A Handsome Black Pencil (1)

An iconic pencil must be assigned an iconic color. It is certainly the case with most flagship pencils. That said, black often seems to be the paint of choice when a manufacturer wants to signal that a particular pencil is a cut above the rest.

The packaging’s only a paper sleeve, but what a sleeve! There is an additional sheet inside that keeps the pencils tight, and what’s more amazing, keeps them facing a certain way – the pointed tip of the hexagon points upwards, so the printing on the pencil shows to its best advantage.

I first saw the Commerce on Contrapuntalism (here, for example), a treasure trove of all things EF. I’m glad I got a chance to know this one, since it is so far one of only two Eberhard Faber pencils in which the lead feels related in any way to the Blackwing, unlike its more famous, similarly ferruled cousins, the Van Dyke and the Microtomic. The shade is perfect, the edges crisp, the silver print classy. A most handsome pencil.

10 thoughts on “A Handsome Black Pencil (1)”

    1. Thank you, Sean, it means a lot coming from you :) BTW that “375B” is tantalizing, hopefully you will enlighten us on the logic behind the numbering system someday!

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      1. There were multiple versions of the Commerce 375 which I have seen actual pencils of and old ink blotter advertisements. The B in 375B stands for black, there is a natural version which is 375N
        The 395 which is the round Commerce had more than one variant as well.

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  2. What a sleeve, indeed. And these look fabulous! There’s definitely something about black, especially when paired with gold, that exudes an air of higher quality, doesn’t it? Tombow Monos come to mind when I think of black pencils :D

    So Commerce seems to be a range of pencils? I saw green ones recently but they were numbered 1878. Total n00b here.

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    1. Hmmm, I’m not familiar with any pencil numbered 1878. I’ll get back to you if this noob learns more ;)

      And yes, black and gold is always a classy combination – and you’ve just pointed to the second pencil in this series, which is black and gilt! :)

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