'The Birthday Dragon' at least makes more of an effort towards having a plot, though what we get is (at best) slapdash and uninspired. Oh, yeah, this special has villains (two, washed-up circus clowns), but they may as well not be here. :P
The featured pencil is an 'Official' railway pencil from Dixon's. Specifically, the pencil refers to the Chicago, St. Paul, Minneapolis and Omaha Railway (C St P M&O RR RY) railway. :3
This particular pencil has a story. I discovered it on eBay while meandering through listings. Generally, I search under specific keywords, but this time I broadened my horizons a bit. In doing so I found the listing for this pencil ...well, I kinda did. The listing was for a pencil LIKE this one. The price had been reduced, albeit, I still thought it rather overpriced given the deterioration of its paint.
Yet, I was in need of a railroad pencil to feature with TRRD (which I'd been neglecting for ages now). I decided to send an offer---yeah, the price had been reduced already, but why not try my luck? After the events of the day, I thought to check to see if my offer had been accepted. No luck; I sighed and bought the pencil outright. ^^
Whenever I buy a single pencil from a seller I'm unfamiliar with, I make it a point to DM them about how I want the pencil shipped (A recent purchase arrived snapped, as it was just thrown into an envelope). I must have said something the seller liked; they replied,
"Hi, I will ship in a box or larger tube, I'm going to give you an extra one along with it (the same pencil)"
What a happy surprise! :D
As it turned out, the box arrived (exceptionally well-packed), but there were not two, but FOUR pencils within! Even better, the four were not identical, as three of the four pencils were of different grades: 1, 2 and 3 respectively (two were 1 grade).
Each of the four had identical font and lettering, and upon first glance appeared to be of the same color. Closer inspection under an LED light revealed that two of the pencils (the bottom two) were a deep, blood-red color (the top two seem to be of a very dark brown). The brown pencils (of which the featured is one) had Dixon's 'crucible' logo stamped on their obverse sides, with the maker's name; the red ones were stamped with the maker's name, but not with the crucible.
This is both interesting and helps date the pencils.
The crucible logo was dropped sometime around the end of the 1910s or the early 1920s. Moreover, that these pencils feature number grades (ie, 1,2 and 3) rather than B, HB and H) affirms these to be from the early 20th century, just after letter grading fell out of fashion in the US. So, though these pencils are very similar, they are of slightly different vintages, with subtle variations to show for it (the brown pencils being slightly earlier than the red ones).
The featured (brown) pencil has nearly perfect printing: the lettering is bright, crisp and easy to read (unlike the one showcased in the listing). The pencil went straight into an archival, acid free Clear Bag where it will remain for as long as I have it (taken out only briefly to feature with this card). Suffice it to say, I didn't use any of these RR pencils to draw this card. ^^ TRRD was drawn via my trusty 'Zephyr' from Wallace Pencil Co., and was delineated via a Mitsu-Bishi 'Hi-Uni' pencil. :3
People really need to think about ALL aspects of their titles before they put them out. I don't know if the actual show was a "TRRD" but those letters sure would help to sell that feeling if it was. OR make someone less inclined to want to view it. *IF they were of that weird bent that likes to make names out of First letters (like I often do! :D ) ( Another good example of a VERY bad combinations of letters in a title is "Toyota Racing Division"! which several people familiar with them have said is more than a little accurate!) :D
Those are indeed nice pencils especially since they are RR official. And an especially nice little surprise getting 4! :D
I'm only sad that these : https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/UqMAAOSwkzVfjvBf/s-l300.jpg are rather plain and unassuming considering the striking design and color of the Norfolk Southern engines. If they followed that design I'd have snapped them up in a heart beat. :)
People really need to think about ALL aspects of their titles before they put them out. I don't know
