A curiosity from eBay, this box of Koh-I-Noor 3433 red and blue pencils has a surprise – the pencils are marked Accademia Navale.

I’d love to know the whole story. They certainly are an impressive looking stationery staple.

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.

LINK: Other posts on red and plue pencils at pencil talk.

The growth of online stores, auctions, and selling forums has resulted in many benefits for pencil end users, including the ability to discover unusual products. Here is an example.

How many people outside of Malaysia knew that Staedtler made a red and blue pencil?

The traditional red and blue format survives, yet I’ll bet very few people would know where to find one. I suspect that in most markets, not a single brick and mortar store carries such an item.

Certainly this particular pencil is a surprise – why is it so “beneath the radar”? From a major manufacturer, it would command a market simply due to the brand.

So there are a few things different – the tradition name, usually written with the lower case t, has graduated to using a majuscule T.

The markings are also a bit un-Staedtler – no bar code, just the text, “Staedtler Tradition 118-2/3″. 2/3? 2/3 of what? And the imprints don’t seem to be of top quality.

The red and blue markings do seem to be nicely merged with the traditional tradition branding.

And finally – why the tradition line? How does this variant relate to the 110 pencil?

The Malaysian made (according to the box) pencils are a nice oversize hexagonal shape, and function well. The line seems a bit dry while richly pigmented – nicely tuned for writing. I look forward to using them.

P.S. This is the 500th post at pencil talk.

At pencil talk, we love red and blue pencils! But sometimes one needs a red pencil or a blue pencil – not both at once. Or, you’ve found that a double ended pencil gets unusable a bit too quickly. Here is a red/blue pair of very impressive pencils.

Hailing from the venerable Mitsubishi Pencil Co., we have Vermilion (model 2451) and Prussian Blue (model 2453) pencils, both round with ferrule and eraser, and the finish matching the lead colour.

Though not shown in the photos, the pencils (labelled “Hard”) can be reliably sharpened to extremely fine points, even in the most acute setting of a Carl DE-100 sharpener. This is an exceptional achievement for colour pencils, which are often brittle and sharpener-unfriendly.

Further, they answer a question I’ve often heard – is there a colour pencil that can be used as a writing pencil?

They sport a feature highly untypical of Japanese pencils – a ferrule and eraser.

The attached eraser seems to be depleted by 20% or so after a single use. On Maruman Mnemosyne paper, the erasure is okay but not exceptional. But on Rhodia paper with a Tombow Mono eraser, there was an extremely clean erasure.

These pencils seems very capable at many tasks – they are non-breaking writing or checking colour pencils that are also erasable. Yet another product that keeps Mitsubishi at the top of their industry.

The FILA 795 BE is contained in a box whose artwork has a simple yet powerful portrait.

The details are striking – the red factory windows, the carefully rendered plumes of smoke, the uber-smokestack that is a red and blue pencil, and FILA’s name in red and blue.

Bravissimo!

The Tombow LV-KEV is an absolute delight of a pencil. Though similar in concept to the red and blue pencils we have seen – this is a mix of HB grade graphite (a.k.a lead) at one end, and red at the other – though not in equal measure. The black lead end is 70% of the pencil, and the red end 30% of the pencil. The “LV” in the pencil name may stand for “Lead Vermillion”.

The special features don’t end there – the lead core is oversized at about 3mm in diameter (most pencil leads are about 2mm), and 5 edges are painted – with the sixth natural. Additionally, the pencil is manufactured by the finger joint process. This is a very special pencil! (And it needs a better name.)

Yesterday, I mentioned pencils made from wood scraps.

Well, I just found another – the Mitsubishi 2667 EW red and blue pencil.

Mitsubishi’s product page is here, and the page includes a small diagram that appears to mention the construction method.

The pencil has a very nice woodgrain finish. The text is in green, with colour markings in green, and a bar code in black. With text (both English and Japanese), barcode and associated numerals, and graphic markings, the design seems a bit “busy” to me, yet I like it very much, and it is a very unusual pencil.

The photo below shows the pencil on a highly textured (“toothy”) Fabriano sketchpad, but I would say that the markings are even richer and more saturated on ordinary office paper.

It is a very good all-round red and blue pencil. The only possible issue is that the non-traditional colouring doesn’t provide as much of a visual cue about which end is which.

Here is the first triangular format red and blue pencil I’ve seen.

Oversize, with a 6.25mm diameter lead, this pencil is part of the Lyra Super Ferby Duo lineup of double-ended two colour pencils.

Lyra makes a very wide range of products, but like everything else in their “Ferby” brand, these pencils are first rate. Though aimed at young people, the quality of the product gives the Ferbys a much wider appeal.

Take a look at the black and white pencil – everyone who has seen it finds this pencil quite unique and compelling.

Very nice.

We’ve seen red and blue pencils from both the US and Europe – and now thanks to the kindness of fellow pencil aficionado isu from the uncomfortable chair, I am able to present some pencils from the estimable Kita-Boshi in Japan.

These aren’t just red and blue pencils – they are vermilion and prussian blue pencils!

Round in shape, the pencils are lettered in gold script. They easily sharpen, and the varnish seems first rate. Unlike some other red and blue pencils, the leads seem absolutely first rate – as strong and smooth as those in quality graphite pencils.

The red is more of an orange to my eye, which does meet the definition of “vermilion”, but I would prefer more of a “red” red. The blue has a great rich hue which is beyond reproach.

A mighty fine interpretation of a traditional pencil.

Further on red and blue pencils:

From penciltalk.org:
Red and Blue pencils
Red and Blue pencils II
Television! (The Conté Television 649 red and blue pencil)
Red and Blue pencils IV – Viarco

Red and Blue pencils V – a mechanical twist

From stdk.de:
Rot-Blau-Stifte

From rot-blau-stift.de:
Rot-Blau-Stift

From the uncomfortable chair:
?????????

A vintage L. & C. Hardtmuth No. 43B leadholder is featured. One end holds a red lead, and the other a blue lead.

Though unusual, there are other examples of this category. Leadholder.com shows a 1948 red and blue Caran d’Ache Fixpencil 33 at the bottom of this page. The book Pencils has a two page spread on double-ended red and blue leadholders. And, Autopoint in the US continues to make double-ended red and blue mechanical pencils, as previously featured.

Still, the 43B appears to be unique in supporting wide diameter leads. (5.8mm is cited.)

Are there any other such mechanical pencils or leadholders out there, whether new or vintage?

The red and blue pencil concept also exists in the mechanical pencil realm. The Autopoint Twinpoint is a mechanical pencil with lead at both ends!

Each end is colour coded red or blue, and dispenses a corresponding lead. Though the product is named the “Twinpoint”, this pencil type seems to be popularly known as a “double ender”.

The ownership of Autopoint has changed over the years, but material at Guide to Autopoint and Dur-O-Lite Spiral Pencils indicates that this pencil type was sold by Autopoint as far back as the 1920s!

Autopoint today still sells a very similar lineup to that seen in 1960s catalogues, with no product modernization. They are one of these lines that doesn’t have to imitate “retro” – they are retro! Yet – in some ways their products appear very modern.

If you can find them at retail (I can’t), these pencils should be under $5 – a real bargain for an interesting and unique writing implement with so much history.

It comes in two versions – 0.9mm, and 1.18mm, both traditional lead sizes. Strangely, the blue leads don’t seem to be the same – the 1.18mm version is a lighter, fainter blue, while the 0.9mm version is more of a navy blue.

The red seems to be on the pink side, unlike woodcase red and blue pencils, where the reds are more orange hued.

Each pencil comes with two silver-coloured cardboard containers with refill leads. These are also a delightful retro item.

As well, if you buy one of these pencils, you probably won’t want to throw away the box, as it contains the refill instructions. Not quite the Yard-O-Led experience, but still complex enough. (Unscrew the plunger? Huh?)

Further on red and blue pencils:

From penciltalk.org:
Red and Blue pencils
Red and Blue pencils II
Television! (The Conté Television 649 red and blue pencil)
Red and Blue pencils IV – Viarco

From stdk.de:
Rot-Blau-Stifte

Many of us may not have heard of Viarco. They are a 94 year old pencil company from João da Madeira, Portugal, who produce a wide range of pencils – writing pencils, drawing pencils, carpenter’s pencils, and yes, even copying pencils and red and blue pencils – with a staff of twenty-eight!

Their website is a breath of fresh air compared to many pencil industry sites, revealing considerable pride in their history, as well as many details about the pencil manufacturing process. Sample fact – graphite cores are baked at 1020ºC.

I was really happy when Gunther kindly sent me a couple of Viarco’s red and blue pencils.

The pencils are the 289 Viarco Comercial (regular size, hexagonal) and 293 Viarco Olimpico (oversize, hexagonal).

The lead centering isn’t the best.

My first pleasant surprise was realized while attempting to sharpen the Comercial – it doesn’t fit in some sharpeners! It is the unreformed size of pencils that were made fifty years ago, though the edges are rounded, like modern pencils.

Both the Comercial and Olimpico sharpened easily. I don’t know what wood they use, but it looks like cedar to me.

The second surprise was the rich, vibrant marks they make. The Olimpico in particular is among the best of the red and blue pencils I’ve yet seen. The Comercial’s blue is also good, but the red is more of a red-orange.

If I could buy them locally, I would get a huge stash of the Olimpico. It writes extremely well, and is very easy to use. Some of the other red and blue pencils I’ve seen, like colour pencils in general, have a tendency for the leads to easily break – but not the Viarco pencils.

I’ve tried to email Viarco more than once, and haven’t yet heard from them. That’s okay. With twenty-eight employees, I imagine that their correspondence staff might be busy in the paint booth, or be driving a forklift.

So about our original questions – let’s hope there is still room for great smaller manufacturers like Viarco, who have done a great job with these pencils.

Further on red and blue pencils:

From penciltalk.org:
Red and Blue pencils
Red and Blue pencils II
Television! (The Conté Television 649 red and blue pencil)

From stdk.de:
Rot-Blau-Stifte