Pencil sharpener
Guhl & Harbeck
Category
Education objects
Date
circa 1897
Materials
Metal
Measurements
345 mm (length); 150 mm (width); 128 mm (height)
Place of origin
Hamburg
Order this imageCollection
Sudbury Hall Museum of Childhood, Derbyshire
NT 665359
Summary
A black metal late 19th century 'German Jupiter 1' pencil sharpener (circa 1897). A pair of solid gear wheels with a turned wooden handle drives a cutting disc and also a shaft running to the other end of the machine, where another set of gears drive the holder for the non-writing end of the pencil. A flat bar with three vertical prongs runs above the drive shaft. A flat recess forms part of the base at the handle end. A separate oval metal plate is riveted to the side.
Provenance
'Derbyshire Museum Service History of Education Collection' - a collection established by Derbyshire Museum Service (through gifts from individuals, Derbyshire schools and purchases) in the 1940s and stored at Sudbury Hall from the early 1970s to 2012. The National Trust managed the collection between 1991 and 2012 when legal ownership was transferred from Derbyshire County Council to the National Trust. Archival records information - "The collection was established as a result of isolated gifts in the 1940's, and the 'savings' of certain school records (now passed to County Records) during wartime paper salvage." "During the 1950s it was L.E.A. practice to hold an Easter Course for teachers, and the County (Derbyshire) Museum arranged a special exhibition for teach course. As by the mid 1950s quite a collection had already accumulated, it was decided to produce an exhibition on the history of education with special reference to Derbyshire. Consequently, further material was purchased, from which items were selected. The exhibition was subsequently shown at a number of centres, and after disbandment, additions continued to be made with the aim of eventually producing a reconstructed classroom as a base for research. The Derby Bishop Lonsdale College of Education has frequently made use of the collection in various ways."
Marks and inscriptions
On the top of the base: 'JUPITER 1' On the side of the base: 'Pencil sharpening machine/ PATENTED' On the oval metal plate on the side of the box, surrounding a monogram of the letter G and H: 'ORIGINAL MASCHINE' On the underside of the base: GUHL AND HARBECK/ HAMBURG
Makers and roles
Guhl & Harbeck, maker