A.W.Faber-Castell

A special Jubilator

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A few days ago Bleistift Blog got a fascinating comment on the 2011 blog post about Faber-Castell’s Jubilator series: Jeff, who worked for Faber-Castell, gave some fascinating behind-the-scenes details about the Jubilator edition, but don’t let me retell the story, read the original yourself.

He was kind enough to send me some photos of his treasures, including photos of the tins signed by our favourite Count [1]Usual disclaimer as mentioned previously: He is not really a count. According to Part 2, Section 1, Article 109(2) of the Weimar Constitution privileges based on birth or social status and titles of … Continue reading himself. Thanks to his comments we know even know how the numbers got written on the wood veneer sheets.

Thanks to Jeff for this information.

If you like to see other people’s pencil collections head over to the Blackwing Pages: Sean started showing Blackwing collections from his readers.

References

References
↑1 Usual disclaimer as mentioned previously: He is not really a count. According to Part 2, Section 1, Article 109(2) of the Weimar Constitution privileges based on birth or social status and titles of nobility were abolished in the Weimar Republic in 1919. Graf (Count) is just part of his surname. In reality, no one seems to care about this rule though.

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A wooden box for sharpeners

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Unfortunately there wasn’t enough time in the last few weeks to write blog posts – but just to prove that this blog is still being looked after here’s a very quick post.

Sharpener box

Sean was kind enough to let me know about this box, which was being sold on an auction site. It’s a wooden box that was used to sell Faber-Castell sharpeners.

The closing mechanism.
The closing mechanism.

My guess would be that it’s from the 1950s or 1960s, but I might be wrong there. The window in the lid is plastic/ thick foil, not glass. There’s a sticker at the bottom, listing the prices for the different sharpeners. Not all of these sharpeners have disappeared by now.

The price list.
The price list.

I’d like to thank Sean for telling me about this box.

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Writing slates

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When I started school and we learned how to write we were using writing slates, probably because you can practise again and again without wasting paper. They were not really made of slate, instead they were a bit like a laminated piece of paper, just that the plastic used is much harder and that the surface was not smooth. A few months ago I found my old writing slate again, together with the sponge to clean it and the pencil to write on it.

The sponge came in a container that could be closed – nice when you want to transport it, but not nice if you do not let the sponge dry out from time to time, as the old water will get smelly. The pencil was a “Heft und Tafel” (exercise book and chalkboard) pencil from A.W. Faber-Castell. As the name suggests they can be used on slate and on paper. You can still get the “Heft and Tafel” pencils today. I bought the white Goldfaber pencil you can see in the photo in April 2010 from Bürobedarf Jäcklein in Volkach for € 1 (~$ 1.38; ~85p). Even the writing slate Scolaflex is still available from Brunnen. Mine is from the late Seventies, just like the blue pencil. It has lines on one side to help getting the cap height and baseline right and is plain dark green on the other side.

Writing slates from proper slate are still available for a reasonable price. I just bought this school writing slate (see photo) from Inigo Jones for £ 3.25 (~$ 5.25; ~€ 3.80). It even comes with a slate pencil. Unfortunately I was not able to find out whether the slate is real Welsh slate.

Price: April 2010, Exchange rates: November 2010

Lexikaliker has a nice photo of a writing slate (Google translation) .

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