I had found a VERY worn (no paint left!) version of this pencil previously, but this better condition example just came up and I couldn’t resist it. Comparing it to other similar pocket sketching or ‘forrester’ pencils of the same era, it has the 8 sided barrel and proportions of similar A.W. Faber leadholders, so it’s likely a Faber rebrand for C. Roberson Ltd. as a client brand, as they often did later in their production of these pencils. Roberson are a great old London artist’s colourmen company, founded in 1810, who still make wonderful materials and tools to this day. I still use their gilding materials and sketchbooks, so it was nice to find this lovely bit of history from them. Roberson famously supplied many of Londons greatest artists too, including Turner, Whistler and Sargent, designers such as William Morris, William de Morgan and Walter Crane and the royal and famous including Queen Victoria, Lady Randolph Churchill and Winston Churchill, any of whom might have seen this pencil and picked one up to draw with. So, in my mind, there will always be a chance that this example was owned by one of those greats, previously…perhaps!
Of the same genre…perhaps give-aways as part of a late 19th century ad war amongst English art material suppliers?? (Perry Co’s is called “Mammoth”) Both are labeled as English made, but I would not be surprised if the “hardware” was German… many German makers of the day had that Victorian design aesthetic going on…
I have something loosely similar, it is an old “Geo Rowney & Co. Ltd. — Made in England” sketching pencil for 5.6mm lead, with cylindrical barrel and hemispherical rear dome; the tightening mechanism is very similar, but not exactly identical, to the brass/wooden item by @TheGoodPhite , and only a smidge less fancy than the brass model by @lsd300 .
Unfortunately in my case, the shelf wear is incomparably higher than the one in your pictures, and a worrying amount of lacquer has chipped away…
Some more examples of 5.6mm sketching leadholders from the era-
‘lefties’ …
Top to bottom-
1. Perry & Co. Patent Copying Pencil
2. Parcel Post Copying Lead Pencil
3. Conte a Paris
4. ‘A.R. Faber’ (counterfeit A.W. Faber)
5. Johann Faber
6. A.W. Faber 25 (Earliest 2 digit Faber model numbering)
7. A.W. Faber ‘Black Chalk’
8&9. C. Roberson ‘Piccadilly Pencil’
and ‘righties’…
Top to bottom-
1. A.W. Faber 25
2. Johann Faber round
3. A.W. Faber 2543
4. A.W. Faber 2542
5. A.W. Faber 2541
6&7. Geo. Rowney & Co. Ltd
8. Rowley Gallery (likely a Rowney rebrand)
That Reeves is very close to the Rowneys I’ve seen… though a competing materials supplier, so odd if so… and the Perry & Co. Mammoth is fantastic! Never seen that one. Very cool thing
These are so great- the longer handle makes it more of a studio pencil, maybe, but very nice for that!
Geo Rowney, we meet again… My version has a black handle, probably the most basic one; apart from that, and the chipping of the lacquer of course, the one I own is identical to your No.6. Cool piece, I wish it had resisted more the labour of time.
I’ve actually never seen a black one- I didn’t know they did one! Love to see a picture- is the thin knurled band diagonal/cabled on yours like the red and blue versions I showed?
The band on the nose on the Rowneys has this distinct diagonal cabled knurling on my versions, different from all the others that have the beaded band of knurling…
As we have bid adieu (!/?) to England: Short and sweet:
Long and double (and worn): From top: another Perry “Mammoth” (back to England, maybe), A W and then Johann Faber
A W FABER (top green one looks like a combo with the wooden red/ black-tailed KIN 48)
…and a few more : the brown single one was made in Germany for E G Soltmann Drafting Materials, New York…It was called “Mammoth”, as well…the bottom red one is an Americam Pencil Co. version..the smaller red double is a Johann Faber
Love a bit of patina… excellent selection. That stubby A.W. Faber double takes the prize though…
Hi there! Tried to take some pictures today, in spite of a terrible lighting setup; here is what I have — and I think I can confirm the gripping ring is of the cabled type.
A true pity the varnish disappeared…
Very cool to see this, thank so much for posting these pics- I have never seen this one before and great to know it exists, in any condition!