Collectibles

Item Description

Chief Justice John Marshall - Ballpoint
HS John Marshall Ballpoint is a premium quality Pewter ballpoint that features Original 1796 Construction from Conrad and McMunn's Boarding House Witness Wood®.
The pen is created using Witness Wood® acquired by History Salvaged along with documentation dating back to the 1930-31 razing of Conrad and McMunn's.
The Pewter Hardware features enameled American Eagle and Flag Clip, USA on the Finial, with God Bless America center band.
Engraved: John Marshall 
Made in the USA.
Each pen is individually handcrafted and therefore may vary in look and feel.
PROVENANCE and Brief History

Our John Marshall pens are created from Witness Wood® acquired by History Salvaged which was part of the “home” of Chief Justice Marshall during the sessions of the Supreme Court for much of the first two decades of the 19th Century.

Conrad and McMunn’s boarding house was at the corner of New Jersey Avenue and C Street, convenient to the Capitol where the first

Marshall Court’s official headquarters was a rather restricted and remote committee room in the lower level of the Capitol – a room that often community churches would lease out for Sunday services even when the Court was in session.

Marshall leased a bedroom, as well as a parlor and reception room and arranged for all of the Justices to “live” at Conrad and McMunn’s during the Supreme Court’s winter sessions for more than a decade, where they lived, ate and discussed the business of the Court.

Conrad and McMunn’s while known for being the ‘home” of Marshall and the Justices in the early 1800s was not new to hosting politicians and giants of the era: George Washington and scores of Congressmen, Senator’s and other dignitaries boarded there, in fact, Thomas Jefferson “lived” at Conrad and McMunn’s while Vice President and through his inauguration.

WORLD WONDER CAR

At 55 feet long the World Wonder Car was the largest motor vehicle in the world to travel over public highways, in fact, it needed a special permit from every state it visited between 1930 and 1944 to use the roads.

Christened by Dr. Charles G. Abbott, Director of the Smithsonian Museum the Greyhound Sponsored World Wonder Car was on a national tour with the purpose of promoting visual education throughout America. Reaching every state in the Union (48 at the time), the World Wonder Car and its exhibits of American and World History were viewed by more than 2 million schoolchildren. Ten glass-encased exhibits including the first electric light bulb, stamps of the world, rare early patent models, Civil War relics, Marine Corp loaned WWI materials, a narcotics display, Shrunken heads, a rare copy of the Declaration of Independence, exact replicas of the British Crown Jewels and more contributed to making the World Wonder Car museum the most interesting educational exhibit in the world.

“1001 curious objects gathered from the far corners of the earth” is the slogan educators used to endorse the World Wonder Car!

As part of the World Wonder Car tour, Greyhound Lines, sponsor of the Car in the 1930s provided souvenirs for students and visitors from time to time. One such collection of souvenirs was created from one of the most famous boarding houses in Washington, DC in the early part of our nation's history, Conrad and McMunn’s boarding house.

Built-in 1796 Conrad’s boarding house was on the south side of Capitol Hill and commanded an extensive and beautiful view. When in Washington Conrad’s was home to George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Albert Gallatin, dozens of Congressmen, Senators, Ambassadors, and for almost 20 years, Chief Justice John Marshall and the Justices of the Supreme Court.

Chief Justice Marshall not only stayed at Conrad’s every winter session of the Court but arranged for all of the Justices to stay and work out of Conrad’s before the construction of the first stand-alone court building.

In disrepair after more than 100 years of use, Conrad’s was razed in 1930-31 to make way for the construction of the House of Representatives Cannon Office Building and the Longworth and the Rayburn buildings.

At the time quantities of architectural rubble were snatched for various historic associations and Greyhound with the help of the Smithsonian secured some of the “Witness Wood®” for the souvenirs, promoting them as from the “Home of John Marshall”
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All pens are handcrafted by Master Pen Craftsman and are made in America.

Each is individually handmade and each varies in look and feel both in grain and shape.

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