Pencil Things

Pencil of the Month Club, Vol. I, No.1 (Nov. 2007)

Let me say that the first POTM package I received was BRILLIANT. I LOVED it.

Times haven't been much fun lately, but those pencils pasted a grin on my mug you could not have jackhammered off.

It's pure personal opinion, but I immediately had several favorites: the O'Bon recycled newspaper pencils are perhaps the first of the first, because I do so enjoy the smoothness and darkness of the line that lead lays down. Then, of course, there's the black Ticonderoga, an old favorite in a genius color. I know; some may feel the yellow is sacred, and that's perfectly cool. But I REALLY like the black one. The semi-matte finish just feels different—and better, I think—in the hand than the traditional gloss yellow. And the Venus Velvet, with the dark-blue ferrule band? Swoon.

Not that I didn't like the others! But those I've mentioned are just too cool.

I might have mentioned before—or not, can't recall—that I write almost all of my first drafts longhand, in pencil, before typing them out on the computer. That's almost entirely why I love pencils that feel so right in your hand, and whose leads have that elusive combination of a particularly ebony line, long-lasting points after sharpening, plus the strikingly sublime smoothness in scribbling (Ah! Cheap alliteration!) that comes not solely from softness of lead, but also apparently from the addition of wax to the graphite formula.

I live for this sort of thing these days. But, then, some people might tell me I need to get out more.

Anyway—I just wanted to express my large and grateful "Thanks!" for the first delivery from the POTM. You can't imagine how eagerly I await the next one.

Charles E., Beverly Hills, CA

Email correspondence. Lightly edited and used with permission.

Lost Treasure - A Blackwing 602 Story

I enjoyed Andy Welfle's Blackwing 602 review. My experience adds up to a horror story, or rather, a tale of lost treasure in regard to the Blackwing.

In 1988 I went to work for a school supply company in Birmingham, AL. The original company had been a fixture for kids in the 1960s onward: art supplies, textbooks, office supplies, etc. The name was changed and the owners crafted a new emphasis on teacher materials and parent/teacher products.

All the old inventory, dating back to God knows when, was transferred to a new warehouse and distribution facility. Inevitably, a years-long clearance sale began at that point; at various times we would rummage through the warehouse for old stock and place it on sale tables. You don't want to know how many vintage office products flew out the doors for pennies. I sold things I had to look up in catalogs just to determine their purpose. Magnetic, portable stenographer desks. Complex folders with metal clasps for odd-size paper. Very cool looking 3x2 inch notepads. Specially designed, beginner-handwriting ballpoint pens. Ancient painting, drawing, and sketch kits from Faber, etc. 

And of course, box after box after box of Blackwing 602s. In 1989, there were two "problems" with our inventory of these pencils. First, teachers could not identify them as Yellow Number 2 Pencils, which meant that they did not recognize them as having any utility in the modern classroom. Second, the several HUNDRED boxes of Blackwings had been stored in the hot, upper portion of a warehouse since Jimmy Carter was president, if memory serves. The erasers were hard and slick. Who knew you could reverse them?

In any event, they sold for ten cents a dozen, or three dozen for a quarter. Think about that for a moment. Or try not to.

The positive side of this tale is that I gained an appreciation for office supplies—pens and pencils in particular. I started collecting a few items then, and in my new career (since 1997) as an editor I have the time (and the actual excuse) to collect and understand the value of a vanishing item. But I do not own a single Blackwing. I do, however, own a box of American Pencil Company's Venus Velvet 3557 No. 2 in the lovely, vintage slidecase. This pencil is superior to the Blackwing in some respects, so I have that minor consolation.

David Pelfrey

Published with permission.