When it comes to Newman, the focus is usually on two things: the much sought after ‘fauxbois’ wood grain drafting pencil in 0.3 and 0.5… and whether Newman really beat Pentel to the 0.2mm punch by releasing the Super 2 in 1971.
Well, on Twitter the 0.2 debate has recently come to the forefront with input from @daisukeogo, whose grandfather founded Newman. There is a lot going on and I dare not state things I’m uncertain about. For bonafides, Daisuke has shared old photographs, news clippings and even a batch of Newman pencils engraved with his mother’s wedding commemoration.
One thing Daisuke pointed out was that Newman’s 0.2mm leads are finer than Pentel’s. You can’t load Pentel 0.2mm into a Newman Super 2. Make of it what you will…
I sure hope more developmental history will be shared in time.
You’re right! That style of machined grooves is quite distinctive. And like the LION version, it looks innocent but is actually damn grippy on the fingers
Really, somebody took it? :-o I think I have one of this type, bought quite recently for a fraction of this price (I don’t remember exactly, but the divisor is >10). I partly understand the hype about Newman Drafting 2k, but this is insane …
Are you sure you bought a pencil just like this one? I never see them come up for sale, and serious collectors all know these ¥500 drafting Newmans are unobtanium.
I can’t imagine one of these going for anything under ¥10,000, but I’m anxious to see what you purchased!
Do you know much about this piece? I know literally next to nothing about Newman, and I can’t seem to find any information online either, which is very discouraging.
This was gifted to me by @ulfesharpe (thank you again Vasco!)
I doubt even Daisuke Ogo has any interesting info about specific pieces that aren’t in the top 10 of desirability. This one looks like a generic competitor to early versions of Pentel 5, or Pilot’s ‘Young Conbi’…
Yeah, what gave me a tough time getting into NEWMAN when I started to amp up serious focus on collecting vintage Japanese mechanical pencils back about 10 years ago, most of the time I encountered examples like this that look very generic. Like PILOT H-505 clones. At that time, I’d not yet seen any of the more appealing etched steel examples. And for a time, there were people snapping up the good ones for seriously cheap prices, even with the horribly strong JPY currency and high proxy bidding service fees.
I have a question about the blue drafting pencil in the middle, the 500¥.
I’ve seen it for $100+ recently, often. It seems quite inflated, I’m guessing it’s light and dinky, am I wrong? Mind sharing any opinions on the matter? As always, very appreciated:D
I don’t own one of these, and I’m sure @drifand will chime in shortly, but from all I’ve heard this pencil punches above its sticker value. It’s well made and feels good. I expect NEWMAN screwed up and should’ve stickered it at ¥1000. When these were up for auction 10 years ago, they were selling very cheap. Often at its sticker value and sometimes even lower, like ¥380.
:-0 how do you think should that work?!?
There are the drafting 300, 500, 1000 (the faux wood grip) and 2000. every change here only would lead to glitches in the matrix and would disturb the cosmic order.
I have a Drafting 500, but not at hand. Drifand must chime in …
OK, yes when considering that the crosshatch grip faux-wood barrel was ¥1000, then perhaps it should’ve been ¥700 or ¥800. Or fine, just considered at ¥500 as a major bargain. Again, in the past there was not a collecting fervor over this model. It’s only scarcity and perception that’s driving it up these days. But still, it’s a nice pencil for what it is. Just not ¥40,000! Heck, I’d not even pay ¥6,000 for it.
. So probably I cannot write with the Newman Super 2 too much…
That blue 500 JPY one with metal grip just sold for 40k JPY.
