the tail cap in the photo. Especially unique is the wide stacked-coins cap band, which has a blank initials' plate. A hardened eraser and spare red leads are included. 13.1mm.

We don't know the first thing about this brace of Cross mini pencils. They are very skinny and just about as wide as a tie clip pencil, but they don't have tie clips. The front writing instrument is made of solid sterling silver. It has some dents in the nose cone but it seems to work well. You twist the nose cone to advance or retract the lead that we think is .9mm. Its matching pencil is "1/30 10k Gold RGP." We think that mean Rolled Gold Plating. It works well, too, and there is much less damage or wear to the RGP pencil. Both measure 8.8cm.

Omas pens remain among the hottest writing instruments at the moment, especially since the original company went out of business several years ago. Their pencils are among the hardest to find of their writing instruments, as they didn't make as many. This burgundy Omas Milord pencil is a real treat that comes with its original box and papers. We think it is a .5mm lead pencil. Spare leads are under the cap, which unscrews...so don't try to yank it off. With the exception of a tiny bit of brassing on the cap bands, this pencil has only some light wear from use, which is difficult to see unless you examine it closely. Works well. The click action works with a side twist of the tail cap. 14cm.

Vintage pencils make math and crossword puzzles way more fun. Take this Sheaffer 400 pencil for example. It is an early devotee of the .9mm lead. You advance and retract it with a simple twist of the tail cap. It has some wear from use, but most of us do after 80 years. The worst of it is a few little scratches in the nose cone, which you can see in the photo. The carmine red pattern is one of the rarer color schemes from this era. The clip is on tightly. It no longer has its eraser, but it comes with a spare lead. 13.3cm.

We aren't sure what Conklin called this pinstriped pencil made of rolled gold, but it is a very handsome taste of the 1920s. It is marked "Patented July 6, 1920." We suspect is was made a couple years later. This pen is a little more slender than the 4B and 5V models, but it is the same length. New Old Stock, it is dent and damage free. Twist the nose cone to advance and retract the 1.1mm lead. Pull off the tail blind cap to reveal a hardened eraser. Unscrew the eraser to reveal some spare leads. 13.3cm capped.

Roaring back into the light from the 1920s is this sterling silver Waterman pencil with the Sheraton design. It is new old stock with minimal traces of wear. The lead advances with a twist of the plastic nose cone. None of these pencils actually retracts the lead when twisting the other way. It needs to be pushed in. However, the lead seems pretty snug in the pencil. Unscrew the tail cap to reveal the spare leads. 13.1cm capped.