Stationery Archeology 7

It's been a while since I posted anything in the Stationery Archeology slot, so here's a bumper picture post. This is my old boxfile, rescued from a skip in west London around 1985. I normally keep some old back copies of 2000AD in this. It must date to the 1960s at least, and despite showing its age, it's still sturdy. You may recognise the cover design as the wallpaper on this blog, and some may recognise the wonderful rubber-stamped manufacturer's mark inside, with the slogan "SUPPLIED FOR THE PUBLIC SERVICE", from my Google profile.




Here's a close-up shot of that stamp. W. Smith Bermondsey Ltd. is long gone.

Stationery Archeology 6

A red WH Smith 6x4 index card box, complete with cards and index tabs, c.1990s.

Stationery Archeology 5

Number five in this occasional series is a Staedtler tradition HB pencil stub, which I found when cleaning the dust/cobwebs/other detritus from under the computer desk.  This one celebrates 300 150 years of Staedtler pencils, dating this pencil to 1985 (see second pic). Note the joined D and T on the "EDTLER".  I definitely used this pencil at school.  Apologies for the ham-fisted sharpening as I used a knife, not a sharpener, on this pencil for a DIY job years ago.  (Edited for correct date.)

Stationery Archeology 4

A bottle of Parker Quink Permanent Blue ink, manufactured in England in the 1970s. One of three I bought this year as a job-lot, after seeing this online. It seems to be the ink used by my favourite author JG B*ll@rd. I've used this recently in the Pilot M90 and it's still good, it dries out to a very respectable darkish blue with no purplue tinge.

I've since departed from the blue-ink policy in the M90 by filling it with Diamine Woodland Green. (See last post.)

Stationery Archeology 3

Third in this series, I'm really excited by this find. It is a Staedtler Shorthand pencil, HB and made in Great Britain. I found this on 22 October 2010 in a stationer's in Southampton. It is salmon-pink with a white band and a red painted end-cap, and the lettering (stamped in red) says:

GREAT BRITAIN STAEDTLER SHORTHAND JET BONDED


I love the stylised typography of the words "Staedtler" and "Jet Bonded". The model number is obscured by the price label - but I think this was model number 114. This pencil is a bit scuffed from years languishing unloved and unwanted in the stationer's pencil rack, but I'd like to think that has now ended and it has found a welcome in my modest collection. I've not tried writing with this pencil, so don't ask yet how well it writes.

I did not even know that Staedtler made stenographers' pencils here in the UK, so this was a delightful surprise for me. This clearly is one of the predecessors of the rare-as-hens'-teeth Stenofix. As it happened, I found this just around the corner from where I used to work, and shared an office with a shorthand typist called Joan. That office is now a hairdresser's.

This pencil was a bargain, as it cost me only 50p! I feel like I've just unearthed Sutton Hoo. What a shame they only had one in the rack, as I'd have had the lot. Never mind, I also found a somewhat beaten-up made-in-GB Staedtler tradition 2H too.

Stationery Archaeology 2

Second in this series, a set of WH Smith dry transfer lettering, c. mid-1980s.

Stationery Archaeology 1

This is the first in an occasional series on old bits of stationery I find on my travels: number one, a Faber-Castell eraser which I found whilst clearing stuff out of the loft.