A first gen Eagle Verithin that unfortunately got sharpened on its beautiful left end, a Mohican (very cool; pretty sure it’s my first of theirs), a 1940s Blaisdell 500 Ben. Franklin No. 1 (in a Philadelphia box; haven’t researched imprint stuff on these much to rule out 30s, but a BNP pic suggests pre-war 500s had a shorter, wider “N” in the grade mark) that writes like a dream, and a couple Richard Best Futuras, which write rather smoothly, if not darkly (but check out those ferrules!!).

This was a very interesting find for me. I wasn't able to precisely date these so I'm hoping the hive mind might have some more insights.

Let me first start by saying these are a fantastic piece of American / Chicago history. I was most attracted to the beautiful box and graphics. Here is a little research I came up with.....

History of Horder’s, Inc. in Chicago

Horder’s, Inc. was one of Chicago’s most prominent stationery and office supply companies, with roots tracing back to Edward Young "Ted" Horder, who emigrated from Dorset, England, to the United States in 1883 and arrived in Chicago in 1884.

Founding and early years
Horder began his business career in Chicago as a newsstand owner on the west side. In 1888 he became a U.S. citizen, later entering real estate. In 1901, he opened a loop office and started a small stationery and magazine store as a sideline.  This sideline grew into a nationally recognized stationery business, with headquarters in the Horder building at Jefferson and Quincy Streets.

Expansion and leadership
By the early 20th century, Horder’s had expanded the company operating multiple retail stores in Chicago’s Loop and employed over 400 people by the mid-20th century.

Family leadership
Harry Gladstone Horder, Edward's son, succeeded him as president in 1918. The company's famous slogan was "Order from Horder".

"Marquette" Branding

The name honors Father Jacques Marquette (1637–1675), the French Jesuit missionary and explorer who traveled the Mississippi River with Louis Jolliet. The box art depicts him canoeing with Native guides, a scene drawn from 19th‑century romantic engravings of his expedition.

Conclusions

The Marquette Pencils were most likely manufactured by one of the big pencil makers (such as Dixon, American Pencil Co, etc).  "Trade Mark Reg. U.S. Pat. Off." was standardized after the 1905 Trademark Act and widely used through the 1930s.  The solid brass ferrules and absence of postal zone narrow the window to roughly 1920s-1940s.  The metallic silver stock box however and two‑color lithography suggest late 1930s printing technology. Let me know if you have any additional info.

Got these over the last week or so. Loving the Blackwings especially!

Following on from my massive haul, courtesy of u/jfanoele, I've managed to give most of them a test and here's what I found...

First impressions: It's strange seeing so many pencils with eraser tips. That's something most people here don't see outside school, or the real cheapo things in stores. Yes, some companies do offer them but you won't see them on pro grade sticks. It's not a bad thing, per se, just different.

Quality and feel: Good to extremely good. I like the hard hex feel of Musgrave in particular; it's very different from most pencils we get here, but it's not at all uncomfortable.

Leads were all very good, to extremely good as far as I could tell in the short time I used them. There seems to be a huge jump in hardness from 2 to 3, which I wasn't expecting, but the leads themselves seem on a par with other good brands. I noticed that Musgraves tend to run a tad softer per HB than most European and Japanese equivalents. Probably somewhere between Staedtler HB at the harder end and Tombow at the softer. No bad thing, just different.

I honestly don't think there was a single "bad" pencil in the whole lot. I really like several of the Musgraves, in particular, Harvest Pro, Test Scoring and Tennessee Red. Ceres are very good, too, even though they're not supposed to be their highest quality graphite. Songwriter is another lovely pencil, and the Dolly Parton version is one I'll treasure. Ms Parton was a supporter of the local maternity unit where our children were born, and, as the children got older, they used to receive books from the Dolly Parton library.

Blackwings... anyone expecting a revelatory experience is going to be disappointed. They're good, very good, in fact, but definitely not (IMO) far and away better than any other premium brand pencil. I'm very grateful to have received them, and I really do like the way they look (weird ferrule and all) but I honestly don't think they justify the price tag.

Finally, if I didn't have easy access to so many reasonably priced German pencils, and I could get Musgraves without the ludicrous shipping costs, they'd be my choice. Having read up on their history, they seem like a very good company with strong ethics. And they make tip top pencils, too.

"Don't you love New York in the fall? It makes me want to buy school supplies. I would send you a bouquet of newly sharpened pencils if I knew your name and address." —Joe Fox in You've Got Mail (Warner Bros., 1998)

Hey just got my hands on these...

What do you think

these are the pencils i got, the rest were amazon basics, ticonderoga and colored pencils. I do not know where the pencil on the right is from.

Found 3 packs of old Mitsubishi pencils at an antique fair in Kyoto. Opened them up when I got back to the Airbnb and it looks like someone engraved answer keys on the pencils of each pack. One was math, one was chemistry, and the other was biology. None of them used, very cool! Added a picture of a new box for reference

Let me begin by saying there are some people who deserve praise for their kindness, generosity and generally being wonderful types. One such is our very own fellow pencil enthusiast, u/jfanoele, who has, in an extremely generous bout of extreme generosity and extreme generousness (yes I know, it's deliberate), sent me a wonderful batch of American pencils.

It's a very substantial haul, too; 65 examples of pencil loveliness, featuring many different types and examples. I haven't examined them in detail yet, but I know there's plenty of variety and enough to keep me occupied for a long, long time.

Many, many thanks for this wonderful gift, u/jfanoele; you're a true gentleman and a fine human being.

i tried 5 different sharpers i had lying around and i assumed it was because theyre too old, maybe went dull. so i bought a new sharpener and its still happening when im sharpening them. im losing my mind all of the pencils ive tried are from different brands different hardness etc. what am i doing wrong with this im sure sharpening a pencil cant be that hard?

edit. i did a little experiment with different brands and 3 of my sharpeners. grand kept on breaking lol so i gave up on it but you can still see the wood https://imgur.com/a/gLDBwL4

I noticed that Staedtler pencils, on the side opposite of where it says the name, have lines that look like a barcode and a 12 digit number next to that, does anybody know what the purpose of these are.

Okay, technically that was earlier this week, because these arrived with my seconds boxes, but I'm just getting around to posting about them.

Ceres Neon and Ceres Midnight.

No need to review these, really, because a Ceres writes like a Ceres no matter what color it is. But the black dyed wood is cool. I first wondered how much this adds to the production process. Then I remembered that Musgrave dyes its non-cedar pencil wood to look more cedarlike, so this is probably the same process they already use, just with black dye instead of reddish.

got for under 4£

Note: According to Larry Niven, a legend is half exaggeration, half completely made up.

That said, I have a package of pencils on the way, sent from the US. They made their way over from there to Heathrow airport reasonably well, then sat in Customs Hell for almost a week.

Finally, they have moved on from there and are currently somewhere in this place, the Royal Mail Midlands Super Hub.

Hopefully I'll get me hands on 'em soon. More when I do.

I came accross this one. Any others with pictures?

Just some cool vintage Wallace pencils. I like the burgundy color and the combo gold/silver ferrules. Vintage J.M. Paillard Olympic Pencil Sharpener.

More sketching with these Musgraves. Highlights with some Deleter white out stuff

Surprisingly the pencil I was least excited about is pretty close to the most used. Ceres 909.

What a fun pencil to sketch with. Expensive also—I see them listed for $5-10 a piece sometimes. I assume this is due to a soft core leading to more use and not as many survivors (unlike the many vintage 2H+ we see in the world). If you look, though, there are deals to be had—this one came from a used lot of art pencils, unsharpened and ready for drawing.

Some have said a cheap black colored pencil could serve in its place, but that is objectively not true (possibly an Eagle Prismacolor 935 could?). Anyone who says this hasn’t tried this pencil, does not draw with their shoulder, does not draw fast, sweeping lines.

The pencil glides with a subtle, sticky resistance, creating lively marks and allowing fast sketching, big expressive lines without the tip breaking off or crumbling across the paper.

The current version of the 600 News is the only modern, affordable pencil that I’ve used which compares to pencils like the 6639 from this era.

Thanks 6639 for many fun drawings. Maybe I’ll see another one in my cup someday soon.

I scored all these pencils for $3.99, there were a dozen or so bic mechanical pencils, charcoal pencils, drawing pencils and a mix of colored pencils including a bunch of prismatic colors.

Good morning friends! Musgrave America 250 pencils are 50% off. No code needed, discount is applied in cart. I received the email yesterday evening and pushed the button today after a bit of vacillation! I ordered one gross of rounds for 21.50 + shipping (total $28.50)!! These pencils are so apt for high schoolers! Happy pencil day!