Blackwing Graphite Pencil Volume 343 Broadcast Television

The Blackwing 343 is a tribute to broadcast television. Each pencil features a color bar finish inspired by the NTSC test pattern, and extra-firm graphite. The model number 343, a reference to the 343 scanlines on early CRT televisions, is imprinted with a “TV snow” silver holographic foil.

On February 28, 1983, a wartime surgeon named Hawkeye said “Goodbye, farewell, and amen.” Ten years later, Mayday Malone straightened a picture on the wall and turned out the lights for the last time. In millions of living rooms across the country, viewers sat quietly through these final moments, saying goodbye together. The credits rolled, but no one moved.

Carried freely through the air, broadcast television invited participation without qualification. The same signal that arrived at a downtown apartment also reached a home on the edge of a country road. Broadcast television created a quiet cultural leveling, allowing audiences to form connections not just with stories, but with one another.

- Extra-firm graphite
- Silver ferrule and black eraser