The Elusive Black Pearl!
I had heard about the legendary Black Pearl eraser — the distant cousin of the old faithful Pink Pearl — but I had never located one to see for myself if it was all it was cracked up to be. In honor of the season of Back-to-School, I made a trip to my local office supply superstore and lo and behold… the Black Pearl!
It is black and a smooth, flat-like oval, like a polished stone. The shape alone is worth the price of admission. It feel delicious in my hand. PaperMate kept the delectable script lettering like the Pink Pearl as well so I was sold on these before I took them out of the package. If they even erased a little bit, I’m buying them in a gross.
They sell in packages of two at the office superstore for about $2 per blister pack. The package claims that the Black Pearl produces less eraser dust.
I took it out for a test drive today. I compared its erasing powers against my gold standard, the Staedtler Mars (well-loved) on standard sketchbook paper using a Zebra 0.7 mechanical pencil loaded with standard HB lead. The photo below shows the very faint remains of both erasers. The Black Pearl did not smear as much as the Staedtler and I think even erased more completely. I’m sold. Someone send me a whole case!
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I love how great it looks too, superb.
Totally sold me. I need a new eraser anyway! great post!
I picked up a package of two of these lovelies this weekend, on a whim, just because the design is so interesting. I thought maybe they might help eliminate some postal markings on the gazillions of postcards I receive. Well… the eraser does indeed take off some of the most egregious postal markings. Nothing takes the hideous light red barcode USPS markings off, but the Black Pearl does remove some of the other greasy inky marks, and it helps get sticky residue off from the occasional errant stickers. Have to be careful not to rub too hard or the color from the postcard will also disappear.