Astra was a sub-brand of Koh-I-Noor. The Astra automatic 5654 0,5 was probably released in 1985 if I interpreted correctly the state standard code on the upper left corner on the back of the box. It is mostly brass, except for the steel clip and spring, plastic lead reservoir and a bushing at the tip. The black coating is a sort of rubber-plastic, nice to touch, grippy enough and no stickiness at all. The design allows for very low grip (ping @pearsonified).
Of course it is not automatic in the true sense of the word, you have to knock it and the lenght of lead dispensed is a bit too much for my taste, but it has a nice anti-break spring/ lead rebound feature. You can see lathe like circular manufacturing marks on the cone, rear flange and the metal housing for the eraser. Unacceptable on a high end western product, but perfectly at home in the communist market.
It also came with green body and a stainless steel one. All three body types also came with gold colored trim, in which case it was labeled 5655. I’ve also seen the latter marked just Astra automatic 0,5.
I have a version of this with gold trim. I got it as a freebie from someone who sold me some FC lead holders (prettt nice freebie, IMO).
I’m not certain, but I think the text on the side refers to a Czech bank (happy to be corrected here).
The knock is lovely and crisp. Unfortunately it’s a little small for my hands.
Nice! I also have two of them https://flic.kr/p/2jmTQLi – i thought i would be the only one with this non-japanese (and probably non-sellable) stuff.
If that 5658 is “unsellable” you could donate it to me
Joking aside, there is more than just Japanese pencils. I get it, they are nice, varied, collectable. I appreciate them too and have a bunch of them, but there are other interesting pieces out there.
I’m pretty sure I tried to rid him of his 5658 2-3 years ago…. So just a friendly heads up, I’ll accept a duel for first dibs…. You may pick the weapon of choice…
If you’d like a silver 5654 to pair with your gold accented version…. I could be persuaded to trade for the 5658…. I’m willing to take the hit for your preference becoming a reality.
Mine too. I don’t think they had any reason to make different cones for different markets. I assume yours is an early version made in smaller numbers, all others I’ve seen are with the shorter cone. It would explain why the long style cone is depicted on the back of the box, which they probably didn’t bother changing. Does yours have the anti lead brake spring?
