Comments on: Happy Birthday, Faber-Castell 9000.

by: Slywy

Sat, 29 Apr 2006 22:21:20 +0000

I’ve got some FaberCastell Mongol #1s from college (1979-1983) or shortly thereafter — not sure. The bookstore (now managed by Barnes & Noble) once sold mostly Mongols, so that’s pretty much what everyone on campus used. You could tell who was able to shop elsewhere. I didn’t know Mongols had become rare. I think that the last time I looked they had the usual PaperMates or something along those lines. I have about 17 or 18 unsharpened Mongol #1s left, and one I’m working on. I guess I’ll hang onto the unsharpened ones!

by: Steve L.

Thu, 05 Jan 2006 05:16:00 +0000

Total agreement on how good the vintage 9000 pencils are, and especially, how nice the tins are, with the lettering embossed in the lid.
Maybe I was just lucky, on ebay, but recently I was able to get a number of brand new never used tins of 9000s, along with equally fun vintage Koh-i-noor 1500 drafting pencils, all in 2b or 3b, as well as six boxes of vintage Eagle Turquoise drawing pencils, in 3b. (I also lost out on a number of them, so there are other pencil people out there bidding…)
All are real red cedar, no erasers, and the Koh-i-noors are a nice muted yellow; the turquoise are, not surprisingly, turquoise blue, though possibly darkened a bit through age.
I’m still looking for vintage Mongols and Mikados, though they seem to be hard to find…
Again, great article and great photos… Thanks.

by: Deadprogrammer

Wed, 04 Jan 2006 21:41:00 +0000

Shopping for "supplies" is a psychological thing for me. Only lately I started to buy pencils and pencil-related things though.

by: ana

Tue, 03 Jan 2006 21:09:00 +0000

Thanks for the great story about pencils and all those wonderful stationery stores of yesteryear. An inspiration and a reminder of how well the pencil endures.

by: Bill Brandon

Mon, 02 Jan 2006 05:46:00 +0000

Does anyone know where to find 9000s with the attached eraser? I’ve searched the Web enough to know that they exist (other than as part of Perfect Pencils), but nobody seems to carry them.

by: stephen @ paper and pencil

Sun, 01 Jan 2006 20:31:00 +0000

That was a great article and photo set, and thank you for the compliment.

I liked the comparison of the pencil box to cigar boxes. Take a look at some of the photos at the bottom of this page, at the Australian Faber-Castell site. Pencil packaging indeed once was quite elaborate.

About the wood source - this article at Paper News has some detail on Faber-Castell’s practices. The article notes they have been Forest Stewardship Council certified since 1999.

I also have some boxes (though probably from the 60s rather than the 40s) of these pencils. Comparing the wood with new 9000s, I’ll admit I can’t really detect too much definitive difference either visually or olfactory-wise. I do see that the newer pencils have a slightly smaller diameter, and a much darker green varnish. I don’t like the aesthetics of the bar coding on the side of the pencil.

Anyhow, your article has definitely motivated me to go visit one of the last independent stationers in my neck of the woods. Maybe they’ll have some great “forgotten” pencils.

Have a great New Year!

by: Mike - Paper Notes

Sat, 31 Dec 2005 21:17:00 +0000

Thanks, Pencil Revolution, for this look at the F-C 9000. Michael Leddy did a great job with this! Not being on Blogger, I can't post a trackback, but I have linked to this at Paper Notes In A Digital World. Keep up the good work!

by: Pencil Revolution

Sat, 31 Dec 2005 19:06:00 +0000

Unfortunately, the 9000 is no longer made from Cedar. It is made from the pine that Faber-Castell grows for pencils like the GRIP 2001. The premium colored pencils, watercolor pencils and PITT pastels from Faber-Castell are still California Incense cedar (my wife really loves these). A 9000 made from Cedar sounds to me like it would be the best pencil they could make:)