From 1911, a notice from a Canadian stationery trade magazine announcing the 150th anniversary of A.W. Faber. Two things of interest: the absence of “Castell” in the firm’s name, and the veritable symphony, of commas, found in, the first, sentence (that is some virtuosic punctuating).
To mark the anniversary, the company issued this anniversary tin:
A.W. Faber 150th anniversary lithographed tin, 1911.
The underside of the lid has a family tree, leading up to Alexander Graf von Faber-Castell and his wife Ottilie:
The tin came filled with special packs of either indelible pencils or No. 2 graphite pencils (not pictured). I’m uncertain as to the number that were made, or if there was more than one production run. There is a similar tin that is identical on the outside but with a different lithograph on the inside.
Contrapuntalism 
Yet another treasure! You have a museum on your hands, I hope you know.
LikeLike
The tin is so beautiful but at the same time very modern. The colours, the plain background, the unusued space, where things are placed – I think you’d do that the same in 2014… The only thing that would probably look a bit different (better) today would be the “150” and the laurel.
LikeLike
Thanks Adair and Memm, for your comments.
I wish I knew more about lithography, or rather, I wish I could have seen the design process for these tins; I’m amazed by the quality of some of these turn-of-the-century items.
LikeLike