Here you can get more insight about pencils, how many different types manufactured and for what reason.
Which Manufacturer is the oldest?
Sometimes these kind of thoughts running through our mind, but I would say that even the question itself is wrong. It’s hard to find exception to the rule that companies try to show themselves more unique or having an older tradition than others. This doesn’t mean that there’s no difference, but need to re-formulate the question, then dig deeper to find real answers. For example if I would like to know which company have pencils from older times then it isn’t enough to check wikipedia or see a date on a pencil box. Hardtmuth shows date of 1790 pointing that they are from the late 1700s, but their first factory built only 18 years later in 1808. It may seems a little difference but see what Staedtler does. They refer to date of 1662. It’s not a hoax, they really have traces from such an old times, however they probably making pencils only from 1835 or later.
Company name was taken over by its most known product’s name
In old time there are different product lines with nicknames like “Mephisto” or “Eros” in case of Hardtmuth. Later the company changed its name and used the most famous and successful product name as company name. In this way company name was changed from L&C Hardtmuth to Koh-I-Noor.
[pic: photo of the factory entrance showing the new name]
L&C Hardtmuth => Koh-I-Noor
Schwan => Stabilo
Staedtler => Staedtler Mars
Numbering and meaning behind it
If we want to figure out what numbers represents, first we have to realize that these companies was involved in manufacturing wide range of stationery products. For Us consumers there are a bunch of pencils and rulers and ink we may wish to see through by numbers, but for the company these are just products, so they are using numbers only for their own reasons.
1. Example of a product line and its variations. All numbers below are from Hardtmuth’s “Koh-I-Noor”.
quality differencies
1500 – high quality writing pencils, well known type.
1770 – it is just like 1500, but “school pencil” => simple, not so detailed, cheaper.
for types of usage
1500 – normal writing pencil
1511 – leadholder that can re-use by replacing the lead
1561 – copying pencil for mainly office purposes
2. Numbers may independent from product types, can refer to a single item or even a paper box contains several of those. Examples below are from Hardtmuth’s “Technicolor” brand.
1700 – colored pencil
1710 – pack with 6 pieces of colored pencil
1711 – pack of pencils in 12 different colors
How old is a specific pencil?
Wow! You’ve finally come to this! However that would be the thousand dollar question.
The problem is, that a pencil itself have so few attributes to help us figuring out its age. Let’s randomly take two pencils from a bunch of old ones and put beside each other on the desk. The difference in age can be even 40 or 60 years and there’s a high chance we do not notice it. For solving this puzzle we need all we got. It would be helpful if we know some history, have some knowledge in art and style eras like art deco or secession. Not bad if we have some of old catalogues or have connection to someone who actually have it. We may need boxes which was contain those pencils or original wrapping to see other visual elements that shows us their own age. Also can be beneficial to know the manufacturing process, wood types, painting, finishing technology. Finally find others with same interest, learn and share what you know!
Writing Instruments 