Well I just made the pencil's name up since it has no name on it, except its item number which happens to be 6930. Now, you don't wanna call such a gorgeous pencil as 6930. Thus the name I've given it.
It came in a pack of 3s (pictured above) and sold for P26.25, roughly $0.50. I'm deeply attracted to all things black so I quickly bagged it and got home. It says it's been around since 1935, but in my 22 years on this Earth I've never seen nor heard of the First Pencil brand. In fact, Mongol, Faber-Castell and Staedler have been getting all the action. Maybe this brand is making a resurgence, no?
As you can see above, its totally jet black, all of it. The paint, the eraser, the metal thingy which holds the eraser in place, and the pencil wood itself. Don't believe me? I sharpened one pencil and look:
I didn't manipulate that image nor did I use black marker on it. At first I really thought that the wood inside was going to be brown like all the other ordinary pencils but as I sharpened it I found out it's totally black. It leaves a black powdery residue though. I don't know if they did something with the wood or whatever, but the plastic packaging of the pencils say "Blackwood Classic." I googled the phrase "blackwood tree" and found nada. Maybe the pencil wood was treated chemically after all.
It smells like a colored pencil (the ones that come in 12s) but it writes like a No.2 pencil, albeit a lighter shade of black unlike the more expensive brands. Apparently it's also "non-toxic" and conforms to U.S. ASTM D-4236 & Europe EN71 safety standards (now why would someone put these in there? Here's to betting that these sticks came from China. Non-toxic. Melamine. Lead paints. Hah).
On the other side of the pencil is a four-inch ruler. It's useful while your pencil's still long and new. But as with all glittery shiny pencil prints, expect this ruler to be wiped out with frequent usage i.e. constant rubbing of your palms and fingers against the silver prints of the pencil will definitely slowly but surely wipe it off. It's a very welcome addition though. It could be very functional or even an exam-saver to a person in desperation. Necessity is the mother of invention after all. Maybe when you're in the bathroom taking a bath and you have a pencil like this lying around, you can even use it to measure your, err, shampoo bottle if the shampoo inside is still plenty or if the bottle needs refilling, kinda like an oil stick.
I would've liked the pencil more and treated it like royalty if it came with its own jetblack box, cushioned of course, in 1s, brand embossed on box lid, with a seal and a tag saying "Made with the finest materials the Earth has ever known," laced with a gold string, and sells for, I dunno, one grand? Makes the thing look more prestigious and luxurious, yes?
On a sidenote, Boingboing.net inspired me to write a post about a pencil. They did a number on the Blackwing Pencil last year so I was like, "if they could write something about a pencil, why can't I write about this First Pencil's Pure Black No.2 Pencil?" Thanks Boingboing.
'Till my next installment.
