Vintage Koh-i-Noor Hardtmuth Mini Aviator Colored Pencils

Vintage Aviator mini colored pencils

Something about this time of year seems to bring out interesting finds on eBay. Maybe sellers need extra cash for the holidays, or they know everyone is in a spending mood (or retailers will have them believe we are). In any case, I guess they were right, at least about me doing my share. The timing works out in another way: Our near-freezing temperatures and “wintry mix” precipitation have been keeping me indoors, giving me time to catch up on these types of posts.

First up is an adorable set of vintage Aviator colored pencils. Made by the Koh-i-Noor Pencil Factory/L. & C. Hardtmuth Inc. of Bloomsbury, NJ, set No. 936 ½ is made up of half-length mini pencils! I do have a minor weakness for mini colored pencils, and I have a few vintage sets in my collection, but I rarely see them for sale.

A while back I had spotted a full-size set of Aviator pencils with the same box design (see image on back of mini box below), but I passed on that one. I’m glad I waited, because I’m more pleased to have this mini set instead.

The back of the box shows the full-length version of Aviator colored pencils.

I love that "Aviator" typeface!

One thing that tickles me about this set is the “½” that designates it as containing mini pencils (the full-size set of 12 is set No. 936). That charms me as something we would see only in a bygone era.

Here’s another interesting anomaly: On the side of the box, part of the text has been overprinted with a pattern. The part that has been obscured says “with lengthener.”

Overprinted pattern obscures "with lengthener."

But wait – this set actually does come with a pencil lengthener! From the seller’s images, I hadn’t even noticed the wood extender along the bottom edge, so its inclusion was a surprise when I received the set. It’s obvious that the box compartments are designed to neatly hold 12 mini pencils (one is missing from my set) and the extender. Why was “with lengthener” taken off the box description yet included in the set? A factory error? Anticipation of excluding the piece in the future while reusing the same box? But then what would they do with that tidy compartment intended for the extender? The hair on the back of my neck stands on end speculating on the possibilities!

But it does come with a pencil lengthener!

More delight: This extender is item No. 1098 1/2

I didn’t make a sketch with these pencils because I didn’t want them to get any shorter, but I did make a few swatches, and here’s the biggest surprise: They are softer and have richer pigment than I would have expected from pencils of this era (and obviously they have not deteriorated with age). I have many colored pencils from the same time or even later that are so thinly pigmented they are hardly useable.

Good, soft color for such old pencils.

As for history, I couldn’t find much about these pencils except for a bit I found on the encyclopedic Brand Name Pencils site, where I discovered that the name Aviator was also used for Hardtmuth’s graphite pencils. Koh-i-Noor Hardtmuth’s site doesn’t say when production was moved from Czechoslovakia to the US, but Brand Name Pencils dates it to the ‘60s or ‘70s. From the looks of the box, I’d venture to guess that my set is from those decades. (If anyone knows more about these, please share your info in the comments!)

A few other mini specimens in my collection. I think the first two Portuguese pencil sets (from left) are not vintage, but the packages are reproductions of old designs.