Vintage German Mechanical Pencil With Unusual Feeding Habits

[Halfhyde]

I have no idea who made this pencil. Maybe someone can help with that, as well.

The unusual thing is that after advancing the lead, there is no way to get it to retract. At all. Not by turning the capand not by turning the cap and then pushing it back inside the tip manually.

Usually if it will extract, one of those methods will retract the lead.

I believe that this pencil is silver plated to some degree, but there is no marking to indicate that,

It is 4 5/8 inches in length.

Here is a composite picture of the pencil

Thanks,

Michael Little

[Ernst Bitterman]

I can't really help, but I thought it might put your mind at rest to know that Eversharp pencils in their early decades couldn't retract the lead either. This isn't one of those, as the mechanism is quite different.

[Halfhyde]

I can't really help, but I thought it might put your mind at rest to know that Eversharp pencils in their early decades couldn't retract the lead either. This isn't one of those, as the mechanism is quite different.

Hello Ernst,

Actually, many mechanical pencils were never made to retract the lead. One of my favorites being the Autopoint line.

It is amusing to see sellers listing mechanical pencils on ebay and stating that the pencil has an issue because it will not retract the lead, not realizing that is the way they were designed.

Michael Little
Phoenix, Arizona