The oldest surviving pencil is a German carpenter’s wood-cased pencil dating from the 17th century and now in the Faber-Castell Castle in Stein, Germany.
“This wood encased graphite pencil from the 17th century was found in the 1960s during restoration work on the beams of a house in Langenburg (Swabia). This pre-industrial pencil, made of lime wood with the methods usual at the time, was very probably used by carpenters in their work. It has been in the Faber-Castell Collection since 1994.”
The pencil is held in the Kunozan Toshogu Museum in Shizuoka Prefecture. Electron microscope analysis reveals the graphite is from 16th century Mexico.
This pencil has just stub of graphite at the tip and an advanced feature – a cap! Found in Masamune’s mausoleum at Zuihoden, it isn’t clear to me if the pencil was reburied.
To summarize, Ieyasu’s pencil is older than the Langenburg pencil, and the Masamune pencil is probably (though not definitively) older than the Langenburg pencil. The better known “oldest known pencil” has company.
Picture Credit : Google
