HISTORY OF PENCIL SHARPENERS In old times, pencils were sharpened with knives or penknives. Then the sharpeners made their task much more easily and gave a more uniform result. Some special types of pencils, like carpenter pencils are still sharpened with a knife due to their flat shape. Bernard Lassimone, French mathematician, applied the first patent (French patent # 2444) for pencil sharpeners in 1828. In 1847, the DES Estwaux de Therry invented the manual pencil sharpeners. A pencil sharpener is the tool used for putting a point on a piece of wood and the tip of graphite intended to write of a pencil when it is blunt by its use or when it is new. It is necessary when you try to give some quality to the writing, since frequently the tip of the pencil gets blunt with the use. There are sharpeners of several types and sizes according to the thickness of the different existing pencils. 
Introduction
In the collecting world as many times happens, a hobby is born when a product has been given up manufacturing and the items become part of a section called “classic” as it is within the varied world of miniatures of pencil sharpeners. In this case we refer to the Spanish metal series PLAYME and E.M.B. Martí which were pioneers in its class and were a starting point for several subsequent foreign copies and adaptations or replicas made of plastic some of which are still produced now. The kind of product we are speaking about, simple economical and marketed under other concept than reproduction or miniature has carried out that it has been neither classified as such nor included its existence in publications of the subject, in addition, inexistent in Spain. The compilation that this summary suggests, and due to the lack of documentation, is to get documentation which is a useful tool for the collector. The idea and the production of the pencil sharpener in the form of an object is much older and without any doubt there are many precedents, one example is, the sharpener of the Dalia firm, however in this case there is a great difference since the items showed here are accurate replicas of real objects and many of them are provided with mechanisms of movement. This situation has given rise to other countries like (Hong-Kong, Germany, Italy, China) have been limited simply to copy and introduce small variations or design new shapes taking advantage of the idea and adopting part of the features.
PLAYME PENCIL SHARPENERS
ORIGIN AND EVOLUTION
The first pencil sharpeners were manufactured by the firm Playme de Beniparrell (Valencia), and appeared in the market in the year 1969 flooding all the bookshops and stationeries. Being this brand the most important because of the extension of its catalogue. This great acceptation was due to two main reasons: the usefulness as a sharpener and the fact of being a series of varied designs, good presentation and collectable as miniatures and usable as toys. In this way the company had a greater range of sales since the article sold in the toy section as well as the stationery section. The export rapidly arrived in France and later at Nuremberg Trade Fair coming into contact with over 50 countries. The export got to the 5 continents, reaching some countries as particular as Southafrica, Japan, China, Cyprus, Hong Kong, Egypt, Israel, Sultanate of Oman, etc. The manufacturing of the brand lasted till the years 1981 and 1982 and in all the cases they are trade marks. CHARACTERISTICS In the ordinary series the logo of the manufacturer is made up by the word Playme enclosed inside a white ellipsis, crossed diagonally by a line over placed to the longest arm of the “Y”, leaving an orange coloured area on the left and a black coloured area on the right. In the coloured series the logo was changed being now also elliptical varying the letter pattern and extending the “Y” in a rubric which occupy the lowest part. The upper part of the bottom is orange and the lower is black. The manufacturing material is an alloy called “lodestone” with a copperish chrome or painted surface depending on the cases.
The plastic pencil sharpeners were made by the company “T. S.R.”, in Valderrobres (Teruel). The miniatures normally appear with the legends “FDO en España” and “Made in Spain” as well as the logo and the reference number. However, there are exceptions, even total lack in some models, which probably belong to the first stage of production. The cardboard boxes are printed by “Manufacturas Gráficas S.A.-Alginet Valencia-, on which the logo sometimes appears printed next to the name on the flaps, and in other cases by “Cart. Mora -Valencia” (in a lighter green colour).
The type of object and its quality appear on them (e.g. squeezer pencil sharpener) in Spanish,
French, English and German, the legends “Fabricado en España” and “Made in Spain”, you can also find in some of them the sentence “The original collectables from Spain, Playme trade mark”, “Copyrighted in USA” that possibly started to figure as an answer to the appearance in the American market of the imitations made in Hong Kong. This copies produced in Hong Kong are most of them exact replicas and on occasions with a detail variant but always preserving the general characteristics of structure and design. The material and finish are of inferior quality to the Spanish. Other imitations come to national markets in the year 1995 also of low quality with the designation “Made in China”. Although as a general rule they assembled black sharpeners, it is known that on occasions due to a lack of material and rush order they assembled items with the blade sharpener structure in a different colour. SPECIAL COLOUR PIECES    It was made a series of bright colourful painted pieces of 13 models, most of them identical to the copperish models previously made and with the same reference number of manufacturing, in a different box and provided with a cardboard display case with cells and a device to be hung on the wall. It consisted of the following items: -ref- 959 telephone (black) - ref- 925 phonograph (green and brown) -ref- 972 kitchen (black) - ref- 976 oil lamp (green version and red version)
-ref- 992 safe (grey) - ref- 924 sewing machine (black and Singer black
letters version)
-ref- coffee grinder (red) - ref- 988 fan (black version and blue version) -ref- 965 lantern (red) -ref-971 soldering iron (golden) -ref- 977 stove (golden and red) -ref-979 water pump (black version and red version)
-ref- non-numbered George Pompidur Center (golden) They also produced some commemorative pieces on special occasions: • Bear – model to commemorate the Montreal Olympic Games.
• Globe – with sphere FIFA 82 of the Football World Cup with 3 copperish feet.
• Football – “España Mundial 82” FIFA, with a plastic base and the inscription “España Mundial 82”.
• FIFA Trophy “ World Cup” with a plastic base and the inscription “España Mundial 82”.
• Figure of “Sport Billy”, mascot of the FIFA for the Spain Football World Cup 82.
• Pompidou Center- Reproduction of the building George Pompidou Center of Paris. It was produced for its marketing in France on the occasion of the opening of this engineering work. SCALE AND PERFECTION DEGREE We cannot really speak of a general scale for Playme products since it was taken a resulting format suitable for the usefulness of pencil sharpeners so there exists some disproportion in the scales of the objects. Broadly speaking, we will say that it varies between 1:5 and 1:40 depending on the object depicted. These miniatures were not handicraft but mass-produced articles, which generally reduces the level of detail reached. However, within its kind we could emphasize that they have an outstanding level of perfection and quality of finish. PRODUCTION It is completely unknown the quantity of items produced, although it was very big indeed. As unique reference we can say that we know some data of the manufacturer of pencil sharpeners according to which he supplied 800.000 pieces monthly to Playme for a long extended time. CATALOGUE The only material that mentions about the pieces produced by Playme is the reproduction on the back of some boxes of the set of pieces manufactured till that moment with the reference number. Afterwards some copies and some catalogues have been found in which the different items appear next to its picture, number and description. This set of pictures was included in three different variants. However, not even getting together the three ones is complete. Little by little and from finding the items in original boxes this catalogue has been made up which is open to any new item found. CATALOGUE – LIST PLAYME METAL SHARPENERS   
816 Playme shelf
825 Trophy Spain World Cup 82
826 FIFA mascot Sport Billy
910 Based emblem of FIFA
911 Spain World Cup 82 based football
912 Montreal Olympic Games bear
913 Antique pistol
914 Antique cannon
915 Globe sphere
916 Traffic sign sphere
917 Catapult
918 Antique culverin cannon
919 Antique iron
920 Antique trunk
921 Motor racing car
922 Secession war cannon
923 Naval cannon
924 Sewing machine
925 Phonograph
957 Secession machine gun
958 Pressure cannon
959 Telephone
960 Coffee mill
961 Siege cannon
962 Blunderbuss cannon
963 Clock
964 Cash register
965 Lantern
966 Stove
967 Scales
968 Liberty bell
969 Piano
970 Printing press
971 Small oil lamp
972 Kitchen stove
973 Typewriter
974 Radio
975 Cinema
976 Oil lamp
977 Stove
978 Sharpening wheel
979 Water pump
980 Fruit machine
981 Grinder
982 Camera
983 Spinning wheel
984 Globe
985 FIFA emblem on globe stand
986 Fruit squeezer
987 Cement mixer
988 Electric fan
989 Oil lamp
990 Lottery drum
991 Rudder
992 Safe
993 Roller wafer stand
994 Barrel organ
995 Foot telephone
n/a (non/applicable) George Pompidou Centre
PLAYME “PINK SERIES” PLASTIC SHARPENERS 
n/a (non/applicable) Nely dolly
725 round box with a Nely drawing on it
726 house with a Nely drawing on it
727 bus with a Nely drawing on it
728 chest with a Nely drawing on it
729 heart with a Nely drawing on it
730 piano with a Nely drawing on it
732 pic-nic basket
n/a (non-applicable) Nely dolly (no sharpener, rubber inside its head)
PLAYME PLASTIC SERIES 
901 elephant
902 helicopter
903 pools dice container
904 clock
905 firework
906 train engine
PLAYME ANIMAL SERIES (rubber figures with a sharpener)
This series was brought out for marketing in transparent plastic bags with a piece of cardboard stapled which said : Playme “animal series”. It is difficult to know the exact number they made since they were assorted and different in each bag.
The miniatures are made of rubber and the sharpener is inserted inside. Most of them are white lightly coloured in different shades according to the represented animal. In many occasions the same model varies in colour. They do not take any logo or reference number either, so it is sometimes difficult to know if they are of Playme brand when found without their original bag. These references have been made out with the catalogues found and the information collected up to now and they are open to possible new acquisitions.
CATALOGUE – LIST 
907 Sitting dog
908 Lying dog
909 Cat
910 Piglet
911 Donkey
912 Seal
927 Lion
928 Monkey
929 Bear
930 Tortoise
931 Elephant
932 Hippo
933 Snail
934 Squirrel
935 Pelican
936 Duck
937 Owl
938 Cock
939 Cow
940 Mouse
941 Goat
942 Camel
943 Parrot
944 Rhinos
There is another series of rubber figures with little animals where the sharpener is inserted in a plastic ring and placed inside the bottom of the figure. The brand with the letters Playme is printed in the low part.
All of them are of brighter colours and more coloured than the formers.
There is no reference at all that they were catalogued or registered in anywhere. With the information collected for the time being this catalogue has been made up which will remain open to possible new acquisitions.
The assigned number is guiding and is for the collectors to have proof of their pieces and to be easier to classify them. So far it is known the following items:  202 tortoise
204 llama
205 mouse E.M.B. MARTI PENCIL SHARPENERS The sharpeners of this brand are quite alike to those of Playme, as much in the general concept as the material used. However, two remarkable differences appear: the manufactured models are mostly different and the size is slightly bigger. There is no documentation of the items produced but it is for sure that the production was shorter than that of Playme. At the moment and according to the collected information, the collection is made up of 25 different pieces with their respective reference.
On the sharpeners the logo stands out for the linked letters “EMB” among the words “juguetes” and “Marti”, the reference number and the legend “Made in Spain”. The characteristics of the material and finish are similar to those of Playme. With reference to quality, it can be observed some inequality among the different pieces and in some cases it has been made without much rigour and with the addition of details which do not match with the original and are even inappropriate. One example can be that of the camera “VEST POCHET”, produced with good material, appropriate size, and with a very original movement in part of its components, however, that includes on the front the words ASA DIN which the camera neither took in its time nor could take since these designations did not exist at the time. Another example can be the windmill, which does not look like any that we have ever seen, Spanish, Dutch, etc. The miniatures of this brand were presented in cardboard cases in yellow colour on which the piece was shown and the name and reference in an oval at the top in different languages, Spanish, German, English and French. On the sides we can see the emblem of the manufacturing company, the initials EMB in yellow colour, the words “juguetes” and “Martí” in white and the bottom of the oval in red. In other occasions the case is light green and together with the former data a circular emblem of the company appears with the brand on a world map and the inscription “ELITOYS” below. It also appears the logo of the Toy Spanish Centre of Ibi (Alicante). The manufacture of the little boxes is by Karbest S. L.- Paiporta (Valencia). The same as for the brand Playme. At first, it seems to be they were devised as ornament miniatures and the sharpeners were included later. CATALOGUE – LIST E.M.B. MARTÍ   1000 roller wringer
1002 coffee grinder
1004 grinder
1006 coffee maker
1008 precision scales
1010 letter scales
1012 spinning wheel
1014 grain mill
1016 camera
1018 table clock
1020 microscope
1022 lamp
1024 windmill
1026 wine press
1028 horizontal barrel on a table
1030 conical vertical cask
1032 vertical barrel on a stand
1034 cement mixer
1036 calculus machine
1038 standing clock
1040 coffee grinder
1042 rudder with a compass
1044 “La Cibeles” statue
1046 Island of Tenerife
1048 The Eiffel Tower
TOIPA PENCIL SHARPENERS
During the 60s and 70s several manufactures and brands appeared which specialized in office supplies and also gave part of their production to the section of pencil sharpeners. Among them: Toipa, Perona, El Pozo, Feber, Puntax. The Spanish factory Toipa only made plastic models producing a great variety of pieces and in several colours, getting an interesting collection with all its models labelled at the bottom with its respective reference.
LIST – CATALOGUE  
105 Sara dolly
301 globe on a base
302 fruit machine
303 Vespa scooter
305 jars with drawings: Power Rangers, Mukka, etc.
308 flat round box: Juanola, Mercedes, Porsche, etc.
310 rubber toys: train, plane, boat, bus, helicopter.
315 globe on three-feeted base
316 cannon
317 formula 1 racing car
318 sports car
351 dumping lorry
352 load lorry
353 trunk lorry
354 transport lorry
726 casa
727 bus
728 trunk
729 heart
729 heart (My First Communion version)
730 grand piano
730 grand piano (My First Communion version)
731
732 basket
733 clock
734 dressing table
735 camera
736 T.V. set
737 computer
738 portable radio
739 telephone
740 photo frame
741 cash register
742 painter´s easel
743 sewing machine
744 toaster
745 antique radio
746 upright piano
747 washing machine (it is possible this item could not have become to market)
Author : Albert Gironés Domènech - noviembre 2007 Translation of : Matilde Bretones Baena - matibretones@hotmail.com |
