I have written a summary and posted it under the title “No Ordinary Pencil“. It will have a separate page and permanent link at the top of the menu. I still think of it as a work in progress and it will be updated from time to time, especially if I stumble upon something new. I’ve left out some details in order to keep the length manageable, but you can find further information in the related posts—I will be linking them soon. But for those interested in having everything in one place, that’s the place to start.
Historical information about the Blackwing is elusive though the extent of my searching hasn’t reached into things like corporate archives. As an ardent pencil user, I became very interested in the rise and decline of wood-cased pencils: a story so rich, complex, and colorful that I may only ever know a small portion of it. And as much as this blog is specifically about one pencil, to me the Blackwing in a sense stands for all pencils that have come and gone. But my concern in having a blog so narrowly focused has been for it to be mistaken as fanatical and single-minded. To be honest, I thought just focusing on one pencil would make things a little easier (I was wrong about that). And in fact, the Blackwing isn’t my favorite pencil (though it’s certainly in the top 5). Instead, everything about the Blackwing just seemed very compelling, and given the pencil’s reputation I thought it would be worth trying to discover more about it. Combine that with the fact there were no other blogs—as far as I could tell—that focused solely on the Blackwing, and, here we are.
It seemed to me that while the Blackwing is more than 64 years old its discontinuation happened not so long ago. So rather than let it fade into history like so many others, why not try to gather what artifacts can be found while they still remain, as well as talk with the people who used them. Shining a light on the history of the Blackwing has also helped to illuminate more than six decades of writing culture for me, which has only heightened my curiosity and deepened my appreciation.
I owe a debt of gratitude to: Stephen, Gunther, Matthias, Michael, Adair, and Lisa for their help and support; the readers who have submitted sightings; and everyone who has commented or offered suggestions.
And, thanks to you—the readers.
All 40 to 50 of you. 🙂
Discovering more and more about the history and the use of the Blackwing, through your page, is fantastic.
I don’t know many of the artists you talk about, but reading about them was always much more than informative, and I often end up trying to find out more about them afterwards.
My favourite bits though are your articles about the history of this very special pencil.
I am sure you have much more then 40 to 50 readers. You already have half that number in email subscriptions, so there must be hundreds of regular readers…
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What a great idea and wonderful compilation for a truly remarkable pencil. Job well done.
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“No Ordinary Blog”
Well done – thanks for generously sharing your knowledge and enthusiasm.
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Dear Sean,
First my apologies for being out of touch. I am hopelessly behind, and at this point I owe you many pencils and about 100 Martinis. I do promise to catch up. For now, i just want to congratulate you on this superb summary of the Blackwing 602 story. You have gathered an astonishing amount of information, yet it is clear that you are still enthralled by the continuing mysteries of this pencil. Because it is still rather mysterious that so little official documentation about the Blackwing seems to exist—nothing from the files of Eberhard Faber or Sanford that might pin down its history or its exact materials and manufacturing processes. Was nothing put in writing, or were these files lost? And as you point out, there is a strange paucity of advertising for so special a product. It seems that only time-travel will resolve such simple questions as where the pencil was sold, what was its general availability, and what were the locations of its production.
There is also the mystery of its demise. I think that the decline of handwriting surely plays a role, as you suggest. My first impulse, too, is to blame the shift from a haptic to a virtual culture. And yet, companies such as Bic, Pilot, and Papermate continue to develop and market mechanical pencils and other manual writing tools. We may prefer the stationery shops of old, but the fact is that the aisle at Staples for pens and pencils is pretty extensive, even if wood-cased pencils specifically no longer make up a large share of the selection. So much of the Blackwing story is strange. I still cannot believe, for example, that a pencil such as the Turquoise—in my experience, quite mediocre—could have outsold the Blackwing and earned continued production. Or the No-Blot—a beautiful pencil but of very limited use: it continued being made until fairly recently. The No-Blot sold more than the Blackwing? Come on! And it boggles the mind that Sanford/Papermate, witnessing the huge outpouring of interest in the Blackwing and its skyrocketing value on the vintage market, could remain indifferent and not revive production. A reintroduction of the Blackwing and, say, the Mongol, I feel would have proved a profitable strategy, even at the crass basic level of “retro” and nostalgia appeal. (While we’re at it, why was the Mongol suspended but the inferior Mirado kept?) There is still much to discover and untangle!
There is definitely a book here, Sean, and your journey of exploration is as fascinating as the pencil itself. Time to find a publisher and get cracking! All pencil lovers should be grateful to you; I certainly am!
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Thanks everybody, I appreciate it.
Adair — you bring up an excellent point about the Noblot. I can only surmise they were still able to manufacture them after the Blackwing ran out of parts. But, there’s this feeling I get…like they gave up on the Blackwing. How could hardly anyone be buying them, unless they just weren’t being put in stores much, i.e. 1. We want to stop making pencils, but need a reason. 2. Make fewer pencils. 3. Show poor sales. 4. Now we have a reason.
I really don’t want to cast aspersions—I’m sure there were significant financial reasons for their decision. I guess what aches a little is the idea that someone or something could have swooped in, at least to preserve the brand if not to start up production again in some other manner.
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Adair, you bring up some very important points that indeed look strange from our perspective but may appear different, yet even a little plausibe if observed from e. g. the manufacturer’s. He are some aspects that came to my mind.
1. Pencil aficionados like us are a minority, i. e. not a user group a global player needs to worry about, and the number of Blackwing fans is even smaller. Now and then I catch myself living with some kind of distorted view – the fact that I like pencils so much does not mean that others focus on and enjoy them too, let alone invest so much time and energy on them. So, from a business’ point of view the die-hard blackwing fans can be neglected without losing money or market share.
2. The Blackwing was discontinued after Sanford took over. I am sure that in this stage a lot of changes have taken place, and maybe they haven’t had a complete overview in that phase.
3. I don’t know how the company was (and is) organised. What if the departments were some kind of subcontractors? In that case, the subcontractor with the Blackwing in his portfolio might have been in trouble with low sales figures before already. This could also explain that the Turquoise and the No-Blot have been produced much longer – maybe they came from a much more successful department (or subcontractor).
4. Do Sanford/Papermate really witness the Blackwing’s popularity? (I doubt it.) And if yes: Couldn’t it be possible that they have thought about reviving this pencil but discarded that plan as not being profitable enough? (See point 1.)
I don’t want to cast aspersions either – I’m just an end-user with very limited insight into the pencil industry so the above thoughts are merely assumptions.
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Gunther, everything you say makes sense, and I never even thought of the possibility of competing subcontractors or departments within the company. I do wish we could know more, or see some company records throughout the eras of production. I am confident that Sean in his research will continue to make illuminating finds. What a marvelous post this was! I agree with all of you: this is the best Blackwing text ever written.
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