A few more spots on my personal "Atlas Obscura"

Just a quick picture to test my recently restored phone camera, and to add a few destinations to my journey as a collector:

L to R:

• boxed Koh-I-Noor SH-200 0.5 knock advance MP (actually aTombow, as it can be read off the pocket clip; same pencil as described here (upper part of the post), just a more complete specimen);
• Omas Prestige 0.5 knock advance MP, with stripes painted on the body; much similar to a Japanese executive model;
• Caran d’Ache Fixpencil 059.080 0.9 knock advance MP (had no idea CdA would make plastic pencils: it is quite different from all the rest of the usual lineup);
• Extra-long Ohto Champ OP-1508 0.5 knock advance MP, with rubber grip section and a spear-like, tapered body;
• Norex “Micromina” 0.5 knock advance MP, round body with two sectioned faces opposing one another, which feels almost like a “square-ish” section altogether;
• Old Italian “Paraphernalia” all-metal barrel knock advance MP in 0.5 with very smooth action, actually from the oldest lineup of the company, before they rebranded as “Parafernalia” with an “f” instead of a “ph”;
• “Myohyangsan” 0.5 knock advance MP from “Pyongyang, Korea” (do the North Koreans make mechanical pencils, and in this bright yellow colour, or is it a specimen from before the separation?);
• 5.6mm extra-heavy knock advance leadholder from “WECLE Japan”, one of the weirdest and most interesting 5.6 holders I have seen so far (all brass internals, all metal flange externals, very heavy, super intersting, highly impractical).

One really never stops learning about this hobby… :slight_smile:

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The Caran d’Ache looks like a rebranded Sakura 125

Yes, North Koreans do make a few types of mp, most likely with imported Chinese tooling. No way this is pre 1950.

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The Norex is something I’d like to know more about. A few years ago I bought a Norex 305 from Italy that is almost austere in its simplicity:

I don’t recall if there was any indication where it was made. Norex also sold technical pens (of which I have a wacky hexagonal retail display) that seem to have been rebranded versions of the German Polygraph range.

My Norex pencil is unfortunately slightly banana-shaped due to its thin construction - a tendency it seems to share with the Faber-Castell TK 9441.

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If the shape would be hexagonal, it would remind me on the Staedtler Mars 770 …

In the lot of pencils this Norex came with there was as well another Norex, but one with a vaguely sanded barrel made of an upper part in metal finish, and a lower part (closer to the tip) in a very dark blue colour (still metal, I think, just dyed). Picture a Staedtler Microfix SL, but slightly thinner and made of metal. I did not put it in the picture as I plan to take a group shot of similarly “sanded-body” pencils.

I know little about Norex, unfortunately, and I agree that it sports an aura of sobriety and “no-nonsenseness”. I think I saw a listing for the very same box you bought @Alan , a few years ago, but did not pull the trigger as at the time I was more focussed on other models. I concur it is an interesting niche lineup, with some genuinely interesting form factors and finishes. I will try to look around, and see whether I can find some more info about the brand…

PS: Thanks @Vici81 for the tip about the CdA! I thought “Fixpencil” was a name to be reserved for metal pencils alone, but life is always more interesting that one’s biases, as it should be.

Yes, the seller had more than one, so it could have been around the same time.

I have found a very short history of Norex in Italian here:

https://www.fountainpen.it/Norex

The N. Korean example, I recall reading somewhere, was part of some goodwill investment / technology transfer in the 60s and 70s to aid the NOK economy.

And I just love WECLE designs! They are a bit like the forerunner of OHTO’s eclectic design choices. That particular body design has been licensed to numerous brands. I have seen it in rollerball format rebadged for Honda F1 Racing Team, Benson & Hedges, etc.