saw the release of the Polychromos coloured pencils, which continue to be made and widely used today. As a German company, several of the Faber-Castell's foreign subsidiaries and branches in Allied countries were confiscated during World War I. Among them, the Faber-Castell properties in New York and Paris were eventually sold off. Nevertheless, the company survived and saw further growth following the war with the construction of new, expanded manufacturing facilities and new company acquisitions. The company's name was also officially changed following Alexander's death in 1928, becoming A.W. Faber "Castell" Bleistiftfabrik (Pencil Company). Alexander's son, Roland von Faber-Castell, took over as head of the company after his father's death, at the beginning of the Great Depression of the 1930s. To mitigate the effects of this downturn, the company entered into an agreement with Johann Faber, the eponymous pencil company founded by Lothar's brother, in 1932. The two shared resources in an effort to operate more efficiently and bring down their costs. In the following years, Roland gradually bought up shares of Johann Faber until it was fully acquired (along with its Brazilian subsidiary) in 1942. Johann Faber was the company which originally produced the Goldfaber line of colored pencils, which were made by Faber-Castell following the acquisition. Faber-Castell also acquired the fountain pen maker Osmia during this period. Also in 1942, the company went through another name change, becoming A. W. Faber-Castell. In the years following World War II, the company expanded internationally into Ireland, Austria, Peru, Australia, and Argentina, as well as re-acquiring several subsidiaries which had been lost in wartime. It also began offering new products, such as a mechanical pencil, ballpoint pens, plastic slide rules (instead of wood), and an India ink drawing pen. The Faber-Castell logo was changed in 1950 to an oval design, incorporating the Faber-Castell family crest and the green color which the company had been using since 1905. Today, the company operates 10 factories and 22 sales units, with six in Europe, four in Asia, three in North America, five in South America, and one each in Australia and New Zealand. The Faber-Castell Group employs a staff of approximately 8,000 and does business in more than 120 countries. Products Beginning in the 1850s Faber started to use graphite from Siberia and cedar wood from Florida to produce its pencils. Faber-Castell is well known for its brand of PITT Artist pens. The pens,