A late addition to our series on pencil boxes, the Nic Nac Box is a less known offering from sharpener manufacturer KUM.
A plastic box in light tinted blue, the removable lid becomes a standalone ruler. While on the box, a sliding overlay with a window supports looking up a multiplication table.
There is also a built-in sharpener, appropriate for a KUM product.
The box contains twelve pencils, six in black, six in red. The red ones are factory sharpened. All have nice matte finishes. Unfortunately, the lead seems to be a bit scratchy.
Overall, the box has quite a lot of charm, and would be a nice gift for a young person.
My thanks to Gunther for assistance in acquiring this pencil set.
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Pencil Boxes (I) – Neiman Marcus
Very cool, nice find! I like how it says Western Germany.
Beautiful object, beautiful photos, reminding me of the proletarian pencil boxes with multiplication tables that I used as a kid.
For the sake of completeness: I have just learned that the Nic Nac box is no longer available from KUM.
Hello Gunther, thank you for the information.
Whether or not this particular item is to one’s taste, I think it is the sort of “value added” item that pencil manufacturers should be selling to distinguish their offerings.
I am interested in the pencil box with the multiplication table. How much are they and how do we order?
Wondering if this KUM pencil box is still available?
Much thanks,
Jeff
I am 73 years old. Throughout (grammar, grade, elementary) school, I had in my home and school desk at all times a version of the Kum pencil storage, sharpener, multiplier, and divisor box. A company named “Sterling” manufactured (probably USA. maybe Asian) them, and nearly every classmate of mine from grades one through six had one or more. Except as “vintage collector items,” they have disappeared. Apparently in the USA they ran into some toxicity issue (pencil “lead” shavings? Too many pointed objects? damage back of mouth with ruler?) Jeff, if you know what happened to them and why, would you please share with me at kegscout@aol.com. Apparently this website will not share my email address but I have purposefully shared it in search of an answer. Thank you to anyone.