Pencils, eh
A virtual museum of the golden age of the Canadian pencil industry.
Below are some photos of these pencils from recent online auctions. The Eagle Capital pencils are packed in one row of 8 pencils while the Artglo are packaged with two rows of 6 pencils.
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The Cavalier was a pencil that appears to have only been produced for the Canadian market (as far as I can tell). It is described in the 1950 Moyer's school supply catalogue as, "a very fine inexpensive school pencil." It appears to have been made until at least the 1990s. Earlier versions were made under the Eagle brand name and later versions under the Berol brand. All of the pencils that I've seen have been painted red with a silver imprint although some early pencils may have been painted black. I much prefer the less boring red color.  Image from the 1950 Moyer's School Catalogue page 51. In the collection of Cavalier pencils seen below there is an early Eagle Cavalier. The reverse side of this pencil is stamped "Calgary Catholic Schools". The first Berol pencil included the rectangle logo. the last pair of pencil are probably from the 1990s with just the name Berol but no logo. The Eagle pencil is painted the darkest shade of red. The 181 pencil is round and untipped. The 182 is hexagonal and untipped and the 183 is hexagonal tipped with a silver ferrule and pink eraser.  A collection of Cavaliers Perhaps the reason that these were only sold in Canada was because there was a Cavalier Pencil Company in the US although the Canadian pencil may predate the company.
Sometimes you run across an old pencil that captures a specific moment in history. This is one such pencil. Raymond O'Hurley was a politician from Quebec. He represented the Quebec riding of Lotbinière from 1957 through 1963. This pencil was for the 1963 Canadian federal election that was held on April 8, 1963. Unfortunately for Raymond, this was the election when he lost his seat in the House of Commons.    Based on the ferrule, this pencil was likely made in Canada by the Eagle Pencil Company. 1963 was the year that Lester B. Pearson's Liberal goverment took power defeating John Diefenbaker's PCs. It was also the year that the Toronot Maple Leafs won their 11th Stanley Cup by defeating the Detroit Red Wings and the television series The Littlest Hobo first aired.
Stationery companies often gave out ink blotters which contain advertisements for products they sold. Some these advertisements are for pencils. I have shared some photos of ink blotters in the past. Below are three ink blotters from the Hay Stationery Company of London, Ontario.
 Venus Super Color ink blotter (5 3/4" x 3 1/4") The Hay Stationery Company was at 331 Richmond Street in London, Ontario in the early 1950s. I found a postcard printed by the company from 1939. It appears that this company was around until the early 2000s when they closed.
My son and I are fans of the CBC television show Back in Time for Winter. The show follows a modern day family as they recreate life in Canada through several different decades (1940s to 1990s). The show doesn't really address what school might have been like for Canadian children in these decades, so this is my attempt to fill in the gap. I did recently see that there is a BBC show Back in Time for School. I haven't watched it but there is an episode on The 1960s. Below you can see a few supplies that Canadian kids might have taken with them as they headed to school in the 1960s.  Canadian made school supplies from the 1960s.
Dating vintage school supplies can be difficult so I can be 100% sure all of these specific items were available in the 1960s but I think I'm pretty close with this small selection of items. Do you have any memories of these or other Canadian made school supplies?
Census Day in Canada was on May 11, 2021. The census of Canada is taken every five years. Prior to 1971, census data was collected by enumerators going door-to-door conducting in-person interviews. 1971 was the first year that households were asked to complete the census forms on their own. Census packets were mailed to 6.2 million households. Each of these packets contained everything needed to complete the census including a pencil! Eight and a half million census pencils were purchased for the 1971 census. These pencils were made by Eagle Northrite and Empire Pencil. Advertisements and posters called on all Canadians to “count yourself in” for Canada's first "DIY" census. The census pencils also contained this slogan in both English and French.  1971 Census pencil, English side  1971 Census pencil, French side
Pencils were again sent with the 1976 census form. This pencil was round instead of hexagonal and only had the text "Census of Canada". These pencils may have been issued again for the 1981 census.  1976 Census pencil, English side  1976 Census pencil, French side In the newspaper advertisement below, from June 1st, 1976, you can see the new style of census pencil.
By 1986, pencils were no longer included in census packages. Despite them being nearly 50 years old, it is not uncommon to find these Canadian census pencils in drawers and pencil cups across the country. A lingering reminder of the census and its wide reaching impact.
 2021 marks what would have been the ninety year anniversary of the Eagle Pencil Company in Canada. The Canadian subsidiary of the American pencil company opened in early 1931. In 1991 the company, by that time named Berol, celebrated its 60 year anniversary with specially marked Mirado pencils. The back side of these pencils were printed with the words, "60 Years of Quality 1931-1991 60 Ans de Qualité." The factory unfortunately ceased production not long after its reached this sixty year milestone.  The front and back of the 60 year anniversary Mirado pencil. I only have two of these anniversary pencils. I would love to know if these pencils come in specially marked packages as well or if the packages were the same as usual. I've seen an anniversary package from the US celebrating 100 years of the Mirado pencil in 1995. That set came in a special wooden box.
Verithin vs. Thinex Colored pencils are made for a variety of purposes. School pencils, art pencils and pencils for the office. In the 1950s, colored pencils would have been found on the desks of engineers, architects, advertisers and accountants. Colored pencils marketed for the office were often hexagonal instead of round. They had hard thin cores designed for long wear and durability. In Canada, popular pencils in this category were the Eagle Verithin and Dixon Thinex. These two pencils were very similar and direct competitors.   A sad and sorry life...The vintage ink blotters shown below feature advertisements for Verithin and Thinex pencils. They paint a sad picture of the life of the average 1950s businessman. Working in Dickensian conditions... sitting at a desk all day tediously drawing thin red checkmarks in a drafty warehouse with broken windows and a leaky roof. Writing with a stub of a pencil and hoping that the rain doesn't ruin your days work.
Eagle and later Berol Canadiana colored pencils were made in Canada from the early 1950s (this site states 1952) until the factory in Drummondville, Quebec ceased production in 1992. During this time, there were a number of different packaging styles. Below is a rough timeline of the different styles of packaging that I'm aware of. It is based mainly on old newspaper advertisements.  These boxes are all early Eagle Pencil Company of Canada products. I found several references online that the graphic design of these boxes was created by American designer Robert Foster in 1938.  Each of these pencils filled a special role. The drawing pencils were made in 17 different grades from 6B to 9H. The copying pencils were made in 4 grades: soft, medium, hard and extra hard. The writing pencils had ferules with erasers.  Eagle Turquoise Drawing 375 F  Eagle Turquoise Copying 4375 HardThe Canadian version of this pencil, with its long ultramarine blue end dip, looks quite different than the American version.   Eagle Turquoise Writing 1375 BWhile the pencil says 'drawing' on it, the box indicates it is a writing pencil.   |
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