Antique Drawing Instrument Collection - Brass Ruling Pens
Maker: N/A
Date: c1800
Description and Notes:
These are examples of early ruling pens made of brass and steel. The turned handle of the top and bottom ones are of the style common to those made in Britain in the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. In addition, the upper half of the handle of the bottom one can be unscrewed to reveal a pricker as called for. However the shape of the one in the middle, which, unfortunately, lost its cap to cover the pricker and the adjustment screw is also a later replacement (the original one, I believe, would most likely to be a wing headed screw), is quite unique and I have yet to find a similar one in any reference book. Therefore its date and origin are difficult to be ascertained, but could be an early example produced in the Continental Europe.