Composition[edit]

In the modern English-speaking world, the term crayon is commonly associated with the
standard wax crayon, such as those widely available for use by children. Such crayons are
usually approximately 3.5 inches (89 mm) in length and made mostly of petroleum (paraffin
wax). Paraffin wax is heated and cooled to achieve the correct temperature in which a usable
wax substance can be dyed and then manufactured and shipped for use around the world.
Paraffin waxes are used for cosmetics, candles, for the preparation of printing ink, fruit
preserving, in the pharmaceutical industry, for lubricating purposes, and crayons. [1]

History[edit]
The history of the crayon is not entirely clear. The word "crayon" dates to 1644, coming from
(chalk) and the Latin word creta (earth).[2]
The notion to combine a form of wax with pigment actually goes back thousands of
years. Encaustic painting is a technique that uses hot beeswax combined with colored
pigment to bind color into stone. A heat source was then used to "burn in" and fix the image
in place.[3] Pliny the Elder, a Roman scholar, was thought to describe the first techniques of
wax crayon drawings.[4]
This method, employed by the Egyptians, Romans, Greeks and even indigenous people in
the Philippines, is still used today. However, the process wasnt used to make crayons into a
form intended to be held and colored with and was therefore ineffective to use in a classroom
or as crafts for children.[5]
Contemporary crayons are purported to have originated in Europe where some of the first
cylinder shaped crayons were made with charcoal and oil.[6] Pastels are an art medium having
roots with the modern crayon and stem back to Leonardo da Vinci in 1495. Cont crayons, out
of Paris, are a hybrid between a pastel and a conventional crayon; used since the late 1790s
as a drawing crayon for artists.[7] Later, various hues of powdered pigment eventually
replaced the primary charcoal ingredient found in most early 19th century product.
References to crayons in literature appear as early as 1813 in Jane Austen's Pride and
Prejudice. Joseph Lemercier (born Paris 1803died 1884), considered by some of his
contemporaries to be the soul of lithography, was also one of the founders of the modern
crayon. Through his Paris business circa 1828 he produced a variety of crayon and color
related products.[8] But even as those in Europe were discovering that substituting wax for
the oil strengthened the crayon, various efforts in the United States were also developing.

American crayon companies[edit]

The initial era of wax crayons saw a number of companies and products competing for the
lucrative education and artist markets. In addition to the giants such as Binney &
Smith/Crayola and American Crayon/Dixon Ticonderoga, other companies popped up in the
industry at various times from the late 19th century to the early 1910s.

Binney & Smith (Crayola)[edit]

A 64-crayon pack from Crayola

Binney & Smith Company (later to be named Crayola LLC) developed their own famous line of
wax crayons beginning on June 10, 1903.[9] Edwin Binney and C. Harold Smith had been long
established in the coloring marketplace through BinneysPeekskill, NY chemical works factory
making lampblack by burning whale and carbon black and later instrumental in the coloring
of automobile tires.
In 1902 they developed and introduced the Staonal marking crayon. Edwin Binney, working
with his wife, Alice Stead Binney, came up with their famous Crayola brand of crayons. Alice
came up with the name Crayola by combining the French word for chalk, craie, with the first
part of oleaginous, the oily paraffin wax used to make the crayon.[10]
Binney and Smith were quick to capitalize on their creation by offering 19 different boxes with
30 different colors including the Crayola No 51 which, with 28, featured their largest selection
of colors.[11] The Rubens Crayola line started in 1903 as well (not in the 1920s as previously
documented by many sources)[12] was directly targeted toward artists and designed to
compete with the Raphael brand of crayons out of Europe. Rubens were featured in
everything from the small 6-color box to the No. 500 with 24 colors. [13] In addition to their
highly familiar Crayola line, they also made many other crayon lines including Anti-Roll,
Arista, Art-Toy, Besco, Boston, Cerata, Cerola, Chicago, Doo Zee, Durel, Easy-Off, Gotham,
Liquitex, Munsell Crayola, Perma, Pooh, Protfolio, Rubens, Spectra, Tiny Tots, Washable and
Widstrok.[14]
By far the most recognizable brand was their Crayola Gold Medal line in the familiar yellow
boxes. The Gold Medal referred to a Gold Medal the company earned with their An-du-Septic
dustless chalk during the March 1904 St. Louis World's Fair. Over 39,000 awards were given
out using the medals designed by Adolph A. Weinman. Receiving a medal at an Exposition
was and still is something of importance with many companies featuring their medal on their
products. Two companies to use the 1904 medal were Jack Daniel's whiskey (which still use it
on their bottles to this day) and Binney & Smith. They used the award to design an entirely
new line of crayons featuring the medal on the front of their box. [15] Initially, they developed
and introduced the No. 8 box of eight assorted colors (this famous box is usually depicted on
most historical material associated with Crayola; it was even featured on a postage stamp) in
early 1905[16] using the side of the medal depicting an Eagle but quickly changed to the other
side showing the 1904 date their medal was won. [17] From there they began to transition and
phase out other Crayola crayon boxes used earlier until eventually their entire line of Crayola
crayons featured the Gold Medal design. They would use this design to identify their brand for
over 50 years, permanently infusing their crayons into the consciousness of consumers and

catapulting the Crayola brand into the world's leading crayon brand. The Crayola brand is
currently owned by Hallmark Cards of Kansas City, Missouri.

E. Steiger & Co.[edit]

One of the first companies to offer up a line of wax crayons aimed for kindergarten use.
Located out of New York, NY, it is unclear when this company started producing crayons but
based on a known ad from 1881, they clearly offered wax crayons in boxes of 6, 12, and 18
colors.[18]

Surviving boxes from Franklin Mfg Co.

Franklin Mfg Co.[edit]

The Franklin Mfg. Co, founded in 1876 in Rochester, New York, was one of the first companies
to make and sell wax crayons. While it is undetermined when the company began
manufacturing wax crayons, they were indeed selling them as early as 1883, having appeared
with a display of crayons at the World's Columbian Exposition that year.[19] They regularly
advertised their Rainbow, Radiant, Penguin and Educational brands of crayons in various art
and educational catalogues and periodicals throughout the late 19th century and early 20th
century. In 1906, they changed their name from the Franklin Mfg. Co to the Franklin Crayon
Company and remained in operation until 1927.[20][21]

Eberhard Faber[edit]
The Eberhard Faber Pencil Company, originally the A. W. Faber Company, was founded by John
Eberhard Faber (18221879) in 1861. The company is primarily credited with bringing German
lead pencil-making techniques to the United States. The Faber family was known for
lead pencilmanufacturing in the village of Stein, Germany, near the city of Nuremberg as
early as 1761 when the business was founded by Kasper Faber. His son Anton Faber took over
in 1774 and the company came to be known as the A.W. Faber Company. Antons grandson,
Johann Lothar, took charge of the business in 1839.
Johann Lothars youngest son, Eberhard Faber (18221879), came to the United States in
1848. He settled in New York City, and by 1850, had opened a store selling pencils and other
stationery items in Manhattan. In 1861, Faber opened the American manufacturing branch of
A.W. Faber, in a factory close to the East River, near42nd Street (Manhattan), where
the United Nations now stands. It was the first pencil factory opened in the United States. [22]
Faber also developed his own line of wax crayons by as early as 1883. E. Fabers wax crayons
were available in packages of 6, 12, 18, 24 and 36 in a variety of assorted colors. [23] While
their cedar wood encased crayons were a hybrid on the traditional all wax crayon, this
nonetheless should be regarded as one of the earliest available wax crayon products. Later
they would offer traditional all-wax crayons as well.[24] After a fire destroyed the original
factory, they moved their location toBrooklyn. The Faber Company grew to become one of the

largest pencil manufacturers in the world, with additional factories located in

Germany, Canada, andArgentina.

Charles A. Bowley[edit]
Another one of the earliest recorded evidence of the modern paraffin wax crayon comes from
Charles A. Bowley, a resident outside of Danvers, MA who developed what he thought were
the first wax coloring crayons in the late 1880s. Mr. Bowley had been selling
various stationery items around the vicinity of Danvers and had developed clumps of colored
wax designed for marking leather. With the need for more accuracy, he went back to his
home and formed the wax crayons into more manageable cylinder shapes similar to that of a
pencil. The crayons were approximately five and one-half inches long and sold out quickly. He
packaged his crayons into decorative boxes and offered them through stationer clients he
knew. The demand for his crayons soon exceeded his ability to keep up with production and
he contacted the American Crayon Company in 1902 to partner and create a full blown
catalog of crayon offerings.[25]

Early Dixon crayon ad from Aug 1901