Laurentian pencil crayons (later spelled Laurentien) were an iconic part of many Canadian students' back-to-school checklists. These coloured pencils were made in Canada by the Venus Pencil Company, and sold in the US under the brand name 'Paradise.' Each colour was labeled with a number to use with a Colour-By-Number kit. Production of these coloured pencils in Canada ceased in the mid-1990s. This would explain some of the more Americanized colour names like “#2 Sarasota Orange” and “#4 Hollywood Cerise.”
During the 1960’s, a couple of Canadian product updates were made: The packaging was changed to the portable vinyl pouches, and space for labeling on the pencil was introduced to deter theft from classmates.
In 1972, the French spelling “Laurentien” was trademarked in an attempt to increase sales in Quebec.
Sanford Manufacturing Co. acquired the brand in 1994, and in 2001 they changed the packaging and discontinued the vinyl pouch. The line was completely discontinued around 2012.
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2 comments:
They were the BEST pencil crayons. Sad to learn they have been discontinued.
Kids today can just print and color their cover pages. I made the kids make a colored cover page for all weekly assignments. And by colored I meant pencil crayon colored. At the end of the year when they would clean out their lockers I would have them give me all their left over pencil crayons and scissors and pens and pencils and markers and over the years it adds up.
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