The story of the $40 pencil.

Legendary Grammy, Emmy, Pulitzer and Academy Award winners have created with the Blackwing 602 pencil. The list of known users includes John Steinbeck, Stephen Sondheim, Leonard Bernstein and Chuck Jones who proudly used Blackwings to create Bugs Bunny and many other Looney Tunes characters.

Blackwing’s roots go back to the 1930’s when the 602 model was first introduced by Eberhard Faber. In 1998, after several corporate acquisitions, it was discontinued, but not forgotten. In fact, fans began paying as much as $40 on eBay for a single Blackwing pencil.

Artists soon noticed our range of premium pencils compared favorably to the Blackwing 602. They began asking us to consider reviving the Blackwing brand and unique ferrule design. CalCedar President Charles Berolzheimer II re-introduced Blackwing pencils in 2010 featuring California genuine incense-cedar and premium Japanese graphite. The pencils has drawn rave reviews from users and national media attention.

In the last few years, Blackwing has grown from a single pencil into a culture. It’s a culture that encourages and empowers creativity in all forms, especially in our nation’s schools. In fact, a percentage of every Blackwing product sold benefits music and arts education at the K-12 level.