Five unused slate pencils. Original box. 145 x 42 x 7 mm. Blue paper covered box. Colour printed label, marked Copyright. Entered at Statione's Hall Ges. Geschutzt. Designed in England. Trafalgar 21st October 1805. England Expects that Every Man this day will Do his Duty. Waterloo 18th June 1815. Up Guards and At Them. Trade Mark. The Box of Slate Pencils. Made in Germany. In the 1880s, paper was expensive, so children used slate tablets and pencils, often sharpening them on school walls. These antique slate pencils represent a pivotal era in educational history, serving as the primary writing tool for children before paper became affordable. A full, original box from this period is a rare survivor of the mass-produced school supplies that defined 19th-century classrooms.