It has been said before that perhaps the earliest type of pencil was in fact the ancient Roman stylus. This was a thin metal stick, often made with lead, for scratching on papyrus. Many of these have been found over the years by metal detectorists and archaeologists in the UK (and beyond).
During the eighteen hundreds many protractor pencils were made. In typical Victorian ornate fashion, many of these were made of gold or silver. I have been fortunate to find a silver one locally in Sefton Park. However a fellow detectorist has recently found a gold one. This was found in a farmers field and my guess is it dates to late Victorian. Whatever date it is, this is the actual condition it was found. In my opinion it is a beaut.
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