Civil War Era Mechanical Pencil

gcaso7176

Newbie
Feb 23, 2019
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Hi everyone! I recently picked up this mechanical pencil that I believe to be from the civil war era. It is a slide pencil, has a screwable jewel top, and the name "Ezra C. Dean" engraved on it. The mechanical mechanism slides in and out, the jewel top comes off, and the hook loop on it also slides. I'm looking for more information on this such as who made it, when was it made, what is it exactly, what is its worth, that sort of thing. Any and all help is much appreciated. Thank you!
IMG_0031.JPGIMG_9118.JPGIMG_5932.JPGIMG_4724.JPGIMG_4705.JPGIMG_3717.JPGIMG_1386.JPGIMG_0920.JPGIMG_0889.JPGIMG_0885.JPGIMG_0495.JPGIMG_9384.JPG
 

Very cool pencil.
It's a beauty, but sorry I have no help on what you ask.

and Welcome to TreasureNet
 

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If your civil war era mechanical pencil has a connection to Ohio. it might have been owned by this particular Ezra Dean. Although no middle-name initial is given... he lived in Ohio, his adult life matches up with the time-period of your pencil, and having been a US Congressman he was wealthy enough to have afforded such a costly writing-instrument.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ezra_Dean
The Wikipedia article includes a link to a photo of his grave monument.

My Google-type websearch on your behalf for the full name "Ezra C. Dean" returned no results. I don't have the spare time to hunt through all the other "hits" that a Google-search for just "Ezra Dean" produced, to see it there is an Ezra C. Dean among them. That's something you'll have to do for yourself, if you have enough interest for doing that.
 

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If your civil war era mechanical pencil has a connection to Ohio. it might have been owned by this particular Ezra Dean. Although no middle-name initial is given... he lived in Ohio, his adult life matches up with the time-period of your pencil, and having been a US Congressman he was wealthy enough to have afforded such a costly writing-instrument.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ezra_Dean
The Wikipedia article includes a link to a photo of his grave monument.

My Google-type websearch on your behalf for the full name "Ezra C. Dean" returned no results. I don't have the spare time to hunt through all the other "hits" that a Google-search for just "Ezra Dean" produced, to see it there is an Ezra C. Dean among them. That something you'll have to do for yourself, if you have enough interest for doing that.

We'll see if OP comes back to his post(s)...???
 

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Cool find Ill tell ya I would never pay that kinda money for a pencil but there are many who will.
 

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Thank you everyone for the feedback so far!
@lairmo, mine looks very similar to that, yes! It seems that on the one I have, the crosshatch work is a lot smaller and closer together, making a lot more of it.
@TheCannonballGuy, I honestly do not know if the pencil has a connection to Ohio or not. It would be really, really cool if it did!! It does seem that the fanciness of this pencil would not be for more common people, and most likely educated intellectuals; especially to have one's name engraved on it, there must have been a lot of money, reason, and status behind it. I haven't had time yet to go through the search results for Ezra C. Dean as you suggested, but it is something I am looking forward to doing.

I'm still not sure what a pencil like this is worth, regardless of the possible historical connection to Ezra Dean. Does anybody have any ideas on how to cross-reference that or how to put a value on it?

Thanks so much for all your help, and I'm happy to be a part of this forum :)
 

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