POLOKWANE – As a child, the biggest thrill of your day would be sitting down with a colouring-in book and creating a masterpiece with your wax crayons.
For many, the most famous crayon brand in the world is Crayola. The first crayon was sold in March 1903 and the name was coined by Alice Binney, wife of company founder, Edwin. It comes from “craie”, French for “chalk,” and “ola” for “oleaginous”, or “oily.
The popular crayons’ most common retail packages are multiples of eight, with 8, 16, 24, 48, 64, 96, and 120 packs being marketed today.
A 150-crayon pack featuring a plastic telescope-like case was introduced in 2006, and includes 118 regular color crayons, 16 glitter crayons, and 16 “Metallic FX” crayons, as well as a built-in sharpener at the apex of the tower.
This was followed up by a 152-crayon set in a plastic yellow carrying case with all colors being exactly the same (including metallic and glitter crayons) except for the addition of “Piggy Pink” and “Blue Bell”.
A few facts:
- The hundred billionth crayon made by Crayola was Periwinkle Blue.
- The first box of Crayola crayons was sold in 1903 for a nickel and included the same colors available in the eight-count box today: red, blue, yellow, green, violet, orange, black and brown.
- Crayola crayons come in 120 colors including 23 reds, 20 greens, 19 blues, 16 purples, 14 oranges, 11 browns, 8 yellows, 2 grays, 2 coppers, 2 blacks, 1 white, 1 gold and 1 silver.
- Children ages two to eight spend an average of 28 minutes each day coloring.
- Binney & Smith, maker of Crayola products, produces nearly 3 billion crayons each year, an average of 12 million daily. That’s enough to circle the globe six times. It would take about 400 million crayons to go around the world.
