”By the early nineteenth century an early version of what we now call the ‘HB’ grading system had been established. This system was likely based on the English words ‘Hard’ and ‘Black’ whereby ‘HB’ stood for a ‘slightly hard’, and ‘slightly black’ pencil. Softer leads were labelled ‘B’, ‘BB’ or ‘BBB’ and harder ones were designated as ‘H’, ‘HH’ or ‘HHH’.”
This designation you can see on TK 9555 pencils…
So 0H means H in these days? I do not think so, I guess that 0H is designation of F, because below mentioned pencils were made with H designation….What do you think?
While researching the history of the TK 9500 I came across that hardness grade and noticed that it actually isn’t one – it’s only used to indicate in the catalogue that the leadholder in question does not have a hardness marking. Here’s an excerpt from the 1982 Faber-Castell Germany catalogue:
In that table you see the item no. 115 452 which is the TK 9500 without hardness grade on the barrel and with HB lead. At first I was puzzled too but since I have seen that grade only in catalogues but not on pencils I can understand it.
With a little imagination, you can see ‘0’ as the letter “O” and “OH” as “ohne Härtegrad“, i. e. ‘without hardness grade’
PS: there is a chance that the owner modified the internals of the box, as I was expecting 12 lead cores (with cardboard separation), but I got 48 tightly packed pieces, as per the picture, with a pencil overwriting you can spot in the upper left corner of the label.
Life is more interesting that whatever we can imagine: when I saw this box in a dusty backstore of a shop in Vicenza, I could not believe my own eyes — but my hands were quicker, and grabbed the pieces immediately.
I suspect (but this is a very wild guess) that there might have been a very short time when the world moved from a system of “letters-only” denominations (H, HH, HHH, B, BB, F, HB etc.) to a standard of “number-letter” denomination (HB, 2H, 3H, 2B, 3B, etc.), and during the transition period, some manufacturers decided to put a “1” before their “B” or “H” to make extra sure nobody got confused. Shortly after, everybody had become acquainted with the new system, and there was little need to write “1B”, as “B” alone had become enough for a clear identification.
This, or just an over-concerned guy at the stamping station of the labels, down the assembly line at Staedtler, who kept on saying “let me put a 1 before the B, so that everybody understands what we are selling”…
Just another story about a certain hardness grade.
In 1894 the brand name “Alligator” was registered by the German pencil maker Johann Faber, and around 1898 the first pencils with that name were offered. Later the Alligator BBBB with eraser tip was introduced but was only available for a short time. The first catalog to list it again was the foreign catalog of 1951, together with copying pencils with that name, i. e. these pencils were produced for export. In 1943 the brand name “Alligator” was transferred to A.W. Faber-Castell, and for more than 60 years the Alligator BBBB was (and still is) produced in Germany only for the Saudi Arabian market (around 20 million are manufactured annually).
Anyone who uses the pencil must notice that the lead is much harder than 4B – and no wonder: it used to have a 4B lead, but then the specification of the “Alligator” was changed so that it now has a B lead. However, the labelling has been retained so as not to confuse the consumer. – The Arabic text was added about twenty years ago due to the numerous counterfeits and says something like “Alligator pencil made in Germany”.
Amazing story @Gunther ! I found a dozen of old (but not super-old) "Alligator"pencils — the ones with a reddish coating and without the ferrule and eraser — many years ago, and I still have to consume the first one; knowing that the pencil with my favourite animal in the world is still available, and that it sports the wrong lead denomination by design, really made my Sunday!
The Arabic text translates exactly to “Father of Aligator, Made in Germany.” The reason “father of” is used is related to the culture in Gulf countries, where the name of their eldest son is used to address people (“father of” and “mother of”). If they have no sons, they find a way to give a name to the person and still refer to them as “father of” or “mother of” whoever (male or female). This personalization of the translation into Arabic is rare and highly uncommon. It proves, as you stated, that this pencil was explicitly marketed in Saudi Arabia.
This J. Faber seems to have been stored it in the wrong box. The Arabic text is exciting because it is incursive and I believe it relates to a Sausi dialect rather than traditional Arabic language. It consists of 3 words. The first word reads “somm,” which translates to “poison.” Poison here should refer to the graphite. The second word reads “somar,” which is probably a slang/dialect of pronouncing the Arabic word “asmar” in traditional Arabic, which translates to “black.” The third word is “Almani,” which translates to “german.”
Allow me to ask none other than the MC @Gunther here: is there any place/website in Europe where it is possible to buy the current run of the Alligator pencil? Upon a very superficial search, I can only find Saudi Arabian versions of Amazon — obviously, none shipping to Italy — and other specialised websites, but nothing really helpful.
. 1B?!
