Friday, December 25, 2015

A Bit of Red and Green . . . and Blue

This article has been edited and included in The Leadhead's Pencil Blog Volume 4; copies are available print on demand through Amazon here, and I offer an ebook version in pdf format at the Legendary Lead Company here.

If you don't want the book but you enjoy this article, please consider supporting the Blog project here.

Back on January 17, 2013, I posted an article about a Sheaffer Balance pencil in a red pearl and black:


The article, “This One Is To Dye For,” (http://leadheadpencils.blogspot.com/2013/01/this-one-is-to-dye-for.html), explained how Sheaffer, in an attempt to offer new colors during the Depression while minimizing product costs, actually dyed existing black and pearl celluloid stock - as an example, I compared it to a green and black Univer set.

It was a shame I didn’t have a red and black Univer for a more apples-to-apples comparison at the time.  I had heard that in addition, these were offered in blue . . . and here they are.


While we are on the subject of weird colors and Sheaffer subbrands – and add a little more red and green for the day – here’s a Craig, which Dan Reppert had at the Michigan show this year:


At first, it looks like something’s gone wrong with the plastic, but on closer examination this is clearly an “end of day” sort of celluloid, with a little bit of green mixed in with the red:



Jade green Craigs I’ve seen.  Red ones, never.  A bit ‘o both in one pencil?  Wow.

1 comment:

David Nishimura said...

The colors aren't mixed, nor are they dyed. It's actually celluloid lacquer that was used, providing a thick and very tough colored coating. If you took that last pencil and put it on a buffer, you'd be able to polish the red layer right off, leaving the green underneath showing.