Since of picked up the pen and paper habits again, I recently find myself shopping around for inkwells, which has gotten me on to the subject of other desk accessories. Although I managed to acquire two beautiful Jac Zagoory pyramid crystal inkwells (just like the one on the JZ website, but without the little clock), I came across some information about Sengbusch products on the Pendemonium website, particularly the ping-pong ball moistener, that intrigued me. This led to a Google and eBay search, where I came up with information on Sengbusch stamp and tape moisteners.

What other sorts of vintage and/or antique desk accessories are out there that people might not have equivalents for in modern everyday life? As I'm nearly 40 years old, I've seen lots of these things actually in use in the past, but mostly when I was young, so I have little memory of specifics about them. I know that I personally rarely use stamps for other than personal purposes, as most of my business correspondence is done through electronic means, so it's no surprise to me that porcelain stamp moisteners aren't so common anymore, and I haven't seen gummed paper tape since I worked at an art store in the early 1990's.

Not sure if you can call them "desk accessories", but they were with all the other odd old things in "the Hutch". I've several pairs of sleeve protectors, which Mom used to keep her fountain pen entries in the ledgers from staining the cuffs, etc of her blouses. Don't see those anymore, right?

Becca

Hmmm...desk accessories...

Paper-knife,
Inkstand/desk-set.
Inkwells,
Rocker-blotter,
Pen-caddy,
Ashtray?
Match & cigarette-holder?

...blotting paper, perhaps?
...Typewriter carbon-paper? I think that might be a good one. I haven't seen that one ever since my grandmother used it for sewing (tracing patterns on cloth).

Glass pen holders: single, double and triple.
Letter opener/scissor combo, with leather holder.
Full deskset: inkwell, rocker blotter, letter opener, rocker blotter, desk blotter corners, letter holder. stamp box, pen tray (not all sets have all these items.
Nib-wiper.
Brass ruler.
Travelling inkwell.
Stationery compendium.
Writing slope.
Vintage stapler.
Stapleless paper fastener.
Old styles of paper clips-Burro comes to mind. A flat metal fold-over with a 'spur' inside.
Bill spikes: the nail-like things that receipts etc were pushed on.
String/twine holders: some like skeletonized balls, some like bee hives.

Have fun looking: many of these items are cheap!
gary

Also for your list:
Perpetual Calendars
Flip Calendars
Postage scales

Here's a not-so-vintage item that I found last night. Apparently, the J. Herbin US website doesn't list all their products. The picture I found from a Japanese retailer's website has the Herbin logo, but the european website pictures I found don't:





I'd love to get one of these! If I can't find one to buy, I'll have to reproduce it.

I don't understand the bit about having ink bottles out on display these days. I understand why you'd have them when your pen was a dip-pen. But for use with a full reservoir pen (a.k.a. a modern or "vintage" 20th Century fountain pen) you don't need the bottle out, do you? Whenever I refill a fountain pen I do so over the white porcelain sink with the water running. Last thing in the world I'd want is to put the messy-potential bottle in some nice leather thing smack on my desk.

Well, that's just me. Maybe others are less clumsy.

I concede the item is pretty (as are most carefully wrought leather items with embossed logos).

Let's not forget paperweights! Offices were "cooled" by fans and open windows in the old days, before air conditioners

A good desk blotter, too. I mostly remember green blotting paper on the desks, but lately all I can find is white, or sometimes brown.

Bill

Bill spikes: the nail-like things that receipts etc were pushed on.

I'm pretty sure some people still use those. I've seen them fairly frequently in shops.

I dislike spindles, as they put holes in the paper. But fans, now there's something that's always useful. I've seen a number of well-made vintage style fans while shopping for lighting fixtures for the bathroom I'm currently renovating. I may be a technologist, but I dig useful items of days gone by.

Candle snuffer

Pen knife

Gummed tape is still used for security applications. You can buy it either plain kraft brown or imprinted with a variety of security logos.

I had a embosser custom made -- like a corporate seal -- with my initials and location. I like to use it on the bottom of the last page of my correspondences. It looks so official.

We used to have this bizarre sort of...telephone caddy in our house. It was on a little stand and it was set up the way those mini salt and pepper lazy susans are, a round tray that spins, with a receptacle for a tulip-shaped glass-shelled receiver.

I haven't seen that thing since I was a kid, so I don't remember the specifics much better...

A sand or pumice powder shaker to help dry ink

Knives used to scrap off errors from paper

Pin Punch or preforator to tamper proof signatures and amounts on financial documents

Personal, Company or Official Seal and sealing wax or indelible ink pad

Ink Stamp(s): Ordered/Cancelled/Forward/Paid/Void/Rejected/Denied/Posted/Air Mail etc. and Stamp rack to hang them on.

Mucilage container

Small handheld mail scale for weighing letters to derermine the amount of postage required

Bottle of ink eradicator fluid (Cartier and other companies)

Hardy, with the amount of paperwork in the modern office not being significantly less than what it was before the widespread use of computers and the internet, I'd be surprised if rubber stamps weren't still prominent. Surely people still need them for something.

Hardy, with the amount of paperwork in the modern office not being significantly less than what it was before the widespread use of computers and the internet, I'd be surprised if rubber stamps weren't still prominent. Surely people still need them for something.

I concur. Many today are plastic encased and self inking. Older ones are crafted in rubber or metal with wodden, steel or bakelite/plastic handles and they have striking typefaces, designs, or other merits of interest. Examples below:

Here is a link to a definitive site on historical office equipment, well worth looking through, you will be astonished at the range of equipment used:
http://www.earlyofficemuseum.com/

Click on Exhibits at the top of the page

Hardy, just clicking on that link you provided reminded me of another piece of equipment which probably hasn't been used in years.

Those old-fashioned pneumatic tubes!! You know. Write something on a piece of paper, stuff it in a cylinder, ram it up the delivery-tube and forget about it - Let air-pressure do the rest...

Wow. What a treasure trove! Thanks!

I haven't seen any of those in offices, though drive up tellers at banks still use them. They aren't too useful in the office with email, fax and phone.