In a recent post, I featured a pencil that I believed to be the first Blackwing 602. A few days later, I added a parenthetical question mark to the title as well as a post script; I’m wondering if I’ve got the order correct. Here are the first three pencils:
Though not equally placed, the imprint is identical on the first three Blackwings, so the ferrules are the only differences in design.
The band on the first ferrule is the color of the natural undercoat, the rest is painted black. How was this done? Perhaps they were dipped twice, each time leaving the band unpainted. If that’s the case then it seems it would have been a two-step process, which was likely labor-intensive. The only other idea I can think of was that the ferrules were fitted onto a long string with fabric loops, which masked the banded area. Perhaps they were airbrushed? The edges of the band don’t look like they are the result of dipping the ferrule. Whatever the process, and for the sake of argument, let’s presume it required a little extra time and effort.
If that is correct, then suppose someone thought this more laborious process (whatever the process was) for painting the ferrules was ineffecient. Instead, they began to paint the ferrules completely black in one step (which is easier), then painted the yellow band (further down the production line) to emulate the color scheme of the previous version.
If some version of this speculation is true, then I’ve got it backwards in the previous post. Instead, they should be ordered as they are pictured above.Supporting Evidence
Here are two Van Dyke pencils with the same undercoat band. These pencils likely pre-date the Blackwing (the Van Dyke in general is an older pencil). Looking closely at the ferrule, notice the arrow that has been stamped-out of the metal, which indicates the eraser can be adjusted. The other side says “CLAMP” followed by its patent number the date of the patent, MAR 29, 1921:
There is even an instruction imprinted on the reverse of the barrel:
In fact, so much emphasis was placed on this design-feature that the packaging even had a cardboard tongue in the shape of the eraser: it slips through the top when you open the box, mimicking its removal from the ferrule:
Neither of these things appear on the Blackwing or its packaging. Could it be then that this Van Dyke represents an older version of the ferrule, and that once the idea caught on, it was no longer necessary to cut out the arrow and include the patent number on the ferrule itself? If this is true, then the undercoat band would be the older ferrule, not the one with the yellow-painted band.
There are also Van Dykes that have the yellow-painted band (see below) and I’m starting to think that they (as well as the yellow-painted Blackwings) may have been an intermediate step until the color scheme changed:
As you can see, the ferrule has no information stamped on it (same on the reverse), and the arrow is missing as well. Also, the color of the painted band is identical to that found on the barrel, which makes sense from a design perspective for this pencil, but seemingly less-so when it comes to the Blackwing:
Another possibility is that once the Blackwing came into production, there was just a surfeit of undercoat-banded ferrules, which were to be used up whether they were for Van Dykes or Blackwings. In other words, the choices for the elongated ferrule’s design and color were made independent of the pencils for which they were used. Both lines were subject to the changes in design until one was settled upon—which complemented both pencils—rather than having to produce two different kinds.
The ironic thing about consulting printed catalogs (should they be found some day) or advertisements, is that they would not have photographs; the pencils would be drawn and/or painted. So an illustrated Blackwing with a yellow band on a black ferrule wouldn’t tell you if it’s the undercoat version or the painted version. Take for example these score-keeping cards from Eberhard Faber. Notice that the Mongol pictured here also has an undercoat-type band, and that the drawing of the Blackwing has a blue band!
The following is a summary of my imagined history of the early Blackwing 602. My reasoning is based on the idea that the fewer steps it takes to manufacture and decorate the ferrule, the better (in terms of cost).
- The Van Dyke is fitted with the elongated ferrule in the early 1920s (this date is based on patent applications). To further showcase this innovation, an arrow is punched out of the ferrule and the reverse has a patent indication to warn would-be infringers. The color scheme is a brass-colored undercoat, covered in black paint except for the band at the neck. An instruction is stamped on the barrel as well.
- Some time passes and the arrows on the ferrules are no longer stamped-out on the Van Dyke, but one side still has the patent number. This may save some time and money, especially if they are manufactured elsewhere. Changes in ferrule design, therefore, could be influenced by the remaining amount of one particular style, and the subsequent need to order new stocks—the perfect time to revisit design ideas.
- The Blackwing comes along in the mid-1930s and receives the same ferrule—no stamp, no patent number, but the same color scheme. The Van Dyke also drops the patent number stamped on the ferrule.
- More time passes and the more laborious process of painting the undercoated ferrules is replaced by painting the entire ferrule black. The bands are now painted yellow on both the Blackwing and Van Dyke.
- Eventually, the color scheme is reversed: a brass-colored ferrule with a single black painted stripe. This style is adopted for both the Van Dyke 601 and Blackwing 602, as well as the new Microtomic 603 (which eventually becomes a silver-colored ferrule).
This is going to be a haunting question and I’m not sure how it can be definitively settled based solely on the design of the pencils. I doubt there is anyone around with a living memory of these changes, but there must be records somewhere; catalogs would do the trick. I’m open to any and all suggestions, especially if you happen to know more about this particular back-story.
Blackwing Pages 
Your rationale makes a lot of sense to me.
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I really like the instructions printed on the Van Dyke pencil…
What follows is an alternative idea – I have no idea which ferrule was easier to produce with the manufacturing processes available at the time: If there wasn’t the Van Dyke pencils you could think they just experimented with the ferrule for a while (not long) before they settled for one look. In that case one possible chronological order might be from complicated to simple, but I somehow think that the yellow band version might have been the most complicated one to manufacture (just a guess, explaining my ideas why would probably double this comment in length, so I skip this part).
In this case the order would be (black-yellow-black, black-unpainted-black, unpainted-black-unpainted), i.e. the designer first thought of the yellow strip, they then changed to the simpler(?) version without yellow, before settling for the final ferrule.
The Van Dyke changes things, but its ferrule could still explain this alternative order: They might have started with the yellow band to distinguish the two pencils to some extend, then simplified it.
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You know, Memm, that the order you mentioned is the one I’ve been operating under up until this point. The only thing that has thrown a wrench into the works, for me, is that going from a painted, to a non-painted, back to a painted ferrule seems counterintuitive (but I know nothing of factory workflow!). I’m going to assume that painting the band occurred at a different stage in production than painting the ferrule. But even if that is the case, then it seems that those decisions could have been made independent of one another. In other words, the question of whether to leave the band unpainted (when the ferrules were painted, not yet attached to the pencils) has no bearing on whether the stripe on the band is painted (at a later point in production, after they were attached to the pencils). Maybe it was for more aesthetic reasons, for example, the undercoat version of the band just didn’t contrast enough against the black of the ferrule so they decided to paint it yellow.
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I really apreciate your effords to establish a chronolgy – it speaks to me, history is important! 🙂 As I see it, it makes some sense, that the manufacturing proces is simplified over time – so we can assume, that the most labour intensive is the oldest. So, from logic based on limited knowledge, the chronlogy presented in your photo would seem right.
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Thanks, Henrik!
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Thank you for your analysis, Sean. This is fascinating pencil history. If only we could find some documentation of the first Blackwing line, somewhere, in some forgotten file…I wonder if Sanford even kept the Eberhard Faber archives.
The early Van Dyke is astonishingly beautiful, and I too love the instructions and the stamped-out arrow. You have created an important collection, Sean, that will help us understand the evolution of the Blackwing so much better.
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Thanks, Adair. I wonder if the Faber-Castell archive mightn’t have some documents/catalogs from Eberhard Faber in the U.S., especially since the recent re-unification of the brands, or simply because they’re all family.
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Good point, Sean. It is worth inquiring at Faber-Castell. They are certainly nice enough and more likely than Sanford to have kept files. As I understand it, the split between Eberhard-Faber in the USA and in Germany did not take place until WWII, which the Blackwing predates, so there must be some record of it in Germany. However, I have never seen any of these clinched-ferrule-type pencils among vintage finds or catalogs in Germany. I have never seen Blackwings or Microtomics in Germany. Interestingly, the Van Dyke line did exist in Germany, but as a very different pencil, sometimes as a stenographic pencil, without that ferrule. Later versions of the German Van Dyke were charcoal-like pencils, strictly for fine arts. So, I wonder if the Blackwing family was ever marketed or produced in Germany at all. Maybe operations were completely separate and clinched-ferrule pencils were strictly limited to Eberhard-Faber USA. Gunther and Matthias might have more knowledge about this interesting question.
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Very interesting about the Van Dyke! Thanks for sharing that.
So, to our fellow German pencileers—can you help to further illuminate Adair’s hypothesis? 🙂
I’m hoping that there will be information about Eberhard Faber in America in the upcoming Faber-Castell book about to be released. If so, there might be all kinds of catalog images which might get us closer to an answer, if not solve the problem.
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About the Van Dyke, Eberhard Faber opened a branch in Neumarkt near Nuremberg in 1922 (reminds of of Waterman). My assumption is that they just produced similar pencils in Brooklyn and Franconia and called them Van Dyke on both sides of the Atlantic. I wouldn’t be surprised of the manufacturing processes and leads were different.
Back to the order of ferrules. The unpainted band could be from the result of ‘something’ holding the ferrule while it is dipped in paint. That would be easier than painting a yellow band on a ferrule, but whatever held the ferrule must either be used constantly so that the paint doesn’t dry or must have a surface that does not allow the paint to stick to it (oily surface or something like anti-vandal paint). Another idea would be to dip the whole ferrule, and to ‘wipe the band off’ while the band is still wet. All three versions of producing the unpainted band would not be more complex than painting a yellow band, but might not have been feasible at the time the early Blackwings were made.
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I try to think of ways to paint the ferrule that didn’t involve automated machines, but if they were capable of producing more than 100,000 pencils per day I would think some kind of machinery would be needed. Look closely at the picture of the three ferrules—do you see how the unpainted band has edges that are softer and a little lighter than the rest of the ferrule? This leads me to wonder if they weren’t painted using some form of compressed air rather than dipping. I could see using a thread/material about the thickness of a shoelace tied around the banded area, with many ferrules spaced on a large, hanging string. And I could imagine those strings being prepared by hand. Then they are “airbrushed” so to speak and allowed to dry. I just think that if they were dipped that somewhere on the ferrule there would be a slightly thicker area of paint, just like when the ends of pencils are dipped.
But your “wipe the band off” solution could also produce the lighter edges of the band.
The funny thing is, the black paint on the ferrules doesn’t look so good close-up. It looks like it wasn’t quite opaque enough. I wonder if the stripes were painted around the time the barrels were imprinted. That’s one point in the production line where the pencils are locked into place and held firmly. Maybe they were spun against a brush or thin sponge at that point?
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The inside of the ferrule, when the eraser is removed, might give some more hints on whether the ferrule was airbrushed or dipped.
Another idea: I once cleaned the silver GvFC Pencil by putting it in warm salt water with a bit of aluminium. The tarnish then ‘moved’ from the silver to the aluminium. Maybe they used some sort of similar, i.e. chemical process to get the ferrule black?
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Automation was already pretty sophisticated in the 1930’s and I think it reasonable to assume that a company with as large an output as Eberhard Faber USA would have employed it. You know, we need to hear from anyone who worked at the factory, even if in later years, and see if they recall any machinery or processes that might have been left over from the 30’s. Surely such people are still alive.
Just a note about the German Van Dyke: although the pencils were very different, the typography of the brand name remained the same for both American and German versions.
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New Hypothesis:
Actually, this is an extension of Matthias’s “wiped off” idea. I noticed how shiny the undercoat band is…as if it were buffed or polished. Could it be that the ferrule was painted all black, attached to the pencil, then instead of a wet brush applied to that band it was instead something with either a type of solvent or just something abrasive that removed the paint? And in the process, kind of buffed or polished that area?
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What about an alternative hypothesis (hypotheses…)
At the very beginning the blackwing ferrule was brass with a black band, while the van dyke had a black ferrule with the brass band (as per the scorecards of the middle thirties, and we have to remember that the blackwings with the patent date on the ferrule have the brass one with the black band). Some time passes, and for whatever reason (a drop in the ferrule production, initial wartime restrictions, or what else) each pencil receive a random ferrule (black with the brass band or brass with the black band). Then wartime restrictions : at the factory the ferrules are made in plastic material and the bands are painted in yellow (see the wartime Mongols). So the production is uniformed and even the few metal ferrules available become black with the yellow band. In 1949 for the centenary of EF a version with a particular brass/gold ferrule (with a notch, the black band and again the patent date) is prepared. Thereafter all the ferrules become the classic brass with the black band (see the 1951-1954 catalogues; in these years even the van dyke had the brass ferrule with the black band). And finally, near the end of the sixties, the black band is dropped.
These are hypotheses based on a series of necessity conditions more than for utilitarian reasons, but as well possible.
Many compliments from Italy for your fantastic website…
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