Flagship Canadian Pencils

In the 1960s there were four main pencil factories in Canada. 

• Eagle Pencil Company of Canada Ltd. - 201 St. Jean St., Drummondville, Quebec
• Eberhard Faber (Canada) Ltd. - 1100 Bernard St., Acton Vale, Quebec
• Dixon Pencil Company Limited - 531 Davis Dr., Newmarket, Ontario
• Venus Pencil Co., Limited - 1325 The Queensway, Toronto, Ontario

Each of these pencil companies had a flagship writing pencil that was manufactured at their Canadian factory. These pencils were all painted a classic yellow colour with a hexagonal barrel and pink eraser (or at least they were pink when they were new). Each of them also had a distinctive ferrule that made them instantly recognizable.  

Venus Velvet 6557

Venus Pencil Company Ltd.

Venus Esterbrook Canada Limited

The Venus Pencil Company Ltd. was established in Canada in 1931 as a subsidiary of the American Lead Pencil Company. In Canada, the Venus Velvet was given the number 6557 to set it apart from the American made Venus Velvet with the number 3557. Venus was purchased by Faber-Castell in the early 1970s (sometime after 1973) but continued to make Venus Velvet pencils.

Dixon Ticonderoga 1386

The Dixon factory in Newmarket, Ontario operated from 1931 to 1990. These pencils sport the distinctive green and yellow ferrule. 

Eberhard Faber Mongol 482

These pencils were made at the Eberhard Faber factory in Acton Vale, Quebec. This factory was officially opened on June 28th, 1951. In early 1978, it became a division of Dixon-Ticonderoga and production shifted to eraser products and correction materials (through at least 2003). From what I can tell, the factory building is still there may still make erasers. While Mongol pencils are no longer made in Canada, these are still manufactured by Papermate in Venezuala and by Amspec in the Philippines. 

Eagle Mirado 174

The Eagle factory was established in Drummondville, Quebec in 1931 and operated until 1994. In the late 1960s (1969?) Eagle changed its name to Berol and these pencils continued production under this brand name. Mirado pencils made by Papermate in Latin America are quite easy to find in North America and still carry the red-banded gold ferrule . 

A Comparison

I compared four pencils from roughly the same vintage (mid-1960s to mid-1970s). Of these four pencils, my favourite to write with is the Venus Velvet. It is very smooth and held a point well. I was surprised by how soft the Eagle Mirado was. The HB Mirado was much softer than than even the B Mongol. I liked the Ticonderoga and Mongol and it was very hard to distinguish between these other than looks. My least favourite was the Mirado. It was just too soft and the point dulled very quickly. It also didn't sharpen quite as nicely as the others.