Pen & Pencil Cases

For those of us that remember the days when school essays were written in long hand and laptops were a thing from science fiction and we all carried with us, to every lesson, the equivalent of a small stationery store crammed into a pencil case that was around A5 in size.

Then as laptops started to dominate the areas traditionally the preserve of pens and pencils we went from carrying a small stationery store to a laptop and maybe a ball point and a few Post-it notes but over recent times the pendulum has started to swing back towards analogue.

And it is at this point that this review begins, so settle down in a comfortable chair with your beverage of choice and maybe a few cookies.

As you will have gathered back in pre-historic times we had large pencil cases filled with all sorts of pens, pencils, inks and accessories (and I still have my old school pencil case, somewhere) and add to this an assortment of exercise books and you can see what I mean when I say that we carried around a small stationery store.

Now the particular shelf in the store that I want to focus on today is the one with the pencil cases. So, when I was at school other than the stationers in the local town/city your options were limited to a shelf or two at the local store selling the essentials including small assortment of pencil cases.

What I mean by telling this tale of woe is simply this; back then choice was limited but now if you open Amazon, Cult Pens et cetera your choice is pretty much limitless, throw eBay into the mix and the world is yours to choose from, so that is what I did.

I chose the following four pencil cases to demonstrate just a few of the options we now have:

Endless Companion Leather Adjustable 5-Pen Pouch – Madras, India

The Endless Companion in this case is the black and orange Cult Pens special edition and I have to admit that I was so impressed I went and ordered a standard brown leather version. Other than colour and finish of the leather these two are the same case.

In this case the outer shell is three part orange leather with a zip surrounding three of the sides and on the fourth side, centrally on the edge is the Endless logo. The inner is black and on the left (if you hold it like a book)there are five adjustable elastic loop for the pens of your choice and stop them from rubbing together and a smalller sixth loop for a cartridge. On the right is an orange leather panel designed to hold a notebook, provided.

Overall this is a well designed case that offers some features not found in similar cases.

Antony Oliver Mini Rustic Leather Pencil Case – Nottingham

This case comes in an assortment of colours but I opted for orange. The outer shell is made of nice quality pebble finished leather with the Antony Oliver name and logo stamped halfway along the one side and a brass finished zip.

The inner lining is a soft synthetic material with an elastic loop which could be pressed into service but on the whole is not very practical. From a size point of view the case is large enough to hold two possibly three ball point sized pens but bare in mind any numer of pens above one will rub together so I would suggest this case is better used with pens that aren’t important to you. For important pens I would recommend a different case that or only use it for a single pen.

Generic Black Fabric Pencil Case – TikTok

This case is the wild card in this review. It’s the largest case with three compartments and is made from a synthetic material; one compartment has elastic pen loops, the middle one is a spacious compartment for anything and everything and the other side compartment has small pockets suitable for business cards, receipts et cetera.

All in all the TikTok case is a very useful offering a greater capacity for pens, notes, receipts and accessories; it won’t stop the contents from rubbing against each other  but with this much capacity this is a case you would use for bulkier items such as scissors, washi tape, highlighters et cetera.

Small/Medium Leather Pencil Case – BTSky (Red, Blue & Black) – Amazon

This traditional style case comes in three colours; red, blue and black and is made of very soft leather  which is pebble finished and has a brass finished zip but is unbranded. The inner of the case is suede and it comfortably holds five ball point sized pens.

This case has no loops so pens and pencils will rub together; so as with the Antony Oliver and the TikTok case this is not a case for important pens but one for your everyday pens. But from a size point of view it’s a case that should be able to hold your daily pen/pencil requirements.

Conclusion

Where would I recommend you spend your pennies, that’s a tough one because each one has its merits. Any one of them will meet the needs it was designed for so I would say look at what you need it for and shop accordingly.

Disclaimer: The products referred to in this review/article were purchased with my own funds at retail price. The opinions expressed in this review are my own; and I am not connected with either the retailers or manufacturers in any way.