Found in a drawer – nine yellow office pencils, sharpened and ready to use.
The pencils are marked:
1. Czechoslovakia Bohemia Works Deluxe 1380 HB
As Czechoslovakia split up in 1993, this pencil is an interesting historical item. I seem to recall Bohemia Works pencils being available some years ago.
2. Roundedge Grand & Toy HB
Dating from the 1880s, Grand & Toy used to be the leading Canadian office supply chain. They still exist, but are now owned by the OfficeMax chain. Today, nearly all hexagonal pencils have rounded edges, but I’m wondering if this line was introduced at a time when the name may have been a selling point.
3. Province of Ontario HB
A government office pencil that went astray?
4. Canada Dixon System 2500 – HB
It sounds like a fictional mainframe computer to me – the “System 2500”.
5. Canada Berol Valor 131 B
There is a Shaeffer Valor pen on the market, but I was unaware of this pencil brand.
6. FaberCastell American 2 (Also the impression “U.S.A. Bonded”)
I believe the brand still exists in the Sanford lineup. This pencil would be post-Eberhard Faber, pre-Sanford in the timeline. Note that “FaberCastell” is styled as a single word.
7. Eagle Mirado 174 HB (The reverse has the impression “Procede “Chemi-Sealed” R Bonded Canada”)
The Mirado name is of course still around today.
And two pencils are duplicated.
So we have one pencil from the former Czechoslovakia, one from the US, and three from the Canadian subsidiaries of US firms. An interesting assortment.
What a great find! The various shades of yellow are very nice. – I wish I had such drawers … ;-)
As far as I know the “Bohemia Works” brand was used by Koh-I-Noor where they couldn’t use their own name because of trademark issues in the target country.
Cool, nice finds! ;-)
Man I love those Dixon and Faber and Eagle pencils made in Canada. The System rocks!!! The Balor 131 B……..sweet! Any Canadians out there be on the look out for this kind of old stock……BNP needs them!!!!
Ohhhhh, I have many Bohemia works, Granada 1380 HB pencils, made in Czechoslovakia. They are the only true HB pencils i have ever used. they produce light lines with light pressure, and dark blacks with hard pressure. Any other HB takes a great deal of rubbing to produce a black, and most feel hard and the blacks are not true. i covet, these pencils, like fine wine or expensive brandy, using them only when i need to fill in blacks. I would like to get my hands on more of them.
The Eagle Mirado…
I have some Berol era Eagle Black Warrior 372’s that I covet as much as my first diary. These are not really that old, but I really love the history that goes behind them. I also have some Eagle Verithins from the same era along with other pencils. I LOVE YOUR SITE!
BTW I am 15 yrs old and I think I may be the only one in my high school that really is interested so much in pencils that I am reading Petroski’s “The Pencil.”