Vintage Dixon Typhonite Graphite Pencils

Vintage Dixon Eldorado Typhonite 3B

 As you well know, collecting vintage colored pencils is my jam. As a member of the somewhat esoteric pencil-collecting community, however, I have acquired quite a few vintage graphite pencils, too, from generous friends. I’ve resisted blogging about most of them, mainly because vintage graphite is not my area of expertise, and quite a few excellent bloggers already cover this vast (much wider than colored) collecting arena.

I’ve decided that two recent acquisitions, however, are noteworthy exceptions because they are such a surprising pleasure to use: the Dixon DTR (Drafting, Tracing, Reproduction) 6B and the Dixon Eldorado 3B, both with Typhonite cores. Dixon Eldorado pencils can be found regularly on eBay, especially the harder grades. (That seems to be true with vintage graphite in general, and I suppose it makes sense: The softer grades get used up faster, but who would ever need more than a few nail-like 6Hs in a lifetime?) The 3B and 6B I have (both gifts from two people) are much more difficult to find, and I’m grateful and happy to have these.

11/29/22 vintage Dixon Typhonite 3B in Moleskine sketchbook 

Soft graphite is my general preference for drawing, and I am accustomed to using many excellent soft Japanese pencils, like my favorite Mitsubishi Hi-Uni and Tombow Mono. Softer graphite pencils naturally wear down quickly and must be sharpened often; it’s the nature of soft graphite. But is it? That’s the thing that makes these old Dixons distinctive: The cores are dark and behave as if they are soft, yet they retain a sharp point. Making each of the sketches shown here, I didn’t need to sharpen while drawing, and when I finished, the pencils still had good points.

I don’t know anything about these (the excellent vintage Canadian pencil blog Pencils, eh has an interesting tidbit about the El Dorado) . . . for example, what is “Typhonite”? (Sounds like something a superhero should avoid.) All I know is that that they are a joy to draw with, and I’m hard-pressed to think of any contemporary pencils with the same combination of hardness and darkness. (Thank you, Ana and Michael!)

Very dark graphite with amazing point retention

I showed this sketch in a previous post about my crosshatching courses with
France Van Stone.This loveable pooch was sketched with the Dixon DTR 6B.