60 Owl Gem Paper Clips

£4.00

Paper clips have been patented in all shapes and sizes. This variation of the 'Owl' paper clip, traced back to 1908, features slightly larger eyelets and more rounded angles - it could be described also as a double or mirrored gem paper clip. The benefit of this shape against the more classic gem clip being that the clips do not get tangled together and are better suited to binding thicker wads of paper.

Believed to have been invented by Norwegian Johann Valer in 1899, paperclips were worn by his countrymen in their lapels as a symbol of solidarity - "bound together" - and resistance to the German occupiers during WW2. Valer's paperclip was in fact quite different in form from the gem model known and used today and its origin is more likely the result of simultaneous development from several companies and inventors during the second half of the 19th century. Not surprisingly this is also the time when cheap and large scale production of steel wire became possible along with the machinery able to bend it speedily. Gone were the rusty straight pins and ribbons from the office supply cupboards, old methods of binding paper together. 

Approximately 60 per box
Non-tear
Dimensions: 1 x 2 cm
Presented in a clear box with printed information card
2.1 x 6.7 x 4.7cm

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