Product Description
New old stock sealed Eversharp 4-inch leads in tubes of 10. These leads are from the late 1940s.
Select hardness or color of lead from pulldown menu. We have Extra-Soft, Soft (B), Medium (HB), Firm, Extra Hard (2H), as well as Blue, and Purple Copy.
A couple of notes:
1. We have opened up two different tubes of the Blue version. In one tube, we found very crumbly leads that fell apart very easily. The other tube had leads with a sort of surface bloom, and some of them kind of stuck together (there is likely a wax component to the material), but they stayed solid when we scribbled with them. If you want a sealed, unopened tube, you may receive either type.
2. The Purple Copy version writes in grey like a regular pencil, though with a slight purplish hue. This is caused by a water-soluble purple aniline dye incorporated in the lead when in powder form. Early copying technology involved damp tissue paper pressed to the original, and the purple dye would be transferred while leaving the original largely intact (the grey lead stays, but the purple component transfers).
3. All of the leads fit a 1.1mm pencil.
