Roman slate pencil - forged brass
(Unit Price: 3,90 ¤ per pcs.)
Stylus – slate pencil forged of brass
The brass stylus 'slate pencil', handmade according to Roman models. The slate pencil is an antique writing tool for carving into beeswax tablets. The pointed end serves for writing letters or numbers. The flattened end is an eraser tool to smooth out the carved writing.
The slate pencil was used as a writing tool till the 1960s to inscribe slate and wax tablets. The shape of the slate pencil was most of the time round or angular, it was made of iron, bronze, bone or sometimes of silver.
The point of the slate pencil pressed into the wax to write. The other end, shaped like a scoop, helped to correct errors. By smoothing out the wax surface, the tablets could be reused for writing.
Some Roman slate pencils look like busts of the goddess, Minerva, because in the Roman age she was considered the guardian goddess of teachers and writers.
What an unusual 'notepad' and a noble writing tool!
- handmade slate pencil, solid brass
- slate pencil length aprox. 6 inch, 15cm
