“New York’s Own Drink”

From the International Directory of Company Histories, Vol. 24, what follows are some details about Seeman Bros. Inc., of New York, N.Y.

There were originally five brothers, who founded their business in 1886 in New York City. Eventually two of the five, Joseph and Sigel, would emerge as partners in the grocery business. As branded products became more popular, the brothers created the White Rose brand and applied it to three products at first: corn, tomatoes, and peas. But as the article notes, it was their brand of tea that made them a “household name.”

From what I can tell White Rose, Inc. soldiered on until 2014, when it filed for bankruptcy and was then purchased by C&S Grocers, Inc.

I don’t know the exact date of manufacture for these pencils, but my guess is sometime between 1920 and 1930; both the shape of the pencils and the embedded erasers are clues, but not necessarily proof.

I’ve always been curious about how tapered pencils like these were manufactured. Were they cut from slats like hexagonal and round pencils, perhaps with specialized machinery? The point starts at an averaged-sized diameter then becomes uniformly wider. Four sharp cuts form the back end and reveal the embedded eraser:

Given that White Rose, Inc. was based in New York it’s reasonable to think that these pencils were manufactured by the Eberhard Faber Company. Their 1923 catalog shows they were still making tapered pencils:

But many pencil manufacturers were making tapered pencils including Dixon and the American Lead Pencil Co., so it’s hard to say. However, I have one other pencil from the 1920s with the same “White Rose Coffee” branding; and it’s an Eberhard Faber Van Dyke with a clamp eraser.

There is something about the typeface that reminds me of Coca-Cola.

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