Editing Blackwing (section)

=== 1934–1998 ===

The Eberhard Faber Pencil Company began production of the Blackwing 602 pencil in 1934.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://tmsearch.uspto.gov/bin/showfield?f=doc&state=4807:a4op7.2.19|title=TESS -- Error|website=tmsearch.uspto.gov}}</ref> Stamped on the side, opposite the brand mark, was the slogan "Half the Pressure, Twice the Speed". This claim was meant to appeal to [[stenographers]], as the 602 possessed the unique softness and smoothness of a 3B/4B lead but with the rate-of-wear of an HB;<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://blackwingpages.com/2011/08/26/finding-a-place-for-the-blackwing-602/|title=Finding a Place for the Blackwing 602|date=August 26, 2011}}</ref> however the 602 quickly evolved from an office tool to that of the artist. Among these were animators [[Chuck Jones]]<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://blog.chuckjones.com/chuck_redux/2011/05/the-brouhaha-over-blackwing-pencils-may-19-2011.html|title=Chuck Jones's Favorite Pencil Is Back!|first=Robert|last=Patrick|date=May 20, 2011|website=Chuck Jones Blog}}</ref> and [[Don Bluth]],<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://onanimation.com/2011/03/26/don-bluths-animation-school/ |title=Don Bluth's Animation School &#124; on Animation |access-date=2017-05-19 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151208071259/http://onanimation.com/2011/03/26/don-bluths-animation-school/ |archive-date=2015-12-08 |url-status=dead }}</ref> authors [[John Steinbeck]]<ref>Steinbeck, John. ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=Kqa-LNTu_TkC Journal of a Novel: The East of Eden Letters]''. Page 34. Penguin, December 1, 1990</ref> and [[E.B. White]], <ref>{{Cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kKyRbFeeARMC&q=EB+White+Blackwing&pg=PA1 |title = In the Words of E. B. White: Quotations from America's Most Companionable of Writers|isbn = 978-0-8014-6367-9|last1 = White|first1 = E. B.|date = 2011-10-06}}</ref> composers [[Aaron Copland]],<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.lgbtqnation.com/2011/10/lgbt-history-month-profile-composer-conductor-aaron-copland/|title=LGBT History Month profile: Composer, conductor Aaron Copland|first=via Equality|last=Forum|date=October 9, 2011|website=www.lgbtqnation.com}}</ref> [[Leonard Bernstein]],<ref>{{Cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yYI1mfvuH2sC&q=blackwing |title = Dvorák to Duke Ellington: A Conductor Explores America's Music and iItsAfrican American Roots|isbn = 978-0-19-535695-3|last1 = Peress|first1 = Maurice|date = 2004-03-25}}</ref> [[John Williams]],<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.kusc.org/series/kusc-interviews/|title=KUSC Interviews – Classical KUSC|website=www.kusc.org|language=en-US|access-date=2018-05-04}}</ref> [[Stephen Sondheim]],<ref>{{Cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dBSr1MLX3hkC&q=stephen+sondheim+finishing+the+hat+blackwing&pg=PR18 | title=Look, I Made a Hat: Collected Lyrics (1981–2011), with Attendant Comments, Amplifications, Dogmas, Harangues, Digressions, Anecdotes and Miscellany| isbn=978-0-307-59341-2| last1=Sondheim| first1=Stephen| year=2011}}</ref> [[Nelson Riddle]],<ref>{{Cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=m8X6WkxjyS0C&q=Nelson+Riddle+Blackwing+Pencil&pg=PA9 |title = Arranged by Nelson Riddle|isbn = 978-1-4574-6792-9|last1 = Riddle|first1 = Nelson|year = 1985}}</ref> and [[Quincy Jones]],<ref>Jones, Quincy. ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=IdidgShgxQcC Q: The Autobiography of Quincy Jones]'' Crown/Archetype, April 23, 2002.</ref>  playwrights [[Eugene O'Neill]],<ref>{{Cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gV2Hou1bPiIC&q=Eugene+O%27Neill%2BBlackwing+pencil&pg=PP10 | title=Exorcism: A Play in One Act| isbn=978-0-300-18605-5| last1=O'Neill| first1=Eugene| date=2012-02-28}}</ref> and [[Arthur Laurents]],<ref>{{Cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0XbXeMf8LOsC&q=blackwing | title=Original Story by: A Memoir of Broadway and Hollywood| isbn=978-1-55783-467-6| last1=Laurents| first1=Arthur| year=2001}}</ref> the filmmaker [[Todd Field]],<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/winslet-nom-as-desperate-housewife-144832|title=Winslet likely nom as desperate housewife|website=The Hollywood Reporter|date=December 2006}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jYCGAAAAIAAJ&q=Todd+Field+Blackwing+Pencil |title = Little children: The shooting script|isbn = 978-1-55704-777-9|last1 = Field|first1 = Todd|last2 = Perrotta|first2 = Tom|date = 2007-01-02}}</ref> and the poet [[Archibald MacLeish]].<ref>{{Cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KI0ESFOvi5QC&q=Archibald+MacLeish+Blackwing+pencil&pg=PA524 |title = Collected Poems, 1917–1982|isbn = 0-395-39569-0|last1 = MacLeish|first1 = Archibald|year = 1985}}</ref>

In 1988, Eberhard Faber was acquired by Faber-Castell, who rebranded the pencil as the Faber-Castell Blackwing 602. In 1994, the line was acquired from Faber-Castell by the Sanford division of Newell Rubbermaid, who reverted the pencil back to its Eberhard Faber Blackwing 602 branding.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://brandnamepencils.com/brands/fabercastell/blackwing_fc.shtml|title=Brand Name Pencils – Blackwing 602 by Faber-Castell|access-date=2016-05-28|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160630173947/http://brandnamepencils.com/brands/fabercastell/blackwing_fc.shtml|archive-date=2016-06-30|url-status=dead}}</ref>

During this same period, the machine used to produce the metal clip in the pencil’s unique ferrule and eraser system broke. At this time, Sanford was manufacturing roughly 1,100 gross of Blackwing 602 pencils a year. Because the volume was so low, the decision was made to cease production and sell through the remaining stock. The Eberhard Faber Blackwing 602 was officially discontinued in 1998.<ref name="The Great Blackwing Pencil Brouhaha">Taylor, Alex III. [http://archive.fortune.com/2011/05/18/smallbusiness/blackwing_pencil_controversy.fortune/index.htm The Great Blackwing Pencil Brouhaha]. Fortune.com. May 19, 2011.</ref>

The final Blackwing 602 pencils included perhaps the only version bearing custom printing.  As Eberhard Faber was poised to discontinue manufacturing, Lionel Spiro, a Trustee of the [[Boston Athenaeum]], placed an order for 25 gross (i.e., 3600 pencils, or 300 boxes of 12) which he gave to the Athenaeum.<ref>https://blackwingpages.wordpress.com/2012/03/04/behind-the-blackwings-of-boston-an-interview-with-lionel-spiro/</ref>  A box of these pencils is held in the Harvard University Collection of Historical Scientific Instruments.<ref>http://waywiser.fas.harvard.edu/objects/22571/blackwing-pencils-athenaeum;ctx=c7ab53f3-f9b8-40c8-89ff-6cbc15e66949&idx=8</ref>

After the pencil became unavailable, individual Blackwing 602 pencils have regularly commanded $40 or more on auction sites like eBay.<ref name="The Great Blackwing Pencil Brouhaha" />