• Pentel PA5 (purple, 1981)
• Pentel Non-Repro Sharp Pencil PNR9 (1980s)
• Faber-Castell Alpha-Matic (1985)
• Newman 500-yen drafter (1980s)
I think these grips are awesome
love the colors
I would really love to find one of these Newmans some day. After first being enamored by the big three (Pentel, Pilot, Uni) and delving deeper into the hobby, Newman has quickly become one of my favorites, with their etched designs, wood grain drafter, and this Alpha-matic look alike.
For Newman, I’d rank these as my top 5:
Newman Super 2 - world’s first 0.2mm lead and pencil from 1971, 2 years ahead of Pentel’s PS1042 Slide 02.
Newman ‘etched drafter’ - no frills, just a very beautifully made drafting sharp with an etched grip that rivals any of the Pilot Holder series.
Newman 500-yen drafter - as seen here: remarkable value and execution for its (original) price.
Newman 1.18mm knock sharp - possibly Japan’s earliest knock mechanism pencil with an original metal clutch / lead retainer design.
Newman ‘Faux Bois’ woodgrain drafter 0.3/0.5 - possibly a fast follower after Pentel’s MEC in 1968, and a predecessor to the SUPER 2, a couple of years later.
There’s a part of me that wishes there was a PNR7? I’d love to do a blue group too!!
The burgundy Alpha Matic is the only one I want. It’s the most difficult for me to find (probably why I want it so much)
I also want one of the Newman Etched Drafting pencils but I’ll never pay the amount they’re asking.
There’s a ¥2000 one I really want, I’m ok if I never have it or any of them though.
I’m on the same page as you. I want pretty much any etched Newman in 0.5 for a reasonable price. But what they’re asking for at the moment is absurd.
Other than the beauty of owning one…. How much better can they really be than some of my favorites!?!
That Newman 
One guy on Twitter is responsible for the meteoric rise in Newman prices
His grandpa worked at Newman during the Golden Age, and his stories lit the market on fire for Newman pieces
The knurling pattern on that Newman is so cool I can forgive it for its non-removable clip. 
Was red the only colour available? It seems fantastic, but I wonder whether there might be some slightly less flashy models out there.
By the way: if one extends the “linear” part of the knurling section common to all items in the picture all the way up to the pushbutton of the barrel, then one gets one of the Mitsubishi Automatic pencils — the one with the lead hardness indicator in a knurled crown just under the knock button, I don’t know yet the exact model number.
(Anecdote time! What is perhaps my favourite writer of all time is a lightly modified frankenpencil version of an Alpha Matic in blue — a very beaten up specimen, with completely faded imprint, which is why I decided to tinker with it — for which the list of modifications goes as follows: clip removed because of course; rear cap swapped for a much lighter brass domed cap from a vintage donor pencil, to enhance front-heavy balance; tip selected from the ones of my other Alphas so that it is fully retractable; internals in full metal harvested from a donor broken specimen, replacing the plastic ones; when fully loaded with 4B lead, it is an unstoppable bullet of pure grace and pleasure. Almost unbeatable as a daily driver: I have to force myself to use other models, or I would just stick to that forever.)
There’s also a blue one. I was lucky enough to find it at a decent price. I don’t have it in hand yet… I’m going to try at a “Blue” line up as @drifand expressed a desire for but idk if I will be able to have 4… I will definitely have 3. Stay tuned…….
They were available in red, blue and black.
I’ll be waiting for the “blue line” picture then: I am ready to be mesmerised once again by a Japanese pencil, as it so often happens in my journey as a collector. 
New grail locked in - black Newman faux-matic drafter.
Damn, you got a Newman ¥500 drafter! But honestly, the Kent is capturing my eye more—I’ve not seen a microsharp with a clip before 
And the grooves on the tip are different from the more common version, too. Blue seems to be the rarest, at least of the other model
Both the Newman and the Pentel call so hard for a Non-Photo-Blue lead core inching out of the sleeve…
Idk that it hits the same but all I have is non photo purple….
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…Eolo changing the game
Ok, that purple is indeed spot on for the violet pencil!
As for the Non-Photo-Blue, the thin lead version is relatively hard to find, and to my knowledge the only company who made that lead colour in 0.5 was Staedtler (code number 258 30); the 2.00mm version of Non-Photo-Blue cores is instead a bit easier to find: once again, Staedtler made it in 12-pieces boxes, but Faber-Castell as well produced containers in that hue, and possibly Schwann-Stabilo. I also have an unbranded, cardboard box of 12 2.00mm lead cores marked as “Hellblau” or “Azurblau”, by some unknown maker — probably German.
On the Asian market, instead, Non-Photo-Blue lead cores in 2.00mm were made for I think the newer iteration of the Pentel Multi-8, but those cores are way shorter, like one half of the standard ones by Staedtler.
[An Italian seller on Ebay had a box of NPB lead containers for sale some time ago, but it disappeared before I could make my move; there is always something to regret, in the world of collecting, and in many instances it is about bad timing.]
