Venus All Purpose 3500

Venus All Right 6490 and 6491

The Venus All Right was an inexpensive general purpose writing pencil. The older version has the "Venus Pencil Co. Ltd." imprint while the more recent version has the Venus word-mark trademark. The 6491 had a ferule while the 6490 did not. 
In a American Pencil Company catalog from the 1930s, the Beats All pencil was number 494. The entry below the Beats all pencil says "491 ALL RIGHT - Round, otherwise same as No. 494. 1/2 gr. per carton - weight - 1 lb  $2.20 per gr."  My 6490 and 6491 pencils are all hexagonal. 

These 6490 pencils were a generous gift from Susan McIlveen. Thanks Susan!

An All Right 6491 that just says "Made in Canada".

Venus Blue Band 3561 HB

Many Venus pencils made in Canada have four digit numbers starting with the digit 6. This pencil starts with the digit 3 similar to pencils made in the US. In the US, the Blue Band 3561 pencil also had the words "superthin" on it to show it has a thin lead core. This pencil also apprears to have a thin core.

Venus Blue Band (photo submitted by G. Hutton)

Venus Bravo 6489 HB

Venus Canada 65 HB

The Canadian national flag was adopted in 1965. There were several commemorative pencils made for this occasion including the one below from Venus Canada.

Venus Carbon 6113

Advertised as an "Intense Black Lead Pencil." It had the number 113 in the US. These pencils were painted in several different colours.

Venus Empire 6518 and 6520

The Venus Empire 6518 is a round pencil while the 6520 is hexagonal.  They were painted in four different colors: red, blue, green and yellow. Venus appears to have trademarked the name "Empire" just prior to the Empire Pencil Company becoming established in Canada.

Empire 6518 - Round body

Empire 6520 - Hexagonal body

Venus Imperial 1500

This pencil has a gold ferrule with a green band on it. 

Venus Imperial 1500 pack of 10 circa 1977

Venus Lustro 757

The Lustro came in four different metallic colors (yellow, green, blue and orange). The erasers were a matching color.  These pencils are similar to the Eberhard Faber Tinsel-Tint that came in the same four metallic colors. I belive that this pencil is the Canadian version of the US made Jewel 767 pencil.

Venus Medalist 1600 / 1605

This was an inexpensive pencil that came with a ferrule (1600) and without a ferrule (1605). The Venus Esterbrook pack of 10 pencils shown below probably dates from the early 1970s.

Venus Esterbrook Medalist 1600

Venus Noter 6840

This ring top pencil would probably have been attached to a string and hung next to a telephone for easy note taking. Probably dates to the 1950s or 60s, the era of wall mounted rotary dial phones. Check out Fred's collection of ring top pencils. This one has a silver cap and ring while others had gold.

Venus Patria 6351 / 6352

The Patria, with a dark red finish, is an older pencil from Venus. The 6352 is a round pencil while the 6351 is a hexagonal version. 

Venus Peerless 6322/6323 HB

The Venus Peerless 6322 had no eraser and the 6323 was tipped with an eraser. Both are hexagonal pencils painted a dark orange color.

Venus Receipt 6185

Venus Streamline 6455

This pencil came in a number of colors and styles. In England it was made in 6 colors: purple, yellow, light blue, majenta, dark blue and green. The English version didn't have a number associated with it. This is very similar to the US Splendor 455 pencil. There was also a US made Splendor 755 and Splendor 955 with an oversize erasers. I've also seen a US made Streamline 955 with oversize eraser. The pencil below has a matching yellow eraser.

Venus Velvet 557

The Venus Velvet 557 is similar to the 6557 but with a natural color instead of yellow paint. I've seen this style of packaging in an advertisement from 1954 but the ferrule makes me think they might be older than this.

Venus Velvet 6557

Venus Velvet pencils were the flagship pencil of the Venus Pencil Company of Canada. The Velvet was the company's premium writing pencil and was a direct competitor of the Eagle Mirado and Dixon Ticonderoga. This pencil came in eight different degrees: 2B (very soft), B (soft), HB (medium soft), F 2 2/3 (firm), H (medium hard), 2H (hard), 3H (very hard) and 4H (extra hard). 

Venus Velvet from the late 1940s. Photo contributed by Marchand Lamarre.

Venus Velvet 6557 HB probably from the 1940s.

Venus Velvet probably from the 1950s.

Venus Velvet probably from the 1950s.

Venus Velvet with "V-5" lead from the early 1960s. Photo contributed by Marchand Lamarre.

Venus Velvet with "V-5" lead from the early 1960s.

Venus Velvet with "V-5" lead from the 1960s. Photo contributed by Calvin P.

Venus Velvet with "V-5" lead from the 1960s. Photo contributed by Calvin P.

Venus Esterbrook from the early 1970s

Venus Velvet from Faber Castell 1980s

Venus 1600/1605

The Venus 1600 pencils are budget pencils. They share the same 1600 number as the Venus Medalist pencils. It seems like these pencils were made more and more cheaply. Some examples here have gold ferrules (made by Faber Castell) and others have silver ferrules (made by Eberhard Faber). At some point, the number 1600 was removed and there were just labeled "Venus".  They were most likely trying to compete with inexpensive imported pencils. The 1605 was the same pencil without the ferule and eraser.

A pair of Venus 1600 pencils.

A set of 10 Venus 1600 pencils with the Commodore 64 contest dated August 1, 1985.

Set of 10 Venus HB pencils with a Canadian Tire price tag for $0.79. Probably from the late 1980s or early 1990s.

These pencils only have "Venus HB" and don't contain a number of country of manufacture.