Found by accident – the familiar Faber-Castell Grip 2001 and Jumbo Grip in alternate finishes – red and blue, rather than silver.
The red and blue Grip 2001s (Grips 2001?) don’t indicate a degree, but appear similar to either a B or 2B.
Faber-Castell design pencil (II)
A round pencil with grip enhancements, this is Faber-Castell’s latest “design pencil”. We saw another version last year. It seems like an ongoing occasional series.
A winner of a “reddot design award”, it also comes in black, though I have just the white and silver versions. The white is “pearly”, while the silver has some sparkle – quite a bit when seen in natural light.
The grip, created by protruding swirls, will be a matter of preference. I neither loved nor hated it.
They lay down a nice firm dark line, similar to other Faber-Castell pencils in ‘B’.
After a couple of weeks, I’m not so enthused by the format, though I still like the predecessor very much.
Found in a drawer
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.
Faber-Castell Perfection 7056 eraser pencil
Wow, perfection! Or, maybe not…
The Perfection 7056 is a woodcase pencil format eraser from Faber-Castell.
Unusual looking by pencil standards, it is a very lightly hued/pale (almost ash) woodcase pencil with a light pink eraser core. It walks and talks like a pencil – but acts like an eraser.
The format provides convenience and a familiar grip – if you can hold a pencil, you can hold this eraser. It also provides an always “clean” eraser surface for those who prefer or require this – just sharpen, and the eraser is like new.
As to the eraser itself – I am a bit confused. The photo shows marks from a Staedtler Ergosoft in HB on a Rhodia pad. The right side was erased by the Perfection, and for comparison, the left side was erased by a Staedler mars plastic eraser.
What a difference. The Perfection has several pluses, but as an eraser, it seems quite sub-standard compared to typical format quality rectangular erasers. One note: it did seem very gentle on paper – perhaps the forte is in a specialty area.
Do you use this eraser? What do you use it for?
Faber-Castell Perfect Pencil – 5
Our fifth and final article on Faber-Castell perfect pencils.
This is the original silver-plate version that you’ve probably seen languishing in storefronts for some years now.
The set is all wood, with a heavy metal (brass?) silver-plated lid.
The inlay that surrounds the writing instruments is also solid wood, unlike the frosted green glass case.
The set includes four spare pencils, four spare erasers, and a sharpener.
The extender is the slimmest we’ve yet seen, as the cap doesn’t contain a sharpener.
The mechanism is like that of a traditional pencil extender, with a sliding ring. There is also a nice Faber-Castell clip.
Since there is no built-in sharpener, a sharpener is provided – maybe the nicest (and possibly the heaviest) compact manual sharpener ever made. Finished in fluting like that of the pencil, it matches a larger two hole desktop model, as well as the Graf von Faber-Castell erasers and the pencils themselves.
This case has since been updated to include the platinum-plate perfect pencil (no classic sharpener, though). I would recommend it over the frosted glass case based on construction and material quality.
It’s the only one of the series that I generally leave at home, probably because the ones with sharpeners are just a bit more practical.
This product started the line, and I think, was very important to the pencil industry, much in the way high end sports cars can stimulate overall car sales, though they themselves may sell in very small quantities.
Other Versions
There are at least three more perfect pencil versions. I can’t write about them from personal experience, and don’t know how their mechanisms might differ from the featured pencils.
– A sterling silver version. Still for sale as far as I know.
– A stainless steel with diamonds version. This was a limited edition. It shows up on eBay from time to time. I actually got an email a couple of years ago from a dealer who wondered if I wanted to buy one. My answer: maybe, but not at anything close to the full retail price. (No deal.)
– The famous white gold with diamonds version, a limited edition of 99. This was of course great marketing, getting immense amounts of publicity for being “the world’s most expensive pencil”. An article in The Economist detailed some of the marketing background. (This series was based on a management consultant’s recommendation that they create a premiere line.) These also show up on eBay from time to time, much reduced from their original price.
Overall, I am extremely impressed with what Faber-Castell has done in the perfect pencil series.
Faber-Castell Perfect Pencil – 4
Fourth in our series is the platinum-plate version of the Perfect Pencil. This post has far more photos than in any previous entry, so please let me know if you encounter problems such as the website slowing down.
This is the currently offered Graf von Faber-Castell Perfect Pencil. It is sold alone, and in various sets. I have the wood and green frosted glass set.
I have seen similar looking tables with dark wood and green frosted glass at furniture stores, and don’t know which came first.
The pencils are like those in our previous post. At a certain price point, I think it is reasonable to expect very high quality from pencils, and these don’t disappoint.
As well, there are four spare (unsharpened) pencils, and four erasers.
The pencil supplied with the extender is pre-sharpened.
The extender mechanism is like that of the aluminum pencil – a tapered fit, no mechanics.
The clip is the nicest we’ve yet seen, strong and very springy.
Pulling the cap reveals – an aluminum sharpener! With the same form factor as the plastic sharpeners, it can be retrofitted to other perfect pencils. (And, I did order a few from my favourite fountain pen store for just that purpose.)
I have used it regularly, just like the silver-plate pencil, but the platinum has resisted tarnish, and it still looks spiffy after some years.
This perfect pencil is very nice, and I can’t imagine pencil connoisseurs not liking it.
Now about that case. It is like a house with great “curb appeal” and a broken furnace. It may look great from the outside, but the interior inlay is a cheap piece of dust-magnet plastic. This is a huge disappointment to me.
The frosted glass is attached to the hinge brackets with glue, and broke off during last summer’s humidity (I left the lid open, the pencils on display). Luckily the glass didn’t break. It reattached with pressure, but doesn’t fit quite as well.
As a customer, I did find this quite disappointing.
While I feel the pencil product is excellent, I would avoid this particular case unless you really intend on leaving it untouched on a desk or shelf.
