There's an article in the Globe and Mail this morning on how much money the mid-terms have brought in from billionaires. Are you ready? It has been over $1.7 billion (some articles say more than this) from 172 billionaire families. And then including corporations, it is $2.77 billion. Can you imagine there are 172 billionaire families? There were 1,135 individual billionaires in 2024. Compare that to Canada where the last election totalled $95 million raised and it was a full election. This mid-term election, one Texas Senate candidate has raised $146 million.
But that's a low number compared to the rest of us millions who are middle to upper class. We are the ones exposed to the stories about the most expensive things that billionaires buy for billions of dollars.
The latest most expensive thing that I saw? The pencil. Yes, the stupid pencil. That's the instrument that I use during choir practice to mark the music where I should pay attention.
The world's most expensive pencil is the Graf von Faber‑Castell Perfect Pencil Limited Edition (specifically the Limited Edition Whitegold or Ultimate edition), priced at $12,800 USD.
A body crafted from rare, 240-year-old olive wood
An extender, cap, and trim made from 18-carat white gold (White Gold Palladium)
Three diamonds mounted beneath the Faber-Castell coat-of-arms on the cap
Maybe it is that built-in sharpener and eraser that makes it all worthwhile. Supposedly they are highly sought after by collectors and enthusiasts. There's only one "enthusiast" who wants us to know they purchased the pencil, and it turns out to be the Mont Blanc Imperial Dragon Pencil. An imposter! And I can't get the video to play, which is normal these days.
I wonder about this world of pencils, Is this just about how much the rich might pay for things - meant to fascinate us non-rich?
There are no owners listed for the pencil, there are no photographs of a hand touching the pencil let alone some collector or enthusiast identified as owning the pencil. What about us millions of active instrumentalists and vocalists? Isn't there a collector amongst us?
It says No. What it does say is that the cult-classic Eberhard Faber Blackwing 602 was THE PENCIL.
John Steinbeck, Truman Capote, E.B. White, Aaron Copland, Leonard Bernstein, John Williams, Nelson Riddle and Quincy Jones used it.
Stephen Sondheim was a collector of the cult-classic Eberhard Faber Blackwing 602. His personal vintage Blackwings sold for over $4,000 to $6,400.
So if you have a musician in the family, a perfect Christmas present would be an individual Blackwing 602 on an auction site like eBay - I see a used one for only $7.99 and a set of 3 for $55.79. Expensive vs exclusive, there's the moment.
I was at Sheridan on Southdown Road last week and remembered the beautiful Koi images I took way back. That little pond is long gone, and I was told that was because the Koi were dinner one winter - taken by a nearby otter or mink from their winter tanks. The Southdown Road location is near Lake Ontario...
These Koi aren't from that visit - these were at Marie Selby Garden in Florida.
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