Uncommon Act of Design: The Gem Paperclip

Why the common paperclip is the perfect symbol of capitalism.

Your standard paperclip has a design so perfect and so simple that it seems inevitable--and obvious. It wasn't. The Gem paperclip is actually the last clip standing in a war over paper clip design that lasted decades.

Grids points to this lovely paper clip gallery created by the Office Museum showing just how many competing designs once existed. And it illustrates why all of those eventually died out.

The first paper clip was...