[I still care]

By the way, does anyone else remember Venus Paradise coloring pencils? At some point they changed the brand, and the pencils never colored brightly after that. The lead was too hard.

[mamelukesabre]

Nope. Don’t remember those. I remember faber-castell, koh-i-nor, and prang.

[Nathan Zachary]

They cut way back on the lead on account of the lead scares that were going around. They replaced it with some kind of hard wax.
All of the lead/carbon based coloring pencil makers began making low and lead free lines, because schools began specifying what kind of low lead and lead free coloring pencils to buy, I guess because some kids couldn't stop eating them and got sick. If you wanted the good ones you had to go to the art and craft stores to get them.