Blackwing Volume 343 - Set of 12

On February 28, 1983, a wartime surgeon named Hawkeye said “Goodbye, farewell, and amen.” Ten years later, Mayday Malone straightened a picture on the wall and turned out the lights for the last time. In millions of living rooms across the country, viewers sat quietly through these final moments, saying goodbye together. The credits rolled, but no one moved.

Carried freely through the air, broadcast television invited participation without qualification. The same signal that arrived at a downtown apartment also reached a home on the edge of a country road. Broadcast television created a quiet cultural leveling, allowing audiences to form connections not just with stories, but with one another.

The Blackwing 343 is our tribute to broadcast television. Each pencil features a color bar finish inspired by the NTSC test pattern, and our extra-firm graphite. The model number 343, a reference to the 343 scanlines on early CRT televisions, is imprinted with a “TV snow” silver holographic foil.

- Set of 12 Pencils
- Extra-firm graphite
- Silver ferrule and black eraser
- Compatible with all Blackwing sharpeners.

Blackwing pencils started in the 1930’s and gained fans among some of the world's leading writers and artists. When the company folded in 1998 people began scouring the internet for Blackwing pencils. After a strange series of events, the founder of Palomino, a longtime California pencil company, reinstated the iconic Blackwing 602 pencil as well as offering a modified version with slightly softer lead for artists. Thought by many to be the best writing instrument in the world for simplicity, shape and quality lead, Blackwing, once again has a whole line of products on offer.