APSCO Canada

I recently saw a beautiful vintage pencil sharpener on Ebay that was made in Canada by the Automatic Pencil Sharpener Co. of Canada Limited. I really didn't know much about APSCO so I did a bit of digging to find out more. There is a great post from the Made in Chicago Museum with lots of information about the origin of this company in the US.

A Made in Canada Giant pencil sharpener with packaging.

Possibly made in the late 1930s or early 1940s?

It appears that the Automatic Pencil Sharpener Co. of Canada Limited was incorporated in Canada on January 17th, 1933. This is around the time that several US pencil manufacturers opened up subsidiaries in Canada. The company would be renamed APSCO Products (Canada) Ltd in August of 1953.  This helps to date some of these pencil sharpeners.

An article from the National post from November 28, 1964 notes the sale of this company:
"U.S. Firm sells subsidiary - Apsco Products (Canada) Ltd., a supplier of stationary items, was acquired from its American parent, Apsco Products Inc. on Oct. 27, by Ralph M. Roger of Toronto. He had been manager of the Canadian operation since 1953. Gross annual sales to retail stationers are about $1 million. Products sold include pencil sharpeners, staplers, punches, etc. American firm remains an important supplier of these items to Canadian company."

Ralph Roger sold the company in mid-1978. This may explain why you see Apsco pencil sharpener names, such as "Giant" and "Chicago", sold under the Eagle/Berol and later Sandford brands.

If you know more about this company and its history in Canada, please drop me a note. 

Newspaper advertisement from October 1954.

The sales leaflet below was printed in the USA and shows "Made in USA" sharpeners but appears to be printed for the Canadian market. The back lists the company as, "Automatic Pencil Sharpener Co., of Canada, Limited Toronto, Ontario". It also describes the Giant as, "Canada's favorite pencil sharpener." The business stamped on the back, "Callow Brothers Limited" in Toronto was in operation from at least 1922 to sometime after 1933. Given the two-letter, 4-digit telephone number on the leaflet, we know that this flyer is from pre-1954. The addition of a fifth digit to Toronto numbers started in 1951 (from 1923 to 1958, 2 Letter 4 Digit (2L-4D) dialing was used in Toronto).

This tri-fold leaflet measures 10" x 5.5" when open