Paddlewheel Pencil Sharpener

The history of these very adorable diecast miniatures dates back to the early 70's. There was a company in Spain where it all began. This company was called PLAY-ME. This company created many different miniatures and it sparked great interest in Spain. The copper colored miniatures were the most successful. In order to avoid paying a "luxury tax" on these miniatures, the company inserted pencil sharpeners. The Play-Me company manufactured 53 different sharpeners. Later another manufacturer in Spain produced a limited amount of very detailed pencil sharpeners. Both manufacturing plants (Play-Me and EMB Marti) closed and have been closed for the past 2 decades. The die-cast miniature pencil sharpeners are still being produced in HongKong. These companies copied many of the Spanish sharpeners and also came up with some totally NEW sharpeners. The pencil sharpeners are now very collectible all over the world. There are over 430 different die-cast pencil sharpeners available now. Here is one such collectible 3" diecast pencil sharpener with a copper finish, probably made in Hong Kong, since it isn't marked. She is the "Mark Twain", complete with a paddlewheel on each side that actually turns. She needs a little cleaning up to be river-worthy, but other than that she is in great condition.