Seven red and blue pencils from Argentina. They are:
Eberhard Faber Van Dyke 2000. Note the unusual stripe pattern. Hexagonal, oversized.
Eberhard Faber Hevi-Check 6540. Round.
Johann Faber “Alligator” Copiativo. Round red and blue copying pencil.
Pax bicolor. Hexagonal.
Faber-Castell 737. Hexagonal.
Consul Bicolor. Hexagonal.
Eberhard Faber Van Dyke 2000. Hexagonal, oversized.
The Pax and Faber-Castell pencils, the only ones not stating “Industria Argentina”, are the two contemporary pencils. I have read suggestions that the Pax comes from Chile, and the Faber-Castell from Brazil.
My thanks to blog reader dasmarians for many of the pencils shown.
The hexagonal Eberhard Faber pencils look really nice!
I’ve been using a red and blue pencil (a copy pencil, Faber-Castell 9608) on a (nearly) daily basis for a few months now and wouldn’t want to miss it anymore…
Great post — I’ve been using one of the (kind of boring) Prismacolor red/blue pencils in my planner lately. It’s nice to have two extra colors handy for marking meetings, etc.
Thanks memm and John. These pencils are indeed practical, though if you repeatedly sharpen both ends, keeping some extra stock makes sense.
The PAX brand is of Chilean origin and is now part of FILA-Dixon Group since 2004 and is sold throughout Chile, Argentina, Uraguay, Brazil and Paraguay and perhaps a few other countries in South America. The PAX brand was estblished and associated with Compania de Lapices Y Affines de Chile (CLAC) who’s founder originally ran Faber-Castell’s facilities in Argentina. The CLAC factory in Santiago was closed in about 2006 or 2007 and production and equipment relocated to the FILA-Dixon Beijing facility at that time along with production for FILA’s needs in Europe that had been done in Chile for several years after ceasing production in Italy. Faber-Castell’s production in Argentina was ceased at least 20-30 years ago with production relocated to Johan Faber in Brazil to the best of my knowledge.
I am a bit surprised that any Eberhard Faber pencils would state Industria Argentina. I would have guessed that South America production for Eberhard Faber name would most likely have come from Venezuela originally, although I am not certain of which of various companies with different ownerships held the license rights to Eberhard Faber name in Argentina. But perhaps Faber-Castell did indeed control Argentina brand rights all along. As we know F-C just recently reaquired that brand for Europe from Staedtler in the past year.
WoodChuck, thank you for the manufacturing details. It sounds like the South American pencil industry (excepting Brazil) has shared much of the same fate as the sector in North America.
Excellente! I love the red/blue format.
regards Henrik
Hi all, thanks for this. Has anyone found an establishment where one can buy some of these pencils cheaply? If possible, in western Europe. Thanks in advance for any suggestions.
WoodChuck, thank you for your information on South American pencils. I’m trying to find out who made the Johann Faber No. 2 black barrel pencils used in Uruguay in the 1950s and beyond, and who made the Eberhard Faber No. 2 black barrel pencils used in Uruguay a few years later; I assume the EF pencils were made in Argentina from 1965 when a factory was opened there, and I assume the JF pencils could have come from Brazil. I’m also trying to find some of those pencils; they didn’t have erasers attached which I consider a blessing.