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From the scotto archives…

Crayola Crayon Colors

A Timeline

1909

Binney & Smith Co. introduces the first Crayola Crayons. There are 8 colors in a box:

black blue brown
green orange red
violet yellow

1949

There are 40 colors added:

apricot bittersweet blue green
blue violet brick red burnt sienna
carnation pink gold gray
green blue green yellow lemon yellow
magenta mahogany maize
maroon melon olive green
orange red orange yellow orchid
periwinkle pine green Prussian blue
red orange red violet salmon
sea green silver spring green
tan thistle turquoise blue
violet blue violet red white
yellow green yellow orange

There are now 48 colors in the biggest box of Crayola Crayons.

1958
There are 16 colors added:

aquamarine blue gray burnt orange
cadet blue copper forest green
goldenrod Indian red lavender
mulberry navy blue plum
raw sienna raw umber sepia
sky blue

There are now 64 colors in the biggest box of Crayola Crayons. For the first time, the big box comes with a built-in sharpener.

In response to educators’ requests, Prussian blue is renamed midnight blue. Teachers felt that children were no longer familiar enough with Prussian history to recognize that this crayon color referred to the famous deep-blue uniforms of Prussian soldiers.

1962
Partly in response to the civil rights movement, Crayola decides to change the name of the flesh crayon to peach. Renaming this crayon was a way of recognizing that skin comes in a variety of shades.

1972
There are 8 fluorescent colors added:

atomic tangerine blizzard blue hot magenta
laser lemon outrageous orange screamin’ green
shocking pink wild watermelon

There are now 72 colors in the biggest box of Crayola Crayons.

1990
There are 16 colors added:

cerulean dandelion electric lime
fuchsia jungle green magic mint
neon carrot purple pizzazz radical red
razzle dazzle rose royal purple sunglow
teal blue unmellow yellow wild strawberry

There are 8 colors retired:

blue gray green blue lemon yellow
maize orange red orange yellow
raw umber violet blue

There are now 80 colors in the biggest box of Crayola Crayons.

Crayola felt that the retired colors (and their names) were too dull to appeal to children today.

1993
There are 16 colors added:

asparagus cerise denim
granny smith apple macaroni and cheese mauvelous
pacific blue purple mountain’s majesty razzmatazz
robin’s egg blue shamrock tickle me pink
timber wolf tropical rain forest tumbleweed
wisteria

There are now 96 colors in the biggest box of Crayola Crayons.

Crayon lovers chose the 16 newest color names through Crayola’s “Name the New Color Contest”, part of the company’s 90th anniversary celebration.

1998
There are 24 colors added:

almond antique brass banana mania
beaver blue bell brink pink
canary Caribbean green cotton candy
cranberry desert sand eggplant
fern fuzzy wuzzy brown manatee
mountain meadow outer space pig pink
pink flamingo purple heart shadow
sunset orange torch red vivid violet

There are now 120 colors in the biggest box of Crayola Crayons.

1999
In response to educators’ requests, Indian red is renamed chestnut. Contrary to popular belief, the original name of this color was not meant to represent the skin color of Native Americans. Instead, the name referred to a reddish pigment from India that was often used in oil paints.

The new name was the winner of a contest that attracted more than 250,000 entries. Other ideas for renaming the color included crab claw red, mars red, baseball mitt, red clay, and old penny.

2000
A number of small “specialty sets” of Crayola Crayons are available. These include glitter crayons, pearl brite crayons, and techno-brite crayons.