Who’s No.1? Here’s Every Blackwing Volumes Pencil Ranked By Rarity
In 2015 the California-based Blackwing company, then known as Palomino, introduced a new line of pencils which immediately caught the attention of writers, illustrators, and pencil collectors alike. Featuring the iconic adjustable tip eraser made famous by Eberhard Faber a generation ago, the modern era Blackwing Volumes pay tribute to “the people, places and events that have defined our creative culture.” Every three months a new Volume is released. However, because they are produced in limited quantities and have grown steadily in popularity, some of the early models are downright impossible to find today.
I’ve ranked each Blackwing Volumes limited edition pencil on a scale of 1 to 10, based on how rare and therefore desirable I believe it to be (1 = most rare). Prices shown here are for a single pencil and will often, but not always, correspond with rarity. Pencils are listed by release date, newest first.
Updated December, 2022. This list is refreshed on a regular basis, so check back often to see what’s changed. — Bobby
| Pencil | Release Date | BNP Price | Rarity Rank |
|---|---|---|---|
Blackwing Volumes 192 Lennon-McCartney lyrics | Dec. 2022 | $5.00 | 9 |
Blackwing Volumes 7 Animation | Sept. 2022 | $4.00 | 10 |
Blackwing Volumes 55 Golden Ratio | June 2022 | $4.00 | 10 |
Blackwing Volumes 200 Coffeehouses | Mar. 2022 | $4.25 | 10 |
Blackwing Volumes 93 Corita Kent  | Dec. 2021 | $4.50 | 10 |
Blackwing Volumes 651 Bruce Lee | Sept. 2021 | $4.00 | 10 |
Blackwing Volumes 64 Comic books  | June 2021 | $4.25 | 9 |
Blackwing Volumes 223 Woody Guthrie  | Mar. 2021 | $4.25 | 9 |
Blackwing Volumes 6 Small businesses  | Dec. 2020 | $4.50 | 8 |
Blackwing Volumes XIX Voting rights  | Aug. 2020 | $4.50 | 7 |
Blackwing Volumes 3 Ravi Shankar  | June 2020 | $4.50 | 8 |
Blackwing Volumes 840 Duke Kahanamoku  | Mar. 2020 | $4.75 | 8 |
Blackwing Volumes 155 Bauhaus School  | Nov. 2019 | $8.50 | 6 |
Blackwing Volumes 42 Jackie Robinson  | Aug. 2019 | $4.75 | 8 |
Blackwing Volumes 10 Nellie Bly  | June 2019 | $4.75 | 7 |
Blackwing Volumes 811 Libraries  | Mar. 2019 | $10.00 | 5 |
Blackwing Volumes 4 Mars  | Dec. 2018 | $7.50 | 6 |
Blackwing Volumes 33 1/3 Vinyl records  | Sept. 2018 | — | 6 |
Blackwing Volumes 10001 Miyamoto Sensei  | June 2018 | $6.75 | 6 |
Blackwing Volumes 54 Surrealism  | Mar. 2018 | — | 5 |
Blackwing Volumes 16.2 Ada Lovelace  | Dec. 2018 | $7.75 | 6 |
Blackwing Volumes 1 Guy Clark  | Sept. 2017 | $8.25 | 6 |
Blackwing Volumes 73 Lake Tahoe  | June 2017 | $12.25 | 5 |
Blackwing Volumes 205 Silk Road  | Mar. 2017 | $14.00 | 5 |
Blackwing Volumes 530 California Gold Rush  | Dec. 2016 | — | 4 |
Blackwing Volumes 344 Dorothea Lange  | Sept. 2016 | $19.00 | 4 |
Blackwing Volumes 56 Joe DiMaggio  | July 2016 | $15.00 | 4 |
Blackwing Volumes 24 John Steinbeck  | Mar. 2016 | $21.00 | 3 |
Blackwing Volumes 1138 Science fiction  | Dec. 2015 | — | 2 |
Blackwing Volumes 211 John Muir  | Sept. 2015 | — | 1 |
Blackwing Volumes 725 Newport Folk Festival  | June 2015 | — | 1 |
| Pencil | Release Date | BNP Price | Rarity Rank |
