The Perfect Pencil, an icon.

Since more than 250 years the brand Faber-Castell strives to create the most stunning and quality pencils out in the market. 1993 marked the revolution for premium pencils. Let’s discover one of the most iconic products in the industry of high end Writing Instruments.

Since 1761

Think of all those Brands that like to mention the “since” sentence. Since 1901. Since 1888. Since, Since, Since. Well most of those Brands might have been created by a specific entrepreneur on a specific date, but at some point the brand just died because it had no successor, it had not the right vision, or couldn’t adapt to modern times.

Well when we talk Faber-Castell or Graf von Faber-Castell, i think we sometimes underestimate the Heritage behind the brand. Maybe we know it, but don’t really think of it. I think there is one sentence that gives credit to this family-owned and run company. “Faber-Castell is older than the Declaration of Independence of USA”. Faber-Castell was founded by Kaspar Faber in 1761. So we can definitely count Graf von Faber-Castell as the oldest “Modern Time” Writing Instrument Manufacturer in the World.

As you can assume from the title, today i’m not going to mention the whole Heritage and History of Faber-Castell. In this article i will give a little insight into the GvFC Perfect Pencil Collection and it’s not a coincidence it is this company that created the most iconic premium pencil available on the Market.

History of the Perfect Pencil

Graf von Faber Castell decided to enter the Premium Writing Instruments segment back in 1993 and together with the launch of the brand they released their first Collection: The Perfect Pencil.

The concept behind the perfect pencil was simple: having a pencil, with the look of a premium tool that would have all necessary tools for your everyday life. Basically mixing simplicity with sophistication.

The idea of having a premium pencil was always in Faber-Castell’s mind. The pencil represented a simple but extremely useful tool for people from every social class. Therefore something had to be done for the aristocratic families or the Lords that used a pencil. Funny enough, we can say that the Perfect Pencil launched back in 1993 isn’t the first of its series, because before that, Faber-Castell had created in 1885 a Sterling Silver Pencil Holder that would give to the pencil another kind of grip and another kind of feel. Something that would express the Lord’s or Entrepreneurs personality or maybe even the social position?!

But if we come back to more modern times, since the launching of the Perfect Pencil in 1993, the Perfect Pencil has always kept its spirit but had some tunings and technical adjustments over the years.

The 1993 release had no sharpener and the eraser was positioned on the top of the cap and could be discovered by uncapping it the same way you uncap it today to use the sharpener. It had a movable Ring around the Cap that you had to pull down in order to make the cap stick to the pencil. Definitely gorgeous, and extremely valuable if you think that it’s almost impossible to find it on the secondary market.

In 1999 the Design changed, and the development of the perfect pencil had a kick. Now, in addition to the eraser, it also featured a sharpener and the cap would stick to the Pencil without having to clip it with the movable ring. The cap also featured an aesthetic trait of a circular engraving in the middle of the cap.

In 2001, specifically for the 240th Anniversary of GvFC the Nürnberger Company introduced a White Gold and a Steel Limited Edition with a cleaner design both with 3 diamonds on Top.

Even if since the early 2000’s the Perfect Pencil has the Design we know today, the series before 2016 had one problem: they were produced with a plastic sharpener section that would eventually break way too fast. This problem was solved in 2016 when GvFC decided to produce the Perfect Pencil with a metal sharpener section.

The Perfect Pencil Today

Since 2004 the design has remained pretty much the same but the range of the Perfect Pencil has acquired dynamic facets and has a piece for every taste. It’s now cool more than ever having a perfect pencil.

The range starts from the classic Perfect Pencil with a classic B graphite that is comfortable for writing and for sketching available in

• the ever classic Platinum Plated, with black, cognac, blue guilloche and light grey guilloche (the last two are going out of collection very soon)

• a very understatement and neat black PVD plated Edition with a black Pencil
• an elegant Rose gold Edition with a black pencil 
• a soft Champagne Gold Limited Edition of 1761 pieces in the world launched for the 25th Anniversary of the Perfect Pencil
• a premium solid 925 Sterling Silver Edition, that will age and get a patina over time.
• don’t forget all these Editions can be “tuned” with a selection of very colorful Pencils that GvFC has now in collection.

  The Magnum collection is more restrained in Editions and Pencil selection.

  It’s definitely a tool that is meant more for sketching and drawing than writing, even if with a bolder handwriting it will definitely also serve that purpose.

  At the moment, the Magnum Edition comes in

  • Platinum Plated, with a Cognac Pencil, that could also be replaced to a Black Pencil.

  • Black Edition, with a Black Pencil, that could also be replaced to a Cognac Pencil.

    Must Have

    I would position the perfect pencil as a must-have for every collection even if you’re a dedicated Fountain Pen aficionado. I’ve always had the feeling that the pencil is the only tool able to give a certain feeling when writing or drawing and is so the only writing instrument that can replace a Fountain Pen sometimes.

    While using a Mechanical Pencil is a writing experience of its own, with the Perfect Pencil you wont be loosing the feeling of using a real pencil, but you also will make a great appearance in every meeting and enjoy using and seeing it every day.

    If you never had the chance to see one, wait for the reopening of the Boutiques after the Lockdown and go experience this iconic writing instrument and maybe discover wheter you’re more the classic or the Magnum type of guy.