Decades ago, I had picked up my first Blackwing 602 pencil and loved the feel of the pencil and its rich black lead. It was made by the Eberhard Faber Pencil Company and was enjoyed as the weapon of choice by artists and writers since the 1930s. Of course, it wasn’t meant to last and the pencil was discontinued in the 1990s after the company was swallowed up by bigger companies. That always seems to be the curse with beloved art supplies. They don’t last.
What’s left of my original Blackwing 602 pencil.
Fortunately a small company decided that the world would be a better place with Blackwing pencils so they brought them back. I was thrilled to find them sold separately at my local art supply shop so I bought a couple. That was a mistake. Either they are so wildly popular that they can’t keep them on the shelves or the shop stopped carrying them. Either way, I should have bought a dozen.
So I bought a dozen, and I got them at Jetpens which is one of my favorite online stores. I have a fantasy that I am a contestant on a gameshow where I have 2 minutes to fill a shopping cart full of merchandise from Jetpens. It would get terrible ratings and would surely be cancelled if it were ever green-lit in the first place. I can still dream.
I added a few pencils in order to qualify for free shipping. Will these Mitsu-Bishi Hi-Uni pencils become my new favorites? I’ll let you know.
Good luck finding the ‘holy grail’ of pencils… sigh
These will do for now.