I’m about to get nerdy about colored pencils!
Since 1997 and a graduation/ going to art school gift of 120 Prismacolors from my parents, I have been obsessed with these colored pencils. Creamy, dreamy, smooth, layered, beautiful, stunning colors, they were a dream come true.
The first mystery- how do they get that lead inside the pencil? Solved!
For years I happily used my pencils, replacing any used up ones with open stock from art stores. Then, in 2007 when I realized some (some my favorite colors!!!) had been discontinued! 😩😳 Luckily, I wasn’t too late and bought the few left at my local university book store.
I was pretty upset. I don’t like changes like that. It definitely dampened my enthusiasm about using my set. What if they discontinued more colors? The horrors. For a long time I wouldn’t even buy the new colors they released, I was so mad. How dare they replace all my beautiful decos, metallics, and neons with drab colors and 4 blues almost exactly the same. There were some very beautiful new greens though… and I did buy those.
Once I got into art journaling I did use my Prismas. I fell in love with them all over again. They were great in my Moleskine sketchbooks; beautiful, stunning colors, layering perfectly, shining on the cream-colored pages.
Second Mystery- History Mystery
Of course this is easier with the internet! I wanted to know why the company changed things. It turns out- they changed hands. I decided I better figure out what was going on, why things happened the way they did, and to keep my eyes and ears open for any more changes coming so I can be proactive about my supplies.
1938- the Eagle Pencil Company released the first Prismacolors. The packaging is very WWII era looking.
1989- the Berol Pencil Company buys Eagle and they embrace the Prismacolor line and make them much more available. They even start producing other lines such as Scholar. (Verithin is older than Prismacolor.) Berol started enlarging the line and produced the 120 set in the early 90s.
1995-Sanford merges with Berol and the pencils get a makeover with Sanford stamped on them. They are still made in the USA.
1999-the Newel Company (as in Rubbermaid) either buys or already owns Sanford and suddenly realizes they own it. (There are conflicting accounts.) Changes are coming. For a time stock was still made in the USA.
2007- Prismacolor undergoes another makeover. They are rebranded Prismacolor Premier, and the factory is moved to Mexico in 2009-10. Once out of the US, standards drop dramatically. For the first time customers are receiving pencils with offset leads and split barrels frequently. This continues to this day. (Sharpening pencils with a knife can help these problems.)
2008- Newel changes the color line-up, even removing customer favorites, in an effort to refresh the brand. The 120 set becomes the 132 set. 11 colors were discontinued- much to the anger of fans.
2011- Newel listened to their customers and brought back some neons and some decos when they enlarged the 132 set to 150. Customer favorite Deco Blue doesn’t come back.
2023- Changes in pigment suppliers causes the emergency discontinuation of Lavender and Lilac. They are thankfully replaced with the very close Amethyst and Orchid. This makes me wonder if pigment problems were behind the first discontinuations.
Third Mystery-What If???
This was the funnest mystery. Every once in a while I would see a “special edition” set on E-Bay. I thought the boxes were kind of cool. Then I saw the pencils inside a 48 box. They were not the normal 48 pencil line up!!! They had some decos and neons, and some other colors only found in the 96 and 120 sets…. so was this a box of the actual colors in the special edition set, or just a fluke? I had to know. They were priced to sell. I bought them for the decos and neons, and I looked everywhere trying to find out. I found 1 other auction with very similar colors in the box, and no other auctions. Now I really had to know! I had to find an unopened box for sale!
In the meantime, I had gotten the used set and had so much fun with it, and in reconstructing the very cool photo on the front of the box!
Then, the new set came in. I was so excited. This could be the find of the century! (Ok, no, lol.) I cut the plastic wrap off of this 35+ year old box of colors and………
It was the regular 48 line-up. I was so disappointed! Oh well, now we know! I had to sell them as they were a bit pricey since they were unopened.
Now I see these sets listed all the time! Grrr!
Wouldn’t it have been soooo cool though for Prisma to release a 48 set that had all the colors that the 72 set didn’t have, but the 120 did? Just for a limited time? It sure was fun to imagine that!
Conclusion
I’ve been very blessed the last few years to be able to find and afford extras and replacements for the original discontinued colors, and find a few surprises along the way. Including new Spanish Prismacolor “Juniors” I found on Amazon with decos (pastels), neons, and metallics! I haven’t tried any of these, but I want to!
Honestly, at this point I probably have too much. But, I don’t ever want to get to the end of my favorite discontinued colors. Even when I’m 100!
Aaaaannnnndddd, the pigments in these pencils doesn’t go bad! Paint can dry up, markers definitely dry up, but colored pencils last for decades (maybe even a century)! That’s a good deal. I hope to continue to have fun with these bright beautiful colors as they make my art-heart so happy!
I hope you enjoyed this! If you are interested in any brand of colored pencils but don’t want to spend a lot of money on a set, go buy a few colors that speak to you and use them for a while. (Most art stores have them open stock.) If you like them treat yourself to more!
A happy, sunny day full of color to you from Kansas Street,
-Jaime
Life on Kansas Street 