Ask Mr. Pencil — Selling your Blackwing

This just in as a comment to the Realist's Review of the Blackwing Pencil from Jan Young of Toledo, OH:

How does one go about selling Blackwing 602 pencils? I have found three boxes of these. One box is FaberCastell, and the other two boxes are Eberhard Faber. The gold print on the pencils marked FaberCastell has a much nicer look than the very shiney gold used on the two boxes of 602s from Eberhard Faber.

I'm faced with that same problem, Jan. I bought a dozen of those beauts on eBay a while ago for (relatively) cheap, hoping to sell them individually to make a profit. I paid about $16 per pencil, and since I've seen some go for as much as $40, I figured a profit margin of over 200% would be pretty good.

Trouble is, it's a hard sell. There are lots of people out there who are interested in buying, but it is kind of a niche market. For every interested party, there are multi-hundreds who say, "$40 for a PENCIL?! That's ridiculous!"

Me, I would first try eBay, Jan. There is a small posting fee, but it is inconsequential. Start the bidding low, like $10. Hopefully, that will attract people initially. If that doesn't work, try the Pencil Pages classifieds.  I am told it is checked regularly, and since only a pencilhead would go there, you know you're getting the right market.

Good luck! And hey, if anyone reading this blog wants to buy a Blackwing, let me know, and I'll be happy to put you in contact with Jan.

Good luck!

Ask

Comments

[Kieffer]

I've got a couple dozen that I bought before prices got absolutely ridiculous, not to sell later for profit, but to use. But now that they're so expensive, how do I justify using them?! Fortunately, I've got a couple alternatives. The CR Palomino 2Bs are excellent, along with Mitsubishi's Hi Unis, which I think are probably the best drawing pencils ever made.