Apsara Platinum extra dark

Some time back I went on a pencil shopping spree trying to find pencils that were not from the usual European or American companies. One of the countries/pencils I found was this Apsara from India.

The company

The Apsara is a brand name of the Hindustan Pencil Pvt. Ltd.. They seem to be celebrating their 60th year this year, and note they produce 8.5 million pencils a day. They note they are Indias largest pencil manufacturer.

The pencil itself

The pencil itself is a reasonable black and silver affair. Not the best finish, but I’d not really expect any more at this price.

I got mine as a set of boxes, as it seemed almost as cheap that way. They came with a sharpener and eraser in each box of 10. I’ve not tried either of them.

The embossing is reasonable, and states that the pencils are ‘extra dark’ and are ‘for good handwriting’.

The pencils come unsharpened.

How does it write

I … quite like these pencils. Probably a bit more than I expected. I was thinking they would be OK, but they are actually quite nice. They feel OK in the hand. They write quite well. The line is dark, and the writing is quite smooth. They wear pretty slowly. So on the list of things I like in a pencil, it is ticking a lot of the boxes.

If I were to be stuck with a couple of boxes of these for the year, then I’d not be too disappointed.

Sourcing

I sourced mine off ebay. I can’t find a record of how much I paid, but I have a feeling I didn’t pay much more for the 50 than I would have for 10. Having a look today, they are available, and you can pick up 10 pencils for as little as £2.25 - a mere 22.5p per pencil. Pretty good for a pencil I don’t mind using.