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thoreau_3

J. Thoreau & Son #3

Brand: John Thoreau & Co.

Made in: USA

John Thoreau & Co. was the first American pencil company to offer pencils in four different degrees of hardness. During much of the 1840s, Thoreau made the most highly prized pencils in North America.

According to the Concord Museum there are three known variations of printing on the pencils: J. Thoreau & Son Concord Mass (pictured above), John Thoreau, and J Thoreau & Co.

 

 

About John Thoreau & Co.

Based in Concord, Massachusetts and manufactured pencils between about 1824 and 1852. Henery David would have been around seven years old when his father started the company. Apparently, after graduating Harvard in 1838 and possibly even during his Harvard years, Henery worked with his father in the family pencil business. They eventually elevated the quality of the lead to a highly prized status.