Ha! Maybe next time I’ll aim for an MP-fied episode of Jeeves & Wooster.
Both pencils do have something at the other end, but it isn’t decorative. Purely functional.
A letter opener?
Maybe a hidden rubber stamp and/or seal?
Not stamps or letters. Numbers, maybe.
Perpetual Calendar?
Seal?
There are no numbers on the pencil itself - it has a more operational role.
Is it a combination “pencil & key”?
Or something like a slide rule/mechanical calculator? It would be very limited in its computing power given the tiny lengths involved, but I see some possibilities.
Your last suggestion is very, very close! Maybe you’ll now be able to guess the name imprinted on the barrel of both pencils…
Well, if it is a slide rule, I’d say Albert Nestler — but I thought it was not a German breed.
Slide rules were also made by Aristo (Austria, perhaps?), Faber-Castell, Marabu, Koh-I-Noor (Czech Republic), but also Tecnostyl (Italy) and many others. Perhaps too many to guess correctly.
If it’s a mechanical calculator, the famous name on the tip of my tongue is Curta (which means Lichtenstein as a place), but maybe it is just too small a space for an even tinier version of a Curta.
Finally, I think I have a circular slide rule, probably made by Logarex (or that is the name of the model? Can’t remember right now), and once again that is Saxon by origin.
PS: aaand here it comes another rabbit hole to dive into…
My pencils are nowhere near as clever as all those slide rule pencils, but they do both have a clever friend who can do a couple of things that most slide rules can’t.
Guessing only: a rolling odometer?
Calipers?
These are great ideas - both of which I have seen implemented on mechanical pencils - but still much too clever for my pair.
It’s probably time to show you what’s on the other end and take it from there:
Are these for embossing?
No, they’re not used on paper or any kind of surface.
Is this used to
Either test voltage?
Or
Punch holes?
No electronics or moving parts involved, but they are used in holes (of sorts).
SIM extractors, only they arrived half a century too early and flopped, the market wasn’t ready