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PROPERTY FROM THE COLLECTION OF NORMAN S. BOAS
WASHINGTON, George (1732-1799). A gilt-clad mechanical pencil, believed to have been owned and used by Washington.
Details
WASHINGTON, George (1732-1799). A gilt-clad mechanical pencil, believed to have been owned and used by Washington.
115mm long, 8mm diam., mounted in a frame with portrait and facsimile signature.
A gold pen with Washington and Tallmadge family provenance. Bertrand F. Bell III, who inherited the pencil in 1971, wrote that at the time he took possession of the pen, it was "attached to a thin copper wire which was attached to the ring on the pencil. I recall well that the tag carried the handwritten note, 'Pencil of G. Washington, Gift of Elanor P. C. Lewis. [no longer present]'" (Bell to Norman F. Boas, 13 May 1985). Although incidents of Washington's use of pencil are somewhat rare, there are several documented examples. Dorothy Twohig, editor of the Papers of George Washington notes that Washington used a pencil in his 1763 surveys of the Great Dismal Swamp. She also discovered an order Washington made the same year of Robert Cary & Company in London for "1 Neat silver Pencil–exactly six Inches long," as well as "1 doz'n spare Pencils for Do, some of them red, some black and pretty hard, at least not too soft. (Twohig to Norman Boas, 27 October 1987). Provenance: Eleanor Parke Lewis Custis – given by Custis an unnamed ancestor or Henry Pearl Tallmadge II of Netherwood (Plainfield, New Jersey) – Bertrand F. Bell III – Norman S. Boas.
[With:] Supporting letters concerning the provenance, including the two cited here.
115mm long, 8mm diam., mounted in a frame with portrait and facsimile signature.
A gold pen with Washington and Tallmadge family provenance. Bertrand F. Bell III, who inherited the pencil in 1971, wrote that at the time he took possession of the pen, it was "attached to a thin copper wire which was attached to the ring on the pencil. I recall well that the tag carried the handwritten note, 'Pencil of G. Washington, Gift of Elanor P. C. Lewis. [no longer present]'" (Bell to Norman F. Boas, 13 May 1985). Although incidents of Washington's use of pencil are somewhat rare, there are several documented examples. Dorothy Twohig, editor of the Papers of George Washington notes that Washington used a pencil in his 1763 surveys of the Great Dismal Swamp. She also discovered an order Washington made the same year of Robert Cary & Company in London for "1 Neat silver Pencil–exactly six Inches long," as well as "1 doz'n spare Pencils for Do, some of them red, some black and pretty hard, at least not too soft. (Twohig to Norman Boas, 27 October 1987). Provenance: Eleanor Parke Lewis Custis – given by Custis an unnamed ancestor or Henry Pearl Tallmadge II of Netherwood (Plainfield, New Jersey) – Bertrand F. Bell III – Norman S. Boas.
[With:] Supporting letters concerning the provenance, including the two cited here.