News

  • HPC Acquires pieces from the Reigart Collection

    John S. Reigart was born in 1833/34 in New York City where he resided for most of his life. In his occupation as a bank clerk, Reigart took pride in record keeping and precise penmanship as evidenced not only by his record books but also in the way he detailed the identification labels he often affixed to pieces in his collection of American Historical Artifacts.  During the mid and late 19th century Reigart assembled a comprehensive collection of "relics" from every period of America's history. Clearly aware of the importance of provenance, Reigart included detailed documentation for all of the...

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  • REMEMBER the MAINE!

    HPC recently acquired a part of a museum collection that included a small piece of the USS Maine and will create one HPC custom designed Solid Sterling Silver heirloom pen and matching set of cuff links for this very rare piece of US History. The blowing up of the battleship USS Maine in Havana harbor on the evening of February 15, 1898 and the loss of almost 300 American souls was a critical event on the road to that Spanish-American War. The destruction of Maine did not cause the U.S. to declare war on Spain, but it served as...

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  • Monmouth University students dig into daily lives of Continentals

     BARNEGAT, NJ – Old Halfway Road seems appropriately named, something built about three centuries ago that may one day lead to a melding of the old and new.   Tabitha Hilliard, Samantha Gottlieb, and Katelyn Oakes, all of Monmouth University, clean off artifacts found at the site. A Monmouth University field archeology class conducts a dig at the site of Cedar Bridge Tavern which dates back to the 1700's. Barnegat, NJ Saturday, June 14, 2014 Doug Hood A cultural resources center is taking shape along the road, at Cedar Bridge Tavern, in part with help from Monmouth University archaeological students who spent the...

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  • The Incredible Disappearing Barn

    The Incredible Disappearing BARN - -Local historians say iconic piece of N. J.'s agricultural heritage grows harder to find   - - • STORY BY MARTIN DeANGELIS, StaffWriter | Press of Atlantic City - -  When Anne Salvatore needed a classic barn for a planned addition to Historic Cold Spring Village, she called an expert on old buildings for help.But Joan Berkey, an architectural historian in Dennis Township, had some bad news for the founder of the living-history museum in Lower Township: Many of the old barns in Cape May County were history, too."They fall apart — often, it's demolition by neglect,"...

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  • FORD'S THEATRE "Witness Wood" to produce 2 heirloom pens!

    The Historic Pen Company has secured a rare piece of Americana in the form of a small piece if of wood removed during the 1960 remodeling of Ford's Theatre.   Ford’s Theatre continues to celebrate the legacy of President Abraham Lincoln and explores the American experience through theatre and education. Today Ford's Theatre is not only a working theatre but an historical monument, world-class museum and learning center, Ford’s Theatre is the premier destination in Washington, D.C., to explore and celebrate Lincoln’s ideals and leadership principles: courage, integrity, tolerance, equality and creative expression.   In 1861 theatre manager John T. Ford leased out the abandoned First Baptist Church on Tenth Street to...

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  • Rare piece of Civil War Naval History - USS Undine

    The Historic Pen Company has acquired a rare piece of Civil War Naval history in the form of a small piece if the USS Undine. The USS Undinewas a steam-powered Civil War gunboat converted by the Union from a sternwheeler into a lightly armored vessel carrying eight (8) brass twenty-four (24) pound howitzers.1 On October 30, 1864, the Undine was captured by Confederate forces, after an engagement on the Tennessee River near Paris Landing. On November 2 of the same year, the Undine, now under Confederate command, was badly damaged and escaped to Reynoldsburg Island after an engagement with Union...

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  • Stonewall Jackson Fountain Pen

    The Historic Pen Company is proud to offer ONE Stainless Steel Fountain Pen as part of our Civil War Collection: produced from "Witness Wood" and "Witness Timber" from historically significant Civil War sites. The General "Stonewall" Stainless Steel - Fountain Pen features the Historic Pen Company's Custom Designed Stainless Steel hardware featuring an HPC - Witness Wood Jewel and a Gold Block German-Made Nib, is made from a piece of the 350 year old tree that General Stonewall Jackson stopped to pray under following the end of his Shenandoah Valley campaign in May and June of 1862.  HPC has acquired...

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  • 1st Pen from the Sam Houston Pecan Tree

    This was the first time we worked with Pecan. It is a custom made pen, using 22K Gold Plate hardware and is made from the Sam Houston Pecan Tree……The house Sam Houston loved best was the one at Huntsville in which he resided for nearly twenty years.In the south corner of the spacious yard only the stump remains of this native pecan which grew into a beautiful tree of immense proportions. This magnificent tree died in 1974. According to Houston’s granddaughter, Mrs. Jennie Morrow Decker of Houston, her grandfather planted the tree in 1847. While returning from a trip, he...

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  • Saving History

    Saturday, December 21, 2013 12:01 am                                            The PRESS of ATLANTIC CITY                                      By MARTIN DeANGELIS, Staff Writer      It wasn't exactly St. Paul on the road to Damascus. It was Bob DeMartino on the Boardwalk in Wildwood. Still, it was a revelation, a life-altering moment for DeMartino, who lives in the Manahawkin section of Stafford Township and admits not all his...

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  • General "Stonewall" Jackson Prayer Tree

    During the Civil War, General Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson and 15,0000 men under his command encamped between the Middle and South Rivers following the end of the Shenandoah Valley Campaign in May and June 1862. General Jackson stopped to pray under a massive white oak tree where during the encampment troops also gathered for prayer beneath the oak. In Shenandoah Valley lore this giant oak became known as the Stonewall Jackson Prayer Tree. Over time this 350 year old oak tree stood proudly on the edge of a farm field, located near Mt. Meridan in Augusta County, Grottoes, Virginia: owned by Warren E. and Catherine...

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