Staedtler
Staedtler is what I would call the “everyone brand.” They make really nice stuff, none of which looks or performs especially exceptionally, but still much better than the average stuff used by the vast majority of stationery users, particularly in North America.
Their “flagship” line, according to none but me, is the Mars Lumograph. Available in an extraordinarily wide selection of grades, of which I find pretty much the same four or five universally usable, the iconic blue pencils remind me of my drafting class in middle school, where we students could not be trusted with clutch pencils, so our laboratory fee bought us these glossy pencils that no one else seemed to have. Like other European brands, Staedtler’s products run quite a bit harder than what North Americans are used to in an identical grade, so I find my favourite are in the 2B-3B range.
Almost identical is the Mars Carbon line, or Mars Lumograph Black. They are intended for artists as a substitute for charcoal work, from what I gather, but the line includes writing grades such as HB and 2B, with a high graphite content. These write lovely dark lines, but are nearly impossible to erase and I find the carbon content gives the core a “sticky” feel on the page (similar to the cores in extruded pencils), which is made worse by my heavy-handed writing. Also, the darker grades lack the fully matte quality of charcoal pencils, so in general I find this line is not useful to me.
Indistinguishable from the Mars Lumograph in terms of writing quality, and with only a slightly narrower range of grades is the Tradition. This line seems quite curious to me: I can’t entirely see which part of the market it fills. Price-wise it’s cheaper than the Mars Lumograph, and the only thing I can see differentiating it that could impact this price is the different varnish, here an alternating red and black with a semi-translucent scalloped white end-band and gold foil stamp. I like the Tradition a lot but I just don’t entirely “get” it.
Probably the most well-known and widely-used of their lines is the Noris. Most well-known as the school pencil of choice throughout Europe, here in North America these German-made beauties are little known or seen, and more often substituted for Staedtler’s Thailand-made Norica. The Noris lacks the wide grades available in the Tradition or Mars Lumograph, but its marketing mostly as a school pencil doesn’t really require that.
Some other Staedtler pencils I’ve managed to find include the triangular version of the Mars Lumograph, the Ergosoft. In addition to the triangular casing, it has a tactile rubberized varnish. I’d compare this line with the Faber-Castell Grip 2001 in its target market, but with a bigger emphasis on the ergonomics and smaller emphasis on the design, and surely a smaller market share in the ergonomic pencil space. Nevertheless, I really enjoy writing with them.
Accidentally sent to me when ordering another item were these Minerva pencils made in Indonesia, one of Staedtler’s many local brands. The pencils are very bare-bones with unfinished tips and a simple red varnish. Research tells me this used to be a wider line in multiple grades and produced in Germany for many years, but now is marketed exclusively in Asia and only produced in HB. Nonetheless, they proudly display the “leads made in Germany.”
If you’re lucky, you might find some older specimens of their products that show such marks as “Made in West Germany” or “Made in Bavaria.” Technically as old as their Nuremberg competitors Faber-Castell, Staedtler nonetheless has been ordered by a court not to claim such a thing (really!).
