Eagle Mirado pencil

Eagle Mirado pencil

After mentioning the modern Mirado, I remembered that I had a vintage box of Eagle Mirados laying around.

Those with Eagle eyes will note that the original half-gross box appears to have an invited guest:

Eagle Mirado pencil

The pull out tab helps to access the pencils, yet I guess I never pulled it all the way.

Eagle Mirado pencil

It has a bonus!

Eagle Mirado pencil

No kidding – the Eagle Pencil Company offered handwriting analysis for ten cents. Their graphologist, Dorothy Sara, appears to have written a number of books on the subject.

Eagle Mirado pencil

Ten cents seems pretty good for getting to know “your inherent talents, your virtues, and also your faults.”

Eagle Mirado pencil

The box also tells us what a “True Medium” is. No doubt related!

Eagle Mirado pencil

The pencils, given their age, have very nice imprints:

Eagle Mirado pencil

Eagle Mirado pencil

Goodbye, Papermate Mirado Classic pencil

Papermate Mirado Classic pencil

Back to school season is here, and students are stocking up on school supplies for the year ahead. For most, it is probably the last year they will have a chance to buy an American made pencil.

Sanford, a division of Newell Rubbermaid, and the last major US based pencil manufacturer, will be closing their Tennessee plant later this year.

With this in mind, let’s take a look at Sanford’s mainstay pencil, the Papermate Mirado Classic.

The pencil is indeed a classic, with over a century of manufacture. The Mirado was originally named the Mikado, with the name amended during WWII. It was made by Eagle, and was one of the quintessential yellow school and office pencils for decades. The red band on the ferrule was an identifying trademark.

A range of Mikados can be seen at Brand Name Pencils.

Today’s pencils seem to come in many package types, and are readily found at large office supply stores. If memory serves, I’ve seen packages of three, six, eight, ten, and twelve.

Here is a package of six purchased this past weekend. For contrast, I also have a box purchased perhaps in 2006, and another from about 2004.

Papermate Mirado Classic pencil

The pencil is marked:

USA Papermate Mirado Classic HB 2

The 2006 pencil is the same, while the slighty earlier pencil had a different branding – it is a Sanford Mirado.

Sanford is a global company, and there are at least two other Mirados out there, though I haven’t personally seen either:

  • The Columbian Mirado
  • The British Mirado
  • One other difference – the new pencil has a factory sharpening, while the older pencils are unsharpened:

    Papermate Mirado Classic pencil

    As a writing pencil, I find it average. Strangely (or maybe not), the five year old pencil labeled Sanford seems to use graphite that seems much richer and smoother.

    Papermate Mirado Classic pencil

    Papermate Mirado Classic pencil

    Papermate Mirado Classic pencil

    In appearance – it is what it is – the very epitome of bland and dull. But sometimes bland and dull work.

    The haphazard application of the ferrule and painting of the red band don’t speak well of the manufacturer’s standards.

    The graphite has that crumbling propensity of some lead cores.

    Papermate Mirado Classic pencil

    While I wouldn’t classify the current version as a great pencil, it is still sad to see it go. And of course, it probably will reappear, manufactured in Mexico or China.