I had heard about the legendary Paper Mate 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. I was visiting 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.
Don’t forget the other Pearl — the White Pearl, latex-free.
[previously posted on my personal blog but it seemed appropriate to move it here, amongst other papery-related bits]
