Festival of Britain Pencil Sharpeners

[nickjones]

Gary Galvin just emailed me a link to a forthcoming Vectis sale
http://www.vectis.co.uk/Page/ViewAuctio ... n=29&Sub=0
see lot no 2710
I borrowed the auction pic from Vectis

[nickjones]

and another on but no model again
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Vintage-Cresc ... 0978586821

[GHOSTHUNTER]

The last couple posts are very interesting, loosely linking the novelty Pencil Sharpeners to 'CRESCENT'. On the back of my Rolls-Royce talk and slide-show for the Maidenhead Static Model Club in Windsor, I was checking their website to see if they have uploaded the nights pictures for all to see, they had not, but while looking around the rest of the site, I came across a picture posted by none other than Robert Newson of the Tower Bridge model, credited it to a company by the name of...'EEBEE'. I have since seen another example pictured with it's box and it clearly shows 'EEBEE Distinctive Toys'. It is so similar in it's execution and size to the 'Pencil Sharpeners' I wonder if they are linked. The 'EEBEE' novelty Tower Bridge appears to have been made in or close enough to the Festival of Britain to be part of this interesting thread.

GHOSTHUNTER.

[Idris]

The pencil sharpeners are credited in a contemporary Festival of Britain book to James Bros. of Harlington. It is unclear whether they were the manufacturers, the marketing company, or both. Having said that, I do see a family likeness between the sharpeners and the model of Tower Bridge (although the gold finish is completely different). However, the Bridge is known to have been marketed by Cavendish Novelties and does not seem to have any links to the Festival of Britain

[GHOSTHUNTER]

There are several colours seen on the Tower Bridge model and like so many novelty toys, is likely to have been marketed by a few different un-connected companies for the tourist trade, as we now have...

...Cavendish Novelties.
...EEBEE Distinctive Toys.

so far.

Ghosty.

[johnboy]

I'm don't know if this is the same casting or a similar one, but there's a St Paul's pencil sharpener below which commemorates the Queen's Coronation in 1953. I can't remember the dimensions of the Festival of Britain version to compare it:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Old-St-Pauls- ... 51c2d05756

[Idris]

Very interesting!
I’d read somewhere that the Cathedral had also been issued to commemorate the Queen’s coronation, but had never seen any evidence of it. This looks like the same casting, but I suspect that there may be some detail differences. (I’ll have a look when I get home.)
I wonder if the Abbey was also reissued?

[johnboy]

Very interesting!
I’d read somewhere that the Cathedral had also been issued to commemorate the Queen’s coronation, but had never seen any evidence of it. This looks like the same casting, but I suspect that there may be some detail differences. (I’ll have a look when I get home.)
I wonder if the Abbey was also reissued?

Thanks for checking Hugh, I see someone has just bought the one above I've not seen an Abbey version yet, but its seems a distinct possibilty that it was also produced. I wonder if the same company was capitalising on the two major events especially as they are only a couple of years apart, or whether a competitor decided to get in on the act?

[Idris]

Very interesting!
I’d read somewhere that the Cathedral had also been issued to commemorate the Queen’s coronation, but had never seen any evidence of it. This looks like the same casting, but I suspect that there may be some detail differences. (I’ll have a look when I get home.)
I wonder if the Abbey was also reissued?

Apologies for the delay. I've now found the time to compare the photographs with my FoB version and, as far as I can tell, with the exception of the FoB text being replaced by the Coronation text, they are identical (even down to the pencil sharpener).
My conclusion is therefore that this is a reissue of the FoB pencil sharpener by the original manufacturer. This makes it all the more likely that the Abbey also exists as a Coronation commemorative.

[nickjones]

The measurements given for the coronation st pauls match the FOB st pauls that I have.
The tower bridge was made by at least two different companies, I have the cavendish, I believe the other one was made by crescent but I could be wrong.