An old box of Van Dyke 600 pencils from Eberhard Faber. The box design and pencil imprint correspond to this advertisement from 1919:
It seems that the stripe-motif dates back to some of the earliest versions of the Van Dyke, and it continued through to the 1950s:
One distinguishing characteristic of the early Van Dyke is that “drawing pencil” is found on the imprint:
When the clamp eraser was introduced in 1921, there was a line of Van Dykes with eraser (the 601) that was graded using the number system, and also untipped Van Dykes graded using the letter system.
The edges on the pencils are a bit sharp—as if less polish was used—and the color isn’t as vibrant or consistent as those made from the 1920s onward. These Van Dyke pencils from ca. 1925-30 have a new logo, brighter polish, and feel a little thicker:
