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| Vintage Caran d'Ache Prismalo watercolor pencils |
In the book The Pencil Perfect: The Untold Story of a Cultural Icon, author Caroline Weaver tells a charming story from her
childhood about a box of Caran d’Ache Prismalo colored pencils that her mother
brought her from a trip to Europe. A prized possession, the set was the genesis
of what was to become a lifelong passion for pencils.
Delighted by the story, I was also intrigued to learn the Prismalo
name. Caran d’Ache is my favorite colored pencil brand, and I thought I was
familiar with all of the Swiss company’s contemporary pencil products. Was
Prismalo no longer produced? First introduced in 1931, Prismalo was the world’s
first water-soluble colored pencil, it turns out. Whether the pencils are still
being made by Caran d’Ache, however, is still a question. I couldn’t find them
on Caran d’Ache’s website, yet they
do seem to be available on Amazon (at
the kind of inflated prices often seen on discontinued products). Other sites seem to mention or show
them, but they don’t offer them for sale. Perhaps they were discontinued in the
recent past?
A little further digging revealed several “vintage” sets
available on eBay. I had no idea how old “vintage” was in this case (Caroline
received her box when she was a child in the early ‘90s, and I’m sorry, but I
refuse to think of the ‘90s as “vintage” – bad enough that the ‘80s and ‘70s
are), but a used set of 18 on eBay for a reasonable price (lower than a new box
on Amazon) was just what I was looking for to scratch my curiosity’s itch.
Although billed as “lightly used,” the pencils I purchased
hardly showed signs of use – all still had factory sharpening. When I sharpened
them myself, they gave off the lovely scent of cedar. The tin’s lid shows an
image of the Matterhorn, which appears in varying ways on all the images of
Prismalo boxes I’ve seen.
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| The scent of cedar |
What I think is more special than the Matterhorn, though, is
the little pencil guy next to the Caran d’Ache name. Extrapolating from The Pencil Perfect, the icon is a
variation of Bonne Mine, a cartoon figure that was used in advertising back in
the ‘20s. The icon on my box has lost his facial features and is most certainly
newer.
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| Bonne Mine tips his hat |
Inside the tin was an insert showing other Caran d’Ache
products and a “Certificate of Origin and Guarantee.”
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| Certificate of Origin and Guarantee |
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| White painted end caps on the Prismalos |
As I gave the Prismalos initial test scribbles, I wondered
where this collection of pencils stood, in terms of quality, in Caran d’Ache’s
product family? Before acquiring them, I already owned what I thought were the
only three lines of water-soluble pencils made by C d’A – student-grade Fancolor (which I reviewed a while back), artist-grade Supracolor II (which I didn’t review but showed in use during an interesting limited-palette challenge)
and premium-quality Museum Aquarelles,
my long-time favorite. Marketing copy seemed to indicate that Prismalos were of
“premium” quality (but then, what does C d’A make that they wouldn’t call “premium”
to go with their prices?). I could tell just by swatching that they weren’t as
soft and rich as Museum Aquarelles. They felt a little harder than Supracolors
but softer than Fancolors.
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| From top: Prismalo, Supracolor, Fancolor |
I noticed that the Prismalos and Supracolors were printed
with consistent color numbers (a very nice feature for any colored pencil manufacturer
to use is consistent color numbers, regardless of the line or product quality).
I picked out five hues that were available in both sets to compare. As you can
see from my swatches below, the colors might have the same number, but they
aren’t necessarily exactly the same.
Dry, the Prismalos look a little less vibrant than the
Supracolors, but the real test came when I activated the swatches. As I always
do when testing water-soluble pencils, I gave each swatch a quick one-two swipe
with a waterbrush, avoiding scrubbing. In every case, the Supracolors dissolved
more completely and quickly, and the washes were richer and more vibrant.
Surprised that they didn’t perform as well as the
Supracolors, I then pulled out the five closest hues in my Fancolor set (which
does not include color numbers). Both dry and wet, I’d say the Prismalos look
and feel closer to student-grade Fancolors than to artist-grade Supracolors. I
didn’t bother to test them against Museum Aquarelles.
So the Prismalo raises interesting questions. As the world’s
first water-soluble colored pencil, it’s darn good – a far cry better than many
contemporary collections – though it’s hard to say whether the very first version
out the door in 1931 was as good as the vintage set I have (which I’m guessing is
no older than the Reagan era). Yet compared to Caran d’Ache’s later products, Prismalo
seems to be most comparable to its lowest-grade Fancolor. Without knowing
whether Prismalo is still being produced (my hunch is that it is not; please
leave me a comment if you know otherwise), it’s hard to know what its street
price would be, so I don’t have that as a comparison point, either. In my mind,
they are certainly not “premium” or even “artist grade,” yet the box bears the
Matterhorn as a sign of national pride and certainly was marketed as a flagship
product at one point. (Edited 3/5/18: I was told that Prismalos are still readily available in Europe; see comments below.)
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| 2/28/18 Prismalo water-soluble colored pencils in Stillman & Birn Beta sketchbook |
Hmmm. I guess those are questions that only a true colored
pencil geek would ponder. And ponder I did on yet another dreadfully rainy day,
sketching a bright yellow heirloom tomato with the Prismalos. Despite being comparable
to student-grade Fancolors, the cores applied pleasantly on Stillman & Birn
Beta paper, and the hues became brilliant with water activation. I applied at least
three layers of both dry and wet pigment; they blended beautifully when I
wanted them to and held details nicely.
P.S. I usually like to pick out all the produce we eat
because I want to make sure they are sketchable. However, this heirloom was one
that Greg got when he happened to go food shopping by himself. I tend to prefer
heirlooms with at least some red in them, but this one gave me the fun opportunity
of using a secondary triad palette. Maybe
I should let him pick out the produce more often.
