Images(4)

Carl N. Steinberg Collection, MCHA Archives

Trade Sign - Fountain Pen

Maker Eagle Pencil Company

Periodca. 1915 - 1920

MediumPine and copper, with metal hooks and chain

Dimensions41 × 2.75 in. (104.1 × 7 cm)

SignedThe painted decoration identifies the pen as "EAGLE 'PRINCE' / Eagle Pencil / Co. / New York."

ClassificationsAdvertising, Business & Ornamental Artifacts

Credit LineMarshall P. Blankarn Purchasing Fund, 1970

Object number1983.404

DescriptionA trade sign in the shape of a fountain pen, painted black. The pen point is fashioned of copper, and two screw eyes attach a chain for hanging. The shaft of the pen bears the legend "EAGLE 'PRINCE' / Eagle Pencil / Co. / New York," as well as a stenciled image of an eagle in flight clutching an olive branch in one claw, three arrows in the other, and a pen in its beak.
Curatorial RemarksThe Eagle Pencil Company was founded in New York in 1856 by Bavarian immigrant Daniel Berolzheimer. He opened a shop in Manhattan and a factory in Yonkers. The firm became one of the four largest manufacturers of the ubiquitous No. 2 lead pencil. Eventually the operation moved to a complex of buildings on the south side of 14th Street east of Avenue C in Manhattan. Eagle, credited with making the first eraser-tipped pencil in 1872, was considered an innovative company. They also patented a glass cartridge fountain pen in 1890, the first successful pen of its type. The firm started marketing a button filling pen in 1906 called the "Flash," indicating how quickly it filled. Eagle offered fountain pens until at least the 1950s. Many were of high quality. But they never sold as well as the big four - namely Parker, Sheaffer, Waterman and Conklin. A series of post-war acquisitions meant that the Eagle Pencil Co. name was no longer appropriate. In 1969, the company name was therefore changed to Berol, the owning family's now-shortened surname. In 1987, the operation was sold to the Empire Pencil Corporation of Tennessee. Berol products are now traded under the name of Berol by Paper Mate. The company is presently based in Litchfield, England, owned by parent company Newell Rubbermaid.NotesAssociation accession records state that the fountain pen trade sign had been used in a store in Freehold, Monmouth County. Eagle fountain pens were a very popular item carried by many merchants. But only one store in Freehold advertised them in the local newspapers. That was Birch's Hardware Store, located at 34 West Main Street. Bertram Birch, a native of Towners, New York, spent his entire adult life in the retail trade. He came to Monmouth County as an employee of Frank L. Tuttle in Asbury Park, after working at some of his other stores in Danbury, CT, and Perth Amboy, NJ. In February of 1909 he purchased the Red Bank location from Tuttle, having managed it for several years. It was renamed Birch's Bargain Store, and featured housewares. Birch was considered an expert window trimmer, having received a number of prizes over the years for excellency in the decorating line. In May of 1911, he picked up stakes and moved to Freehold, trading under the same store name until 1914 when it became Birch's Hardware Store due to expanded lines of hardware and tools. Birch advertised Eagle fountain pens "priced from $1 to $2.50" during the Holiday Season of 1917 under the slogan "For Practical Holiday Gifts." He repeated the ad in 1918, changing his banner to "For Practical and Useful Christmas Gifts." Birch developed an aggressive newspaper advertising program on a year round basis, something that many of his competitors at the time did not do. In 1920, he teamed up with the Levy Brothers to hold a "Dollar Day" sale, a discount retailing tactic that quickly became a regular community-wide event. In the spring and summer of 1923 he tore down his small wood-framed store and erected a two-story brick building that housed two businesses on the first floor and offices above. The innovative and successful Freehold merchant announced in October of 1946 that he would retire at the end of the year after fifty years in business. He spent his remaining years traveling to distant interesting places, often writing of his travels in the Freehold Transcript. Birch took great interest in the Freehold community, serving as Treasurer and Secretary of the Chamber of Commerce for many years; on the board of directors, board of trustees, and finance committee of the Freehold Area YMCA; as a founder of Veteran's Park in the borough; and as a member of the Freehold Girl Scout Council. A bachelor, Bertram Birch died on 21 March 1970, leaving no known family. His remains were interred at Old Tennent Presbyterian Church. A historic photograph shows the store front of Birch's Bargain Store about 1913 with dense displays of kerosene heaters, cast iron cookware, baskets, coal hods, and other household items. A second photograph, ca. 1915 - 1920, depicts the store interior decorated lavishly for the Holiday shopping season and packed to capacity with household wares of every description.

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