HOUSE OF GRAPHITE

The Velvet Drawing 6880 was a wood-cased graphite drawing pencil made in Canada and branded to the Venus Pen & Pencil Corporation (the American Lead Pencil Company's name after its 1956 rename); the same line was sold in the United States as the "Velvet Drawing 880" under the American Pencil Co. name. It was a drawing pencil offered across a range of graded leads — confirmed examples include HB, 2H and 4H, with some grades carrying a painted blue identification band. Long out of production, it is now a scarce collector's item, the Venus pencil business having passed to Berol (1971) and ultimately Faber-Castell (1973). This specimen: Velvet Drawing 6880 in grade 2H.

4H HB