9ct Gold Victorian Sampson Mordan Propelling Pencil

Victorian
9ct Gold Propelling Pencil
Marked 375 – 9ct Gold
Makers Mark SM
Date Letter D
Measuring 8cm
In working order with original pencil
Presentation Inscription CHW

Sampson Mordan who was born in 1790 and died in 1843. He was a silversmith and a co-inventor of the first patented mechanical pencil. During his youth, he was an apprentice of the inventor and locksmith Joseph Bramah, who patented the first elastic ink reservoir for a fountain pen.
In 1822, Mordan and his co-inventor John Isaac Hawkins filed the first patent in Great Britain for a metal pencil with an internal mechanism for propelling the graphite “lead” shaft forward during use, as an improvement on the less complex lead holders that merely clutched the pencil lead to hold it into a single position. These pencils are now highly collectible.

Mordan bought out Hawkins and entered into a business partnership with Gabriel Riddle, an established stationer. After the partnership with Riddle dissolved, Mordan continued to sell his silver pencils as “S. Mordan & Co.This can be worn on a medium length chain or with other items.