When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.
Vintage advertising bullet pencil issued by the Pioneer Hi-Bred Corn Company of Des Moines, Iowa. A factory piece carrying the company's own address, not a local dealer imprint.
IMPRINT, in blue on a cream barrel:
(front) PIONEER SEED CORN - pointed-oval logo with corn-ear devices
HYBRID SEED CORN
(back) Pioneer Hi-Bred Corn Company
1206 MULBERRY ST.
DES MOINES, IOWA
DATING. Mulberry Street in downtown Des Moines was Pioneer's corporate headquarters (research ran out of Johnston). The firm traded as Pioneer Hi-Bred Corn Company before becoming Pioneer Hi-Bred International, and the address carries no ZIP code - ZIPs were introduced in July 1963 - so this predates that.
Pioneer was founded in 1926 by Henry A. Wallace, later U.S. Secretary of Agriculture and Vice President, and introduced the first commercial hybrid seed corn. Because Pioneer sold through farmer-dealers, most surviving advertising carries a local dealer's name; a pencil bearing the company's own Des Moines address is the less common variety.
CONSTRUCTION. Cream barrel with brass ferrule and nickel bullet nose cone. The original orange wood pencil is present and sharpened; it reverses into the cone to make a full-length pencil, shown assembled in the photos.
CONDITION - excellent for its age:
- Blue printing crisp and complete, logo sharp
- Barrel bright with only light age toning
- Brass fittings with good color, minimal tarnish
- Eraser intact
- No cracks, chips, or splits
Not cleaned. Please see all photos.
From a collection assembled by a Chippewa County, Minnesota farm family - see my other items. Combined shipping available, additional items ship free.
