A nicely quirky Sampson Mordan & Co Silver pencil which would once likely have swung from a chatelaine and now makes an original pendant. This Victorian novelty is of good quality and still holds the original purple pencil... so we think may have been used in a laundry to mark items.
There is a full London Assay Office hallmark for the year 1896 and it is also signed 'S. M & Co' and so was made by the workshop of Sampson Mordan who registered the first patent for a "metal pencil with an internal mechanism for propelling the graphite 'lead' shaft forward during use" in 1822.
The round belcher link chain measures 30 inches and fastens with a bolt ring clasp. Including the ring, the pencil measures 2.5 inches.