A very good quality Victorian gold combined sliding propelling pencil and dip pen.
 
This beautiful hexagonal designed pen is finely engraved with foliate scroll decoration and acanthus leaf motifs.
 
There is a blank section which we believe would have possibly have been for the original retailers name to have been engraved. There is also an original hexagonal removable loop to hang the pen from a chain.
 
The pen has a screw off terminal to the top revealing a lead reservoir. This is set with a shield shaped banded agate seal stone.
 
The pen nib slides out with the lower sliding mechanism and the pencil which is hidden behind the pen slides with the upper sliding mechanism.
 
This beautiful piece is in wonderful condition with no damage or repair and is in full working order.
 
It comes complete with original dip pen nib and a pencil lead included.
 
Dip pens, or dipping pens as they are sometimes called, preceded the fountain pens that were developed in the second half of the 19th century.
 
As their name suggests, dip pens had to be regularly dipped into an inkwell or ink bottle because they lacked on-board reservoirs of pigment.
 
Era: Victorian, 1839 - 1901
Measurements: Pen closed 10.4cm long;
with pen open 11.4 cm (13.3 cm with knib); 
with pencil open 12.6cm.
Weight 16.6 grams
Hallmarks: Stamped 9CT, Makers mark B&B (traced as Benjamin Barling & Sons)