Bob:

Right ON!! 

Rich Lundin, WRI

-----Original Message-----
From: HISTORICAL ARCHAEOLOGY [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Bob
Skiles
Sent: Thursday, March 11, 2010 8:46 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Unknown Artifact

Oops, I may have "missed the boat" on this, it's a mechanical pencil 
alright, but probably not of American manufacture, but a British import. 
Thus, likely to be on the early end of the sequence rather than late. It 
appears to be silver and similar to those manufactured by Sampson Morgan & 
Co.

There is an image of an early Sampson Morgan pencil on this page:

http://markhillcollects.blogspot.com/2009/04/sampson-mordan-pencils.html

Bob Skiles

--------------------------------------------------
From: "Mark Branstner" <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Thursday, March 11, 2010 9:33 AM
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: Unknown Artifact

> Hi Guys,
>
> Paula Porubcan passed on this artifact for an ID, if possible ...
>
> Recovered from pre-Civil War Illinois farmstead context ... Any 
> suggestions or references would be greatly appreciated.
>
> http://yfrog.com/j6unknownobjectj
>
> Thanks,
>
> Mark
> -- 
>
> Mark C. Branstner, RPA
> Historic Archaeologist
>
> Illinois State Archaeological Survey
> Institute of Natural Resource Sustainability
> University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
> 209 Nuclear Physics Lab, MC-571
> 23 East Stadium Drive
> Champaign, IL 61820
>
> Phone: 217.244.0892
> Fax: 217.244.7458
> Cell: 517.927.4556
> [log in to unmask]
>
>
> "There's absolutely nothing wrong with Marxism, so long as you stop at "A 
> Day At The Races." If you keep on with "At the Circus," etc., suddenly, 
> Marxism doesn't seem all that interesting and you start to look for 
> something a bit more competent, like Chaplinism or Stoogeism"  - Anonymous
>
> "I hope there's pudding" - Luna Lovegood (HP5)