“Buy only the best pencils. The others are a snare, a delusion and utterly useless.” -Eberhard Faber II The book Quintessence, published in 1983, profiled a series of American products that were perfect, and could not be improved. One of those brands, along with Coca-Cola, Slinky, Oreo and the CartierMORE HERE
The United States once had dozens of pencil manufacturers. Among the better known was the Union Pencil Company Inc. of New York, also a maker of erasers. The Union pencils, first an independent company, became a sister pencil product brand and sub brand of Eberhard Faber of Brooklyn. The UnionMORE HERE
NAPERVILLE, Ill. – C.H. Hanson, a supplier of tools to the construction industry, has revived the El Marko permanent marker brand. C.H. Hanson, founded in 1866 as a stencil maker, sells tools to the construction and manufacturing industries, from brands like Superior Tool and Palmgren to its own lines ofMORE HERE
ATLANTA – One of the happier trademarks in the U.S. is Mod Podge, the decoupage coating. Georgia entrepreneuse and interior designer Jan Wetstone, whose Buckhead shop Jan’s Interiors is shown as the original owner of the brand, invented the Mod-Podge in 1965. Note that it was first trademarked with aMORE HERE
HOBOKEN – Newell Brands, formerly Newell Rubbermaid, owns an astonishing array of classic brands. For those of us who like these classics, they are the owners of American crown jewels. These include Sunbeam, Shakespeare, Blue Diamond, Oster, Coleman, Sharpie, Rubbermaid, Elmer’s, Rawlings, Elmer’s Glue, Ball jars, X-ACTO knives, Crock-Pots, DymoMORE HERE
Perhaps one of the better paper brands was Boise Cascade. It, according to the Boise website, became a craft paper brand in 1958 in Wallula, Washington. Over the years, the brand grew, with plants across the country. It was tied together, with all sorts of other lumber businesses, into aMORE HERE
Sometimes, the best things are not necessarily the most expensive, or easy to find. Such is the case of the Bic Round Stick Grip, a pen that may be one of the best pens ever. Of course, Marcel Bich & Edouard Buffard’s original great pen is the 1950 vintage Cristal,MORE HERE
PETERSBURG, Va. – For those who love writing instruments, the restoration of the identity of a pen company is welcome. In Petersburg, Virginia, right on the main drag, the Remmie Arnold pen sign has been a key landmark in that historic Virginia city. I have a personal interest in it,MORE HERE
Since the 1970s, the greatest magic marker for kids has been the Sanford Mr. Sketch. You know this one; it’s a set of a dozen or so markers, all water soluble, that smell like their colors. They are sold in sets of different sizes, including 4, 8, 12 and 16.MORE HERE
At Staples yesterday, I bought a manual Boston Pencil Sharpener. It was $15.98; the model was the X-Acto KS. I got this manual one after an electric sharpener died. I hate to think how much electricity I wasted with the electric one over the years. After I screwed it inMORE HERE