Stationery companies often gave out ink blotters adverting various pens and pencils. I have shared some ink blotters in the past... see Ink Blotters and Ink Blotters - Part 2. I've added two more ink blotters to my collection which feature Dixon pencils. 

A story is what turns an object into an artifact and ink blotters have lots of stories to tell. The ink blotter on the right advertises the Dixon Ticonderoga pencil. In the US, the image of Ethan Allen often adorns packaging and advertisements for Ticonderoga pencils. This was problematic for the Canadian subsidiary of Dixon Pencil as Ethan Allen doesn't have the same patriotic connotations in this country.

Beaupres Interiors Ltd. also has a story to tell. Harold Beaupres enlisted in the Canadian Air Force in 1941. He became a flight lieutenant and was a navigator on a Lancaster Bomber which was shot down in 1943. It crashed in occupied France and Beaupre was taken to a prisoner of war camp near the Polish border called Stalag Luft 3. The camp was made famous when seventy-four prisoners escaped in 1944, inspiring the film The Great Escape.  He was liberated from the prison in 1945. In 1946, after returning from the war, he worked in his father's store Beaupre Paint and Wallpaper. He  later renamed the store Beaupres Interiors. Beaupre ran the business for thirty years in several downtown locations before retiring in 1979 and opening up another shop called Beaupre Stamps. The seven-digit, two letter and five number (2L+5N), format of the telephone number helps to date this ink blotter most likely to between 1951 and 1962. 

Below is a picture showing the ink blotters featuring pencils that I've collected from Canadian stationery and office supply stores. Turns out, all of these stores are from Ontario.

Pencil from the short lived Canadian Pencil Company are rare to find. The company is one of the few that were a purely Canadian company and not a subsidiary of a US company. The pencils below are a fantastic example of pencils from this company. ​

A couple of years ago, I saw a vintage Canadian APSCO Giant pencil sharpener. Unfortunately it was way out of my price range. I've been keeping my eye out for a more affordable one since then. I've recently been sucessful in getting one at a reasonable price. It is the only vintage sharpener I have and it looks great next to my collection of ACME rulers.

There is some great information on the history of the Automatic Pencil Sharpener Co. at the Made in Chicago Museum website.