 3---Sent
to me by a friend in Australia, Ms. Karen Ter Haar (the wonderful
Kaz!) this box's top declares the pen makers (more likely distributors)
to be "SANDS & McDOUGALL PTY LIMITED", the pen being their "CHRONICLE
PEN". The ends, identical to each other, restate that it contained the
"CHRONICLE PEN", and no wording or other clues appear on the sides or the
bottom. It is the only evidence I have been able to find that such a company
even existed, and I've never seen a "Chronicle pen" nor heard of anyone
having one. But my collection is young, and perhaps you will be the one
to solve this mystery for me! :-) (NOTE: Somewhere I have information
(sent to me by an internet acquaintance) that gives the name of the British
maker of the Chronicle, and I'll add that when I find it again, now that
my son has shown me how to update these pages! :-)
5---The New York City-based Spencerian Pen Company, I learned from Dr. Poole, was a pen distribution company that purchased its nibs from an English manufacturer, having no factories of its own. This elegant Spencerian box (which name was "REG. U.S. PAT. OFFICE & FOREIGN COUNTRIES") contained "1/2 GROSS No. 48", as stated on its top. The box's ends repeat the same information as its top, save the patent notice, and its sides were void of any markings.
Further research recently shows that originally this company was in fact the Ivison Phinney Publishing Company, later known as Ivison, Phinney, Blakeman, & Co., and finally in 1869 as Ivison, Blakeman, Taylor, & Co. Early on, in addition to publishing books, Ivison and Phinney also became the sole agents in the United States for Perry and Co. of London, whose nibs had been made exclusively by Josiah Mason of Birmingham since 1827! Meanwhile, Mr. Platt Rogers Spencer , right, of New York had developed what became famous--at least in the United States--as the"Spencerian" style of penmanship. The style's popularity was the inspiration in 1848 for Mssrs. Ivison and Phinney to have Perry and Co. make them their famous (first?) nib without the Perry name, the Ivison Phinney Spencerian No. 1. In 1858, the Spencerian Steel Pen Pen Co. was formed (no doubt as a subsidiary of the publisher). Incidentally, I.B.T.&Co. went on to co-publish (with G.&C. Merriam of Springfield, Mass.) the Webster's Unabridged Dictionary (this last from a full-page ad in the June 1877 issue of Scribner's, page 11).  
Of course, if I.B.T.&Co. continued as Perry's agents while distributing their new Spencerian line simultaneously, that could blow my whole dating theory, making the youngest possible date nearer to the turn of the century (1901?) when Continental Can Co. absorbed Somers Brothers. Further, page 12 of the afore-referenced 1877 Scribner's magazine does contain an ad for "Perry & Co's Steel Pens...London" listing the stateside address as "Branch House, 112 &114 William St., New York."And so the question arises, Is this the same address as that of Spencerian Pens or I.B.T.&Co.?
This all but cements my theory's date on the above Perry
tin as 1869 to 1871, since it (Kennedy's Spencerian) has rounded
corners, solid seams, and a sliding lid, clearly features of a newer tin
than the more primitive Perry.
 7---This
GEORGE W. HUGHES tin, with lid hinged at the top, is about the
same size and type as the little Bayer aspirin tins Mother kept in her
purse when I was a kid in the 50's, although it's a little thicker.
The only writing or other marks are on the front, which is bordered by
a thin gold strip outlined in black. The words "MADE IN ENGLAND" appear
first in small black letters at the top of a red banner, the rest of which
is filled in with "Geo. W. Hughes CELEBRATED STEEL PENS" in white.
This is followed by a picture of a white goose being carried by the neck
in the mouth of a running red fox between the words "TRADE" and "MARK".
All the above is bordered left and right with filigree of the same gold
and black as the front's border. Below this it says in small black
letters, "OFFICE: 377, BROADWAY, NEW YORK." (This last might be a
clue that the George Hughes pen company was located in England and not
the United States, if one did not already know this fact, since a comma
separates the street number and street name after the British fashion and
not the American.) The same leaf green that provides a background
for the remainder of the front is used on the sides and bottom of the tin.
However, no disclaimer, nib style or number identification, or other writing
appears on the sides or bottom, so it may have been a generic tin for any
Hughes nib. It measures 1 5/8 x 1 1/8 x 3/8 inches and is a shiny
silver color inside.
8----  "Suitable
for writing in every position. Glide over any paper. Never
scratch nor stick in the paper."
So states the claim on the back of this box by D. Leonardt & Co. , makers of the famous "ball-pointed pens". Whereas Gillott, Perry, Mitchell, and every other pen maker of the era accepted commissions to manufacture pens with only the client's company's name stamped thereupon (making it very difficult indeed for us NIBblers to later tell who made it), the Leonardt company "never produced a pen that did not have their own name on it," Mr. Poole told me, "a fact which stood them in good stead in later years." This explains the second statement on the back of the box," Manufactured by D. Leonardt & Co., Birmingham, for Ormiston & Glass Ltd., contractors to H. M. government the 'Saracen's Head,' Snow Hill, London, E.C., England." This particular box states on the ends that the pens inside are "No. 526F grey," as indeed they are, but no mention of Ormiston & Glass appears on any of them. ( I do own one nib marked Ormiston & Glass, but clearly stamped into the metal after that name is "D. Leonardt & Co., Birmingham, maker".)  In
the top right corner is the royal crest alluded to in the earlier quote.
Also pictured hanging from a gold strand on the box top are four of the
medals the pens were awarded at various exhibitions. The sides list
those and other awards as follows:
Certainly, then, the box and its contents can be no older than 1884. But is this the near date of the item, or did this list appear on all subsequent Leonardt boxes, almost as a logo, even though the makers could have chosen to include other awards won in later years? I'm afraid I don't know the answer yet.
The warning on the back: "CAUTION. Manufacturers and dealers are hereby cautioned against using the word SHAKESPERIAN which has been registered in the U.S. Patent Office as applied to writing pens." And then, "Manf'd in England" and "S.P. Co., 349 Broadway, N.Y.C." My guess is that Gillott was the maker, since the box's solid construction includes an inner box covered with the shiny navy blue paper so characteristic of that company. 
10----OK, does anyone know who F. P. Bridges was? Clearly he sold his pens from Boston, Massachusetts, and had them made in England. From the spelling of "aluminium", I'll bet he was British. The embossed royal crown visible on each nib but most clearly seen on the end-panel drawing is further indication that this was a British operation. And I do believe that's the London Bridge on the logo. Why, then, did he/they sell from Boston? 
11----The Berkshire Valley Paper Co., located in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, clearly commissioned someone to manufacture its pens. Who the actual maker was may remain a mystery, but this just in (15 Mar 2000): Dear Mr. Gwin,This means that the items at which you're looking were between 111 and 124 years old at the turn of the century. So Hunt (founded 1899) was not the maker, but Esterbrook, Turner and Harrison, or Miller Brothers could well have been, assuming they were made in the U.S., of course. The steel-gray "Perfection Pen" No. 7 nibs inside have ground points, and are a hair over 1 3/16 inches long (3 cm) each. In inches, this little box's top measures 1 7/16 x 1 11/16 and is 1 1/16 deep (36 x 43 x 22 mm).
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1---In
this beautiful tin (from the early part of the 20th century) came
one gross of the popular Waverley pens. (A seller on EBay from whom
I bought one of these told me that the warehouse shipping container in
which he found a stash of them was dated 1932, I believe.)
The
maroon and cream tin's bottom models an artist's drawing in black of the
Waverley nib followed by its makers' clever and then-well-known pitch:
"They
come as a Boon and a Blessing to men: The Pickwick, the Owl, and the Waverley
Pen." The hinged-lid tin measures 1 1/2" x 2 1/2" x 7/8".
2---This
Italian nib box was part of a trade with Roberto Morassi. The words "ACCIAIO",
"BIMETAL", "ESPORTAZIONE", and "MADE IN ITALY", all appear on top of the
box with "LUS" (an acronym for the maker: Legnani Umberto, Saronno) in
the center. "BIMETAL" is on each side. On the left end is "EXTRA 400/3
E.F.", and on the right end is "ACCIAIO E.F. No.400/3 BIMETAL" with a picture
of the pen itself, a broad-nibbed stub with vee opening followed by a plus-sign
opening that is separate from the slit. The inscription on the nib says,
"LUS EXTRA FINA No. 400/3". Nothing is on the box's bottom.
Nevertheless,
even if the above paragraph is true, the following other data may reinforce
the earlier dating: (1) the tin's construction seems very primitive
to me, as one might find in the early stages of a tins-producing company's
existence. For example, the tin box and its lid have open seams--no
soldering--each part being formed of a single piece of tin cut in the shape
of a cross with the four arms of each bent inward to form the sides and
ends. And (2), upon close inspection using a magnifying glass, it becomes
quite clear that the entire original of the lithographed letters and images
was done by hand, then reduced by some minification process. (Even
without a magnifier, looking at the two R's in "PERRY" on the tin's
top, for example, one can see a distinct difference between the sizes of
the holes in the loops.) More on this will be forthcoming as
we learn it.
9----Say,
isn't that Bill Shakespeare's
picture on the front of that box? Sure is, as he was the
namesake for the Shakesperian Pen Company. Quite frankly,
until I acquired this beauty, I had only seen or heard of one Shakesperian
nib, which I found in a group of Spencerian nibs. This led me to
believe it was a NIB name, not a COMPANY name. But now we all know
better. A gross of their No.5 Falcon Stubs came in this, most of
which are still there. The nib's pictures (which appear on
the wrapping seal on the box's ends) have very distinct lines drawn across
the point, leading me to believe the nibs might have grooved instead of
12----Hinks,
Wells, & Co. of Birmingham, England, produced
these "LATEM PEN"s sometime between 1921 and (I believe) 1970, since a
note on the back of the box credits British Pens, Limited, as being
the issuers of the label. Hinks Wells amalgamated with William Mitchell
in 1921 to form British Pens, which still produces pens today under the
names of William Mitchell and Joseph Gillott, the latter's company having
been absorbed by British Pens in the 1950's. The late