The “Castell” Brand History

The Castell line of pencils was introduced in 1906 as A.W. Faber’s response to the success of the Koh-I-Noor super-premium pencils from Austrian rival, L&C Hardtmuth. The Koh-I-Noor, with its distinctive yellow finish was beginning to challenge the supremacy of Faber’s Polygrade Siberian graphite pencils. A.W. Faber, countered the strong brand identity of Koh-I-Noor pencils with its own super-premium pencil, the Castell, coated in a distinctive green finish and utilizing a new process for precisely formulating and grading the graphite leads. Incidentally, both the names Koh-I-Noor and Castell which began as brands for particular lines of pencils would become so recognizable that they would eventually be incorporated into the names of their respective manufacturers.

The Castell line of pencils was introduced in 1906 as A.W. Faber’s response to the success of the Koh-I-Noor super-premium pencils from Austrian rival, L&C Hardtmuth. The Koh-I-Noor, with its distinctive yellow finish was beginning to challenge the supremacy of Faber’s Polygrade Siberian graphite pencils. A.W. Faber, countered the strong brand identity of Koh-I-Noor pencils with its own super-premium pencil, the Castell, coated in a distinctive green finish and utilizing a new process for precisely formulating and grading the graphite leads. Incidentally, both the names Koh-I-Noor and Castell which began as brands for particular lines of pencils would become so recognizable that they would eventually be incorporated into the names of their respective manufacturers.

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This German made Castell dates just after World War I. A.W. Faber had established a factory in New York City in 1861 to produce pencils for the American market while avoiding import duties, but the high-grade pencils, like the Castell, were still made in Nurnberg, Germany. After WWI the Castell was also made in the USA, but the leads were still imported from Germany. When the supply of these leads was interrupted during WWII, the US A.W. Faber Pencil Company introduced the "Winner" Drawing Pencil as a replacement for the popular Castell.

reverse imprint reads: "Castell Lead Imported from A.W. Faber Castell, Bavaria, Germany."

This c. 1947 American made Castell 9000 was manufactured by the American company, A.W. Faber, Inc. which was formed from the seized assets of the German owned factory in New York during WWI. As had been the case since A.W. Faber's first U.S. factory opened, the leads were still imported from Germany.



reverse imprint reads: "Leads Imported from American Zone Germany."

(factory sharpened) Kidding, of course. I'm too tired to say something witty about this crazy point. Sure is crazy.

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The "Color-Grade" system was patented in the U.S. in 1952.

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(factory sharpened)

This is a post-1992 Castell 9000 distinguished by the darker color and the of the jousting knights logo.

The Castell Chisel Point has a flat lead in a standard sized pencil casing in contrast to the Staedtler Mars chisel point which is a bit like a mini carpenter’s pencil.