Art Deco Silver Triple Pencil Suite

Crafted in sterling silver by Edward Todd, New York, circa 1920, this Art Deco triple pencil suite is a true collector’s heirloom. Encased within a sleek tubular holder with a swivel hinge, it contains three delicate silver twist pencils, each with coloured glass tops. The coloured glass-set accents feel almost coded, as though each pencil held a different purpose: annotation, correction, creation. It is a piece that speaks of thought in motion, of intellect sharpened and ready.

The lines of this piece are clean, purposeful, and distinctly modern, reflecting the Art Deco fascination with innovation and forward motion. There is no overt ornament here; only precision and balance. 
It was most likely once worn from a belt, chatelaine, or pocket chain, clipped or looped so it could hang securely at the hip; accessible, practical, and slightly performative in that distinctly 1920s way. One could also imagine it suspended from a longer chain, worn against the chest, or simply carried as a pocket object of refinement. 

There is something wonderfully evocative about it: the idea of a writer, editor, or artist moving quickly through a vibrant city, this piece at their side, ready to be opened and used at a moment’s notice, at the first flicker of inspiration, the lightning strike of an idea. It belongs to the world of F. Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald, of bright rooms and laughter and loud music, of romance and bold, urgent ideas, of hands clasped, of sentences written hastily, words grasped and pressed into a page before they disappear into thin air, like cigarette smoke.
 
 
“I don’t want to live—I want to love first, and live incidentally.” 
 
~ Zelda Fitzgerald