I was a toddler when I first fell in love with pencils. My older sisters would come home from school and do their homework with pencils, and I wanted to do that too. I made my babyish marks and drew pictures to show anyone nearby. When I finally got to go to school, I had my own little pencil case with two beautiful pencils and whatever else the school asked for me to bring, and I was ready to sharpen those pencils and put them to work! Don’t even get me started about pencil sharpening!
All my life, I have been pretty particular about what pencil to use. It needs to have the right blackness and the right softness to get the line I like, so when I find pencils at yard sales, antique sales and estate sale desk items, I go through them to pick out the pencils that I would like to use. I also take advantage of free pencils given away at businesses or at the library with the hopes I can score another perfect pencil. I use these and sharpen them until there’s nothing left to sharpen and move onto another favorite.
You can’t always count on pens. They run out of ink, stop working for some inexplicable reason and I notice that we end up throwing them away when they no longer serve us, which irritates me. A pencil always works unless the point is broken and that can be easily fixed. Unfortunately with older pencils, the eraser doesn’t work anymore so I have good erasers anywhere I’m doing any writing.
In our incessant organizing, I came across a cigar box that my husband had stored since the 60s filled with postage stamps that he never put into his collection and five very colorful Wing-Ding pencils with the most amazing typography and graphic design. In trying to determine their age and possible value, I came across the Brand Name Pencils website and met Bobby Truby from sunny Florida. He said they were from the 50s, and he would be delighted to take them off my hands. A transaction was made. He is a pencil collector and dealer and is always on the lookout for pencils. There is even an organization of pencil collectors and shows and meet ups for people to share their love of pencils.
The History of Pencils
A pencil needs wood, graphite and maybe an eraser. This NPR program, Trace the Remarkable History of the Humble Pencil is a great place to start understanding the history of the tool.
The Bullet Pencil
Yes, bullet casings were used to hold pencils and their remarkable story is available on the pencils.com blog. I can appreciate how their usefulness was appropriated in the 1950s for inexpensive advertising giveaways and I imagine we might be lucky to see them at flea markets today.
The system allowed a short pencil to be extended by placing the cap end over the eraser to create a longer implement. I might enjoy that as I have to toss my beloved pencils when they get to the size of golf pencils, which I do not enjoy using at all.
This is my personal collection. My favorite library pencils are worn down to four inches but I keep one in the car and one in my flea market vest to jot down notes or prices. Some I have banded to tell me it’s a good one. I am pretty fickle. Sometimes I sharpen a pencil in our old Boston sharpener just to test it. The only pencils I have ever purchased are for artwork. Yes, I am that frugal.
One of my VU sisters did love her trip to The Paper Mouse in West Newton, MA which has a really nice variety of pencils. One of the owners, Felix Doolittle is Oprah’s “All-Time Favorite Stationer.”
Last but not least, here is my favorite pencil and its scribblings.
How do you feel about inkwells? We featured a beauty in one of our weekly fresh to market vintage posts.
If you are a pencil lover, please share with me your favorite and why. Thank you for reading this.
