Name that PENCIL or PEN [9]

Ha! Maybe next time I’ll aim for an MP-fied episode of Jeeves & Wooster.

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Both pencils do have something at the other end, but it isn’t decorative. Purely functional.

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A letter opener?

Maybe a hidden rubber stamp and/or seal?

Not stamps or letters. Numbers, maybe.

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Perpetual Calendar?

Seal?

There are no numbers on the pencil itself - it has a more operational role.

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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…

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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:

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Are these for embossing?

No, they’re not used on paper or any kind of surface.

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Is this used to

Either test voltage?

Or

Punch holes?

No electronics or moving parts involved, but they are used in holes (of sorts).

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SIM extractors, only they arrived half a century too early and flopped, the market wasn’t ready :grin:

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