Foliate and scrollwork engraved silver square scent bottle, with a hinged top and glass stopper; full hallmarked for silver, London 1887, maker’s mark “SM” for Sampson Mordan.

Sampson Mordan (1790 – 9 April 1843) was a British silversmith and co-inventor of the first patented mechanical pencil. During his youth, he was apprenticed to the inventor and blacksmith Joseph Bramah, who patented the first elastic ink reservoir for a fountain pen. In 1822, Mordan and his co-inventor John Isaac Hawkins filed the first patent in Britain for a metal pencil with an internal mechanism to push the shaft of the graphite “lead” forward during use, as an improvement on less complex mechanical pencils that simply squeezed the pencil lead to hold it in one position. Mordan purchased Hawkins and entered into a business partnership with Gabriel Riddle, an established stationer. From 1823 to 1837 they made and sold silver mechanical pencils under the “SMGR” mark. After the dissolution of the partnership with Riddle, Mordan continued to sell his silver pencils as “S. Mordan & Co.”, adding many other types of silver and gold items to his product line. Mordan often made his pencils into extravagant “figural” shapes resembling animals, Egyptian mummies, or other objects; like his other silverware and goldsmithery, these pencils are now highly collectible. On Mordan’s death in 1843, his sons Sampson (junior) and Augustus inherited the business. “S. Mordan & Co.” they continued to produce silverware and brass postal scales until 1941, when their factory was destroyed by bombs during the London Blitz.