MINUTE WRITING

Wairarapa Times-Age, 2 June 1938, Page 10

MINUTE WRITING

LORD’S PRAYER ON PINHEAD. In his leisure hours man adopts many hobbies to occupy his mind, and many fine examples of his handiwork are often seen. Some concentrate on gardening, some collect curios, while others adopt different means of occupying their spare time, states the “Daily Telegraph,” Napier. Few, however, would choose to devote spare moments to such an exacting hobby as that of Mr Charles Greig, of Gisborne, who specialises in engraving on minute articles such as grains of rice. His work is done with a pencil sharpened to a fine point and the inscriptions can be read only under a very powerful magnifying glass. Mr Greig’s collection includes the Lord’s Prayer, written on a grain of rice and also on half a grain. The inscribed text is the Lord's Prayer as it is found in the Prayer Book, and not the more lengthy text as found in St. Matthew, chapter- vi, verses 9 to 18. The latter prayer is inscribed 25 times on a space amply covered by a 3d-piece, while the more common version is written 40 times on the same space. The prayer is written a further 29 times on another piece of paper of the same area.

Perhaps the outstanding example of the craftsman’s work is the feat of transcribing the prayer on to a space amply covered by a common pinhead. So fine is this work that through a magnifying glass the whole of the prayer can be encircled by the eye of a needle. Careful attention has been paid to detail in every case and

in each instance the writing can be clearly read with a glass. It is contended that Mr Greig's method of working with a finely pointed pencil is more difficult than i engraving with proper tools. The latter will maintain their fine point for a length of time, but the pencil must be continuously sharpened. In the case of working on a grain of rice to press too heavily would break the grain in addition to spoiling the point of the pencil. This fineness of touch can only be acquired with constant practice and the writer’s hands must be kept very supple. Mr Greig acts as masseur to athletes and many of his charges owe much to his soothing hands, two of his star proteges being Empire Games representatives, Graham - Quinn and Darcy Heeney. Compared with work done overseas, that of the Gisborne man is outstanding, and his collection must be one of the finest in the world. The feat of the English jeweller who transcribed the Lord's Prayer 13 times on the size of a threepenpy-piece received much publicity and was claimed to be a record. A competition was held in America to ascertain the most proficient man at this type of work, and it was won by a 'Philadelphia doctor, who inscribed the prayer five times on a dime coin, the same size as a six-penny-piece. It should be remembered that these two men engraved the work, that is to say, they used engraving tools, but the pencil work of Mr Greig is possibly deserving of more credit and it would be interesting to know whether his record can be equalled anywhere in the world.