This is Part 2 of 6 You can go back to Part 1 HERE --------------- Turning to War Drawing pencils, we can see that the grade list has been expanded.  Again they can be round or hex, but I don't recall seeing a single example of a round War Drawing.  If you've got one, let... Continue Reading →

This is the first part of a 6 part series.  I will amend this page once they are all up to have a landing point for each part (over the next day or two). ...... War Drawing pencils are a rare breed.  Not because they are rare to come across (in fact you can usually... Continue Reading →

The Civil Service pencil is a bit of an off-shoot from the HMSO pencils.  As such, I've found that normally they are also stamped with the Stationery Office lettering, but not always. Stamping or not, they were procured and supplied by the HMSO. What I would say is that the Civil Service pencils tend to... Continue Reading →

Most people will be familiar with De La Rue, usually though: (i) playing cards; (ii) printing money; or (iii) Onoto pens.  As you could probably guess, I'm going to focus on their woodcased pencils and on this occasion the 'ledger pencil'. Whilst I couldn't find a direct reference to the ledger pencils, they are very... Continue Reading →

This post came about because of an interesting quirk with Faber's Polygrade pencils, the 'moving' F grade.  You may have noticed it, then again, there's a good chance most people haven't. I'm not going to discuss Polygrades too much from a 'general history' point, so if you want to look at good pictures of the... Continue Reading →

Let’s talk about the Cumberland Pencil Co; not the one that directly went on the become 'Derwent' and has a pencil museum, the other one.  Keswick pencil history can be a little confusing at times but I've tried to piece a few things around today's example from the collection. Originally run as 'R. Wilson &... Continue Reading →

I've decided to group a couple of pencils together for this post; the E Wolff & Son 'Mathematical' pencil and the L & C Hardtmuth 'Compass' pencil.  This is simply because I only have one example of the Wolff and given that it is almost identical to the Hardtmuths, both in terms of construction and... Continue Reading →

I'd planned on writing about E Wolff & Sons' 'Pure Cumberland Lead' pencils next, but a last-minute change and today's post is about the rather fine E Wolff & Son Manufacturers, 'Compressed Lead' pencils instead. All advertisements I have come across for this model date from the 1860s, so let’s go with around 1868 or... Continue Reading →

B.S. Cohen Ltd was one of the founding companies of the Royal Sovereign Pencil Co Ltd (via Arthur Johnson Ltd) along with E Wolff & Son Ltd.  Before B.S Cohen Ltd was incorporated in 1904, the company operated as a traditional partnership (stylised as 'B.S. Cohen Maker') and their pencils don't turn up too often,... Continue Reading →

In 1937 Staedtler had their 275th anniversary, and with that, they released a range of '275 years' branded pencils across the range.  They also produced a 275 years anniversary book, which you can still pick up from specialist book sellers (although its published in German in case that matters). I don't really have much history... Continue Reading →