Recently updated
Sondheim Blackwings at auction, now with a link to the auction catalogue.
Sondheim Blackwings at auction
Three boxes of Stephen Sondheim’s Blackwing pencils have sold at auction for $6,400.
Tár pencils: Blackwings
Quite a stash.
A Blackwing sighting
From Death in Small Doses (dir. Joseph M. Newman, 1957).
Dave Lambert and a Blackwing
Yep, it’s a Blackwing. From Lambert & Co.: Audition at RCA (dir. D.A. Pennebaker, 1964).
Sondheim with a Blackwing
From the documentary Original Cast Album: “Company” (dir. D.A. Pennebaker, 1970), Stephen Sondheim with an Eberhard Faber Blackwing pencil, his pencil of choice.
The Blackwing clamp, 100 years old
Pencil Talk notes the March 29, 1921 filing of the patent for the clamp that became a distinctive feature of the Eberhard Faber Blackwing 602 pencil.
Blackwings on parade
At Blackwing Pages, Sean has invited pencil fans to share photographs of their Eberhard Faber Blackwing collections.
Leonard Bernstein’s pencils
Five pencil stubs from the 1970s, two Eberhard Faber Blackwings, three Alpheus Music Writers.
A tribute in dubious taste
I have to wonder what it means to ”celebrate” a photograph that documents human suffering by turning that photograph into an opportunity to market high-end stationery supplies.
Blackwing goes to Hollywood
Seth Abramovitch looks at the Blackwing pencil’s place in the entertainment industry.
Palomino Blackwing non-users
“No, Steinbeck, White, and Wolfe never sang the praises of the Palomino Blackwing, because they lived and died before that pencil came into production.”
Blackwings for sale
Replica Blackwings at the Vermont Country Store, a mere $3.90 a piece.
Blackwing Pages for the taking
Nobody likes to be used.
The Palomino Blackwing pencil and truth in advertising
“The alleged rumor that John Lennon used Blackwing pencils seems to have its source in a comment on a Cal Cedar blog post, a comment naming Lennon as a Blackwing user. There is no evidence of a rumor about Lennon’s pencil use, and no evidence that John Lennon had a particular attachment to the Blackwing pencil.”
Blackwing Q. and A.
The best friend the Blackwing pencil has ever had considers facts, fiction, and the “Blackwing Experience.”
Duke Ellington and erasers
“I’m happy to report that Duke Ellington’s name no longer appears on the Blackwing Experience page.”
Duke Ellington, Blackwing Johnson’s Baby Powder user
“The context for this post, as explained in an earlier post: a pencil company’s choice to market its merchandise by using the Ellington name.”
Duke Ellington, sombrero user
“A pencil manufacturer’s association of the Ellington name with its replica version of the Blackwing pencil is a matter of very wishful thinking. Others might call it misleading.”
Duke Ellington, balalaika user
“The context for this post is a pencil company’s choice to market its merchandise by using the Ellington name.”
Duke Ellington, Blackwing pencils, and aspirational branding
“It’s curious that as Moleskine steps back from the abyss of aspirational branding (‘the legendary notebook of Hemingway, Picasso, and Chatwin’), California Cedar has jumped in, head first, without even putting on a helmet.”
“No Ordinary Pencil”
At Blackwing Pages, the greatest Blackwing post of all time.
Duke Ellington and a Blackwing
EKE, in a BBC studio, at work with a Blackwing pencil.
Blackwing sightings
Blackwing pencils of the silver screen.
Quoted in Fortune
It feels strange to be turning up in the pages (or on a page) of the May 23 issue of Fortune.
Blackwing sighting
A Blackwing pencil in the 1966 film Lord Love a Duck
Graphite-grey
I was (and am) very happy about hitting upon that phrasal adjective, which, as far as I could tell, had never been applied to the Blackwing pencil. (And then borrowed without attribution by California Cedar.)
Steinbeck pencils
Steinbeck’s favorite pencils, the Blaisdell Calculator, the Eberhard Faber Blackwing, and the Eberhard Faber Mongol
Stephen Sondheim's writing habits
Blackwings and legal pads
Recently updated
On "pre-production" Palomino Blackwings