Which Crayola colours have been retired, and when?
Crayola has retired twenty-three named crayon colours. Ten went between 1903 and 1944, eight were retired together in 1990 to the company's Crayon Hall of Fame, four followed in 2003, and Dandelion was retired in 2017 and replaced by Bluetiful.
Four of the retired colours came back in 2025 — Blizzard Blue, Magic Mint, Mulberry and Dandelion — which means a crayon labelled with one of those names is no longer proof of an old box.
The 1990 eight — the Crayon Hall of Fame
This is the retirement that matters for dating, because these eight were standard 64-box colours and the boxes containing them are still in circulation.
| Colour | In production | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Green-Blue | 1958–1990 | Re-released in limited editions in 1991, 1998, 2003 and 2008 |
| Blue-Gray | 1958–1990 | Same limited re-release years as Green-Blue |
| Orange-Red | to 1990 | Retired with the group |
| Orange-Yellow | to 1990 | Retired with the group |
| Lemon Yellow | to 1990 | Retired with the group |
| Violet-Blue | to 1990 | Retired with the group |
| Raw Umber | to 1990 | The easiest of the eight to recognise: a flat brown no current box carries |
| Maize | 1903–1990 | Originally sold as Gold Ochre before being renamed |
The 2003 four, and the 2017 one
| Colour | In production | What happened |
|---|---|---|
| Magic Mint | 1990–2003 | Re-released 2025 |
| Blizzard Blue | 1972–2003 | Re-released 2025 |
| Mulberry | to 2003 | Replaced by Jazzberry Jam in 2003; re-released 2008 and 2025 |
| Teal Blue | 1990–2003 | Not re-released |
| Dandelion | to 2017 | Replaced by Bluetiful; returned in 2025 |
The 2025 re-releases are the reason this page is dated rather than written once. Until last year, a Dandelion crayon dated a box to before 2017 and a Magic Mint dated it to before 2003. Neither is true any more, and any dating guide written before 2025 that still says so is wrong.
Colours that were renamed, not retired
These are the ones that cause the most confusion, because the pigment survived and the label did not. A crayon carrying the old name is old; the colour itself is still in the box.
| Old name | Current name | Renamed |
|---|---|---|
| Flesh | Peach | 1963 |
| Prussian Blue | Midnight Blue | 1958 |
| Indian Red | Chestnut | 1999 |
| Dark Red | Maroon | 1958 |
| Dark Green | Forest Green | 1958 |
| Light Green | Sea Green | 1958 |
| Torch Red | Scarlet | 1998 |
| Gold Ochre | Maize | before the 1990 retirement |
Flesh is the rename with a history attached. Crayola left it out of a 1962 commemorative box over civil-rights concerns and formally renamed it Peach the following year.
The fluorescents, renamed in 1990
Eight fluorescent colours were renamed in the same year the Hall of Fame eight were retired, which is why 1990 shows up twice in every Crayola chronology and why people conflate the two events.
| Renamed from | Renamed to |
|---|---|
| Ultra Red | Wild Watermelon |
| Ultra Orange | Outrageous Orange |
| Ultra Yellow | Atomic Tangerine |
| Chartreuse | Laser Lemon |
| Ultra Green | Screamin' Green |
| Ultra Blue | Blizzard Blue |
| Ultra Pink | Shocking Pink |
| Hot Magenta | Razzle Dazzle Rose |
The colours retired before 1945
Almost nobody will find these, but they are the reason a box from the first four decades is a different object from a box from the fifth.
| Colour | In production |
|---|---|
| English Vermilion | 1903–1935 |
| Madder Lake | 1903–1935 |
| Permanent Geranium Lake | 1903–about 1910 |
| Light Venetian Red | 1903–about 1910 |
| Dark Venetian Red | 1903–about 1910 |
| Venetian Red | 1903–1944 |
| Ultramarine Blue | 1903–1944 |
| Burnt Umber | 1903–1944 |
| Gold (the first one) | 1903–1944 |
| Maximum Red | 1926–1944 |
What a retired colour is worth
Not much on its own, and that is worth saying plainly. Across 317 Crayola crayon listings from US advertisers on 31 August 2026, the median ask was $7.64 and conventional retailers held the cheap end at $5.24. The listings that clear $30 are complete dated boxes and sealed tins, not loose crayons — a single Raw Umber is a curiosity, and a sealed 1990 box with Raw Umber still in it is an object.
This page sells nothing and links to no retailer. Where it quotes a price, that price is computed from live listings on the date below. LinkToLooks has earned $0 in affiliate commission to date.
Retirement and rename dates last verified 31 August 2026 against Wikipedia's Crayola histories, both cited below. Price figures last verified the same day against 317 live Crayola crayon listings from US advertisers in the CJ product feed. Peer-to-peer marketplace asks of $500 or more are excluded as seller placeholders, as are repdigit asks such as $999 and $9,999 wherever they appear; retailer prices are used as published.
Frequently asked
How many Crayola colours have been retired?
Twenty-three named colours: ten between 1903 and 1944, eight in 1990, four in 2003 and Dandelion in 2017.
Which eight Crayola colours were retired in 1990?
Green-Blue, Blue-Gray, Orange-Red, Orange-Yellow, Lemon Yellow, Violet-Blue, Raw Umber and Maize, to the Crayon Hall of Fame.
Did any retired Crayola colours come back?
Yes. Blizzard Blue, Magic Mint, Mulberry and Dandelion were re-released in 2025, and Green-Blue and Blue-Gray had limited re-releases in 1991, 1998, 2003 and 2008.
When did Crayola rename the Flesh crayon?
It was left out of a 1962 commemorative box over civil-rights concerns and formally renamed Peach in 1963.
What replaced Dandelion?
Bluetiful, in 2017. Dandelion itself returned in 2025.
Sources
- <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Crayola_crayons" rel="nofollow noopener">Wikipedia, History of Crayola crayons</a> — the 1990 Hall of Fame retirement and its eight colours, the 2003 retirement of four, the 2017 Dandelion retirement and Bluetiful, the 1962–63 Flesh-to-Peach change, the 1999 Indian Red rename, and the box-size chronology
- <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Crayola_crayon_colors" rel="nofollow noopener">Wikipedia, List of Crayola crayon colors</a> — production year ranges for every retired colour, the limited re-release years for Green-Blue and Blue-Gray, the 2025 re-releases, the fluorescent renames of 1990 and the full rename table
- CJ Affiliate product feeds, US advertisers, queried 31 August 2026 — every count and price on this page is computed from that pull
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