Laurentien Pencil Crayons

7/9/2018

Laurentian pencil crayons (later spelled Laurentien) were an iconic part of many Canadian students' school supply checklists and lots of Canadians fondly remember using them in school. These colour pencils were made in Canada by the Venus Pencil Company. They were also sold in the US under the brand name 'Paradise.' Each colour was labeled with a number for use with Colour-By-Number kits. Production of these colour pencils in Canada ceased in the mid-1990s. Laurentiens continued production in the US until about 2011 when the product line was discontinued.

Venus Pencil Company (1951? - late 1960s)

My oldest set of Laurentien pencils probably dates from the early 1960s. The pencils come in a box labeled Laurentian on one side and Laurentien on the other. All the pencils are stamped Laurentian. Later pencils were stamped with the French spelling "Laurentien" which was intended to help sales in Quebec. I'm not sure when Laurentien pencils were first made (I've seen the date 1951 but no evidence of this). Venus Pencil Company Ltd started in 1931 as the Canadian affiliate of the American Pencil Lead Company. American Pencil changed their name to the Venus Pen and Pencil Corporation in 1956 (after their most popular pencil line). In the early 1970s, Venus was acquired by Faber-Castell and the corporate branding on these pencils changed.

One way to date larger sets of pencils is to check the name of colours #14 and #21. In the mid-1960s or early 1970s, Venus changed the name of #14 from "Natural Flesh" to "Flesh" and then to "Soft Peach", and #21 was changed from "Indian Red" to "Roan Red".

Venus Esterbrook Canada (late 1960s - early 1970s)

In 1967, the name of the company was changed to Venus Esterbrook Canada Ltd. The case was changed to vinyl with a metal snap but the pencil crayon markings remained unchanged.

Faber-Castell (early 1970s - mid-1990s)

I have several sets of various sizes of Laurentien pencils with the Faber-Castell brand name on them. These were sold in a vinyl pouch and in several different sizes. Early sets has "Venus Canada" marked on each pencil and later sets are simply marked "Canada". In the mid-1980s, some packages advertised contests for personal computers (I've seen both Vic 20 and Commodore 64 contest packages). The sets I have below all have UPC-A barcodes which were in use starting around 1974.

Two sets of 24 colours. The first has the Commodore 64 contest and the other has the price sticker from Woolworth's.

Eberhard-Faber (mid-1990s to early-2000s)

Some early Laurentiens with the Eberhard Faber brand were made in Canada. Later ones were made in the US. The US made pencils were eventually branded with the Sandford name and then the vinyl pouch was changed back to a box. The set of 20 pencils I have shown below, has "Made in Canada" on the front but the pencils are all stamped "U.S.A."

Post-Canadian Production (early 2000s - 2011)

Sanford produced Laurentien pencils in the USA through the early-2010s. After several mergers in the pencil industry, Laurentien pencils eventually became the property of the Newell-Rubbermaid company. This multinational company had numerous other pencil brands in its portfolio including Prismacolor and PaperMater. Laurentien Pencils ceased production in late 2011.

20 Comments

Susan murray

5/8/2019 10:58:45 pm

Is there information available for
Laurentien Studio colour pencils

Erick link

5/9/2019 12:46:33 am

I've only seen one box of Laurentien Studio pencil crayons and they were a newer set that was made in the US. They were advertised as a higher quality pencil... its quite possible that they were a re-branded Prismacolor pencil.

James

1/16/2020 06:07:46 pm

During my extra-year at high school, I was taking Geography 12. Our school was only four years old, and I was suprised when I took my seat and saw a "Laurentian" not Laurentien, pencil crayon next to me. I rooted through the teacher's pencil crayon bin, and found about 10 or so Laurentians, practically seldom-used, with a few exceptions. Two of them were super special: Natural Flesh and Indian Red. This was April 2019.

BRIAN DAVID SOKOLOSKI

4/9/2020 08:43:35 pm

Venus PENCIL COMPANY FACTORY was in Toronto Ontario Canada on Kipling Ave and Queensway Ave looked in back of plant and only seen blank sections of lead together in sets of 10 with no lead inside thrown out

BRIAN DAVID SOKOLOSKI

4/9/2020 09:04:09 pm

Blank painted yellow and non painted wooden sections half's of around 10 w together no lead inside thrown out

John AKA SLOphoto1 link

6/17/2020 02:03:25 pm

Thank you for a very comprehensive overview of the history of Laurentien coloured pencil crayons. I found it fascinating. I have a fairly large collection of them myself, and your information is helping to better understand and organize them.

Thank you especially for the dating of each type, as this information is virtually impossible to find.

As to you opening sentence, this phrase has profound implications. "and lots of Canadians fondly remember using them in school." Yes, apparently so. Because apparently Canadian children are taught in school how to color by using adult coloring tools - Laurentien coloured pencil crayons. Canadians can still use those same tools as adults, and fondly remember their childhood as they do. Canadians remain emotionally connected to their childhood coloring experiences, and can keep on pleasantly reliving them as adults.

American cannot. American school children are taught in school how to color by using soft-wax color crayons, almost universally of the Crayola brand. These are blunt instruments, so you cannot do any detail work with them, and besides the wax flakes off and is messy. After they reach a certain age, juvenile Americans are discouraged from continuing to use "crayons." Those are only for young children. No American adult could seriously sit down at the kitchen table and color a drawing using soft-wax color crayons without risking ridicule from their peers.

As such, Americans are effectively cut off from reliving their childhood coloring experiences as adults, because they were taught to color using "children's" coloring tools. Whereas Canadians remain connected to their childhood coloring experiences, because they were taught to color using "adult" coloring tools.

Laurentien coloured pencil crayons - as taught to use in the Canadian school system - are the key to understanding why the Canadian learning experience in coloring maintains a lifelong emotional continuity for Canadians. Whereas Crayola soft-wax crayons - as taught to use in the American school system - are the key to understanding why the American learning experience in coloring loses that emotional continuity for Americans after they become adults.

Dawn

7/15/2023 09:47:07 am

I know your comment is from 2 years ago, but I just gotta say: you don't know what you are talking about. Crayola makes a lot more than crayons. They also make markers & colored pencils (& paint as well). Even if U.S. Americans stop using crayons as they get older, they can switch to CRAYOLA pencils & markers. Thus continuing their emotional connection to their childhood coloring. Adult coloring is big in the U.S., Oh, and any U.S. adult who has children DOES color with CRAYONS! And they're usually Crayolas. Also, your "No American adult could seriously sit down at the kitchen table and color a drawing using soft-wax color crayons without risking ridicule from their peers" comment is ridiculous.

Cynthia

11/28/2023 08:34:26 pm

Crayola has alot of colors but the color isn't as clear. They break easy, laurentien beats them all

Allie

6/8/2025 10:55:31 am

As we have been seeing over the past 10 years, the U.S. doesn't seem to have much of an education system. I find it rather difficult to believe that schools across the U.S. are uniformly supplied with pencil crayons, or even crayons, for that matter, any longer. "Arts" are not considered important in a basic education. Happening even here in Canada. Therefore, your argument is specious.

Margret link

7/5/2022 02:39:46 pm

Thanks for your interesting blog. In your resources section, it seems the Penchant for Paper blog has disappeared from the internet and the link to the Canadian Design Resource doesn't lead to anything interesting.

David

7/20/2022 02:16:16 am

Peacock blue rocked.

Shu

7/21/2023 01:25:57 am

My _fave_ from kindergarten to today!

Sharon Jackson

10/5/2022 09:52:29 am

I'm wondering if anyone has information on Laurentien Studio colored pencils. Made around 2005 in the US by Sanford for the Canadian market.

Mike Steffler

10/24/2022 12:55:18 am

You didn't even discuss the 60 pack! This is not comprehensive!

Domenic Mastrullo

1/5/2024 04:54:35 pm

Any full list of colours produced? Like from the company? The wikipedia page seems to miss some numbers (not sure if these are unseen or never allotted) and I've seen a COLORIFIC pencil labelled as METALLIC MIDNIGHT 68 in the same font and press style as the old Laurentien pencils.

Daniel link

3/6/2024 02:34:42 pm

I remember these wonderful set of Laurentian (at the time 60's & 70's). They were the best!

My wife found a set of Laurentien 24 Brilliant Colors (not the Canadian spelling!) (Mar. 2024) in our youngest son's room, unopened! I will keep as a souvenir. Price tag when bought was $9.99 in early 90's.

The colours (Canadian) are bright and I can read some labels as I do not want to open the set. Best one standing out is, "Poppy Red".

Very informative and Canadian nostalgia...well done!

Daniel M

Daniel Cornish

11/24/2024 08:57:22 am

I love your page, very informative. I recently got a large lot of laurentiens, while going through them i found a pencil that i think is an error. Its marked as a sky magenta #22 lead in a light blue shaft. Has anyone else come across this type of error. Thank you

Domenic Mastrullo

12/5/2024 02:23:38 am

Quick query: Is there a list of the colours found in the 20 pack from the late 90s? (Eberjard Faber)?

Aaron

2/10/2025 09:55:36 am

I have the FaberCastell Laurentien 24-pack, which would have been purchased in the 1980s in Alberta (any time from 1982 to 1989, but probably in the back half of that range). It looks like yours with the Woolworth price sticker (but there's no sticker on mine), and it has the same bar code. To my knowledge, this is a full original set of mine. There are no duplicates. In lieu of numbers 3, 7, and 8 it has 26, 45, and 55. Interestingly, 10 of the pencils have "VENUS CANADA" stamped on them, and 14 have only "CANADA". Number 14, which says "VENUS CANADA", is still labeled "NATURAL FLESH", and number 21, which only says "CANADA", is still labeled "INDIAN RED". I've never sharpened Indian Red or Cinnamon. Cherry red, Deep Chrome Green, and Ultramarine Blue are the shortest, and of the sharpened pencils, Blush Pink, Arizona Topaz, and Natural Flesh are the longest.

M.Wilson

3/15/2025 12:02:20 am

I wish these colored pencils were still being made today!! I still have my 24 pack from when I was in grade 7 or 8. I did use them while in school but then I stopped using them bcuz I couldn't find a new pack. Then I let someone borrow them and she OVER USED them! So I took them home and I didn't let anyone ever use them again. She kept sharpening them when she colored (the black is half the size after i let her use them). I was soo annoyed...I'm still annoyed lol! These were really great coloring pencils, they blend well and were pigmented. I'm so bummed that they will never be made again. I wasn't aware that they got discontinued.