A wide mix…
For modern, the rOtring 600 in ice mint and chocolate truffle were pleasant surprises. No cracks either. Colors look great in person. The Zebra Sharbo Surari wasn’t on my radar… I have one already in champagne gold and then I saw this in a gorgeous blue color. Limited edition. Has a nice soft sheen to it. The Pentel Kerry Tokai in “copper” was a pretty low price, so hard to pass up. Perfect shape. The SMASH pencils were bargain buys. PILOT S10 in yellow 0.3 mm seems to be discontinued, so I figured I’d get a user example (it came with a SMASH in a small lot). This one turned out nicer than expected. The Staedtler 925-35 in 0.5 mm matches to the 2 mm version I have. Super well made pencil.
For vintage, the TOMBOW Exta pencil is a duplicate for me (SH-1500EE) but the companion ballpoint is a new pickup and they’re pretty hard to come by. The PLATINUM has an etched motif… and there’s a Japanese name for it, called “KARAKUSA” (roughly means “arabesque”). It’s beautiful to behold. It came in 2 colorways: black and silver. This is the ballpoint, but there’s also a matching mechanical pencil and fountain pen. The PILOT HNF-50SK-B “Junior N” was a simple pickup, since I have a Morison V2 that’s very similar. The OHTO Color Hex is a ballpoint, in a kind of light lavender color that’s almost pink. It’s very nicely done. The nose cone reminds me of the FLAT-C.
EDIT: I forgot… the Ballograf . It’s tucked between the rOtring 600’s and the TOMBOW Exta. A steel executive style clutch point. Very nice hardware. Beautifully made. It’s a spring loaded ratchet design, like a PILOT Priere Grandee, but the insert is a separate module similar to a Schmidt. Still, it’s precise and advances a reasonable amount of lead. (Separate write-up coming later).
As for multi-pens, I long favored rOtring and PILOT. The Zebra Sharbo X annoyed me because of no detent for the retracted position. However, everything else about it is terrific. Just nicely feeling all around and I like the aesthetics. The Surari solves the detent problem, but I don’t like the bullet nose and chome hashmarked clip. Anyway, I’d bought a white Sharbo X (ST3) with gray dotted pattern about 6 years ago and loved the look of it. There was a black one with gray dots also up at that time but it went about 30% higher. And I could’ve sworn a black one with green dots (but I could’ve been mistaken). There’s a silver one with black dots as well. Anyway, I finally got the black one… a nice contrast companion.
Unfortunately, this one has a damaged eraser cap… and while I could just buy a new black one and cannibalize it for the cap, seems kind of excessive. A note to Zebra to see about a replacement went unanswered… twice so far.
I was fortunate enough to pick up the Uchida Drawing Sharp E series in gold and green back when prices weren’t so insane. Missed the blue one, though! I’d also gotten a Drawing Sharp D, but had some ridiculous branding slogan embossed on it. So I sold it. Finally got a replacement, and much cheaper than before. The seller warned of notable wear. But it’s very minor. Reminded me of old YAJ days when sellers went overboard to exaggerate flaws to help mitigate any buyer remorse. Not bad for $56 USD!
While the KN Drawing Sharp models are easily appreciated for their ease of knock lead advancement, there’s something almost “therapeutic” about the old analog rotation of the lead in the D and E models. Uchida’s mechanism is super smooth and precise. It’s truly gorgeous. These are like the Porsche’s of yesteryear pencil drafting.