I don’t think I’ve mentioned this before, but the reason I decided to start writing about pencil was because I bought a California Republic sampler pack from PencilThings. As I recall, it had a Palomino, a Prospector, a Golden Bear, and a ForestChoice, and it was only three or four dollars! It was such a steal, and I think it taught me to appreciate pencils as an instrument for writing, rather than a throwaway item.
PencilThings no longer sells a sampler pack, and I can’t figure out where to get them. I’ve been thinking about selling sampler packs of various pencils on this site, not really to make a profit, but as an educational outreach tool. I could sell a 4- or 5-pack for $5 or less, and include a letter explaining some of the finer points of using the pencil. What do you think about that idea?
Some of the ideas I’ve had:
Pencils from Around the World:
- Palomino (USA)
- Chung Hwa 6151 (China)
- Hi Uni or Tombow (Japan)
- Staedtler Mars Lumograph (Germany)
- Helix Oxford (UK)
California Republic Sampler:
- Palomino
- Golden Bear
- Forest Choice
- Prospector
- Palomino Blackwing
Fine Writing Sampler
- Palomino Blackwing
- Palomino
- Tombow Mono
- Faber Castell 9000
Triangular Sampler
- Golden Bear Triangular
- Dixon Tri-conderoga
- Marco Grip-tite
Do you have any ideas? Would you get any of these sampler packs for friends you’re trying to evangelize pencils to?