WHAT’S BETTER THAN A SMALL STORE THAT SELLS ONLY PENCILS?

On a visit last week to CW Pencil Enterprises (https://cwpencils.com) in New York City, I had trouble leaving the premises. There are all kinds of pencils there from around the world, along with sharpeners and notebooks. You can even have the pencils personalized with a 1960s foil-stamping machine. Coincidentally, or perhaps it’s just good karma, the store is right next to the studio of Bryan Christie Design (http://bryanchristiedesign.com). The owner of this pencil-lovers paradise, Caroline Weaver, is (of course) pencil-crazy, which is confirmed by a sizeable pencil tattoo on her arm. She had thought about selling pens as well, but decided to stay faithful to the pencil, and not dilute the concept. Yes, to that!

Pencils are such a great bargain. You can buy someone a beautiful, creative gift for a very reasonable price. Inside the package above are five gems that I chose on my visit.

And if you really want to go for it…

VINTAGE GRAPHITE

I talked about the original Blackwing 602 pencil in a previous post (https://www.johngrimwade.com/blog/2016/09/05/the-ultimate-pencil/). You can see a Palomino Blackwing Grand Piano Box Set in the photo above. Go to eBay and see if you can get a Eberhart Faber original set for less than $400. I have not bought one. Yet.