Nib box

A small brass box with an openable hinged lid was once used as a nib container. The lid is decorated with an embossed male portrait surrounded with a decorative frame and with inscriptions. The top inscription reads THE SCHILLER PEN, inscriptions on small bands on both sides of the portrait read L. & Co’s on the left and PATENT, and the inscription under the portrait reads BIRMINGHAM. The cuboid box received the shape of a lying book with a movable front cover. The spine of the “book” is bent in a semi-circular shape to reinforce the illusion that it is a small-sized volume. The spine divided into four fields bears an embossed inscription VOL. II and four-petal flowers. The abbreviation L. & Co’s shown on the right side probably corresponds to D. Leonardt & Co. – the name of the company producing nibs and other stationery items established in Birmingham, England, in 1856. Today the company functions under the name Leonardt LTD. as a producer of office supplies and nib accessories.

The history of fountain pens started in Birmingham. Here, in the Jewellery Quarter, the production of nibs, which had been preceded by quills, started in the 1780s. The construction of nibs was systematically improved, e.g., thanks to the introduction of their mechanical production, for which John Mitchell was responsible. The mechanical nib manufacturing process elaborated by him made the production of nibs much shorter and popularised their use, thus contributing to the improvement of literacy rates.

The Wilanów nib box was purchased for the Varia collection from a private person as an interesting item of the former workroom equipment, where desks or cabinets with a folding writing table top were one of the main furniture. Such small accessories allow museologists to create an exhibition giving us a glimpse into what rooms for doing intellectual work, writing letters or managing an estate – for example, the Wilanów estate – looked like in the past.