PenciLog (pencilog.com) is the new home of Kent’s PenciLog. Written in Korean, Kent examines pencils in leisurely depth. The right hand column has a link titled “Postings in English” which leads to some articles written in English. The navigation system doesn’t seem to allow linking to specific articles, but here are two posts I recommend navigating to: the California Republic Palomino, and the Graf von Faber-Castell pencil. The former shows some interesting new marketing of the pencil from California Cedar products, while the latter shows some pencils that don’t seem to be for sale anywhere I can find. Most interesting!
On the desk, at any time is by Kossy, and written in Japanese. I have previously linked to it as “???????”. I am flabbergasted by the blog’s energy and the range of stationery items shown. If you like train themed pencils (this may be a small club), Kossy shows many more varieties that I was not aware of. Updated at least once a day, it is a treasure trove of modern stationery information.
Finally, a video of an old Nataraj pencil ad at Youtube. Delightful!
Stephen,
The GvFC pencils mentioned in the post are indeed difficult to find. I’ve been searching online for months, so I finally made an hour-long trip to a pen shop to order some, as well as a few other items that have been very difficult to hunt down. They list $25 for 3 pencils.
The catalog numbers are 118637 and 118638 for brown and black respectively. The only 2 online stores I’ve found to carry them are Czech:
http://www.penshop.cz/DetailPage.asp?DPG=8026
http://internetovy-obchod.msbox.cz/sada-tuzek-graf-von-faber-castell-cerne-3-ks/f-3-s-22-dp-8027/
But I found out some information—or rather, a confirmation—about GvFC that you might find interesting (if it’s something that you don’t already know). I was expressing my consternation about finding these items and how there are so many iterations of the perfect pencil idea but yet there’s no consistency in the catalog numbers, nor is there any information regarding the design and release history of their fine pencils line.
The store owner basically said that he would place my order, and my chances of getting it are 50-50. He went on to say that GvFC discontinue items at will, give no indication of a product’s lifespan, and update lines with the same catalog number even though they are considerably different. In addition, there doesn’t seem to be much rhyme or reason in the numbering system in their catalog.
Last, he added that the GvFC line, though it certainly generates revenue, is essentially a kind of wish list for the count and therefore doesn’t conform to the same kind of reliability found in their office and art lines. I think perhaps this is what might generate the interest on the GvFC line (especially pencils) if for no other reason that they are hard to find, and you don’t know for how long something will be available.
In fact, just today I took a look at the German FC site and the English, and the Design catalog in German features several pencil products—the black perfect pencil, round black Design pencils as well as other colors—that are not in the English. I suppose it’s a matter of Europe vs. North America in their distribution channels.
Sean
Thank you for the introduction.
I think it is very honored to visit from each country after it links with pencil talk.
Thank you.
Sean, thank you for kindly sharing your research. The photos make this variant appear to be a step down (in my eyes) from the existing full length pencil, yet the price seems to be in the same neighborhood.
Kossy, it is a pleasure.