Object Details
Description
This 4-7/8" steel pen has twin blades whose line thickness is adjusted by a screw. The pen is not marked. Similar ruling pens first appeared in Europe at the beginning of the 18th century.
References: Maya Hambly, Drawing Instruments, 1580–1980 (London: Sotheby's Publications, 1988), 57–58.
Sotheby & Company, Catalogue of a Collection of Scientific Instruments, the Property of the Late Henry Russel Wray, London, 1959 (a copy of the catalogue is in the accession file).
Location
Currently not on view
date made
18th century
ID Number
MA.316935
accession number
228694
catalog number
316935
Object Name
pen
Physical Description
steel (overall material)
Measurements
overall: .7 cm x 12 cm x .7 cm; 9/32 in x 4 23/32 in x 9/32 in
place made
Europe
See more items in
Medicine and Science: Mathematics
Pens and Pencils
Science & Mathematics
Data Source
National Museum of American History
Subject
Drawing Instruments
Link to Original Record
Record ID
nmah_904285