Cytherian - small haul for April - nice (mostly) vintage assortment, a few modern ones

[cytherian]

The first major gem of the lot is the PILOT clutch point with etched grid pattern. Most of the time these come up with some signs of use on the clip. This clip is pristine. The other major gem is the Mitsubishi W-Knock M5-59 in green. This one is definitely in pristine condition. Pretty much flawless. Very tight spring and good click action.

The Newman was an interesting surprise. It reminds me a lot of a small Mitsubishi executive, with the light “grooved” (or striped) aluminum alloy silver satin finished rear section. What’s kind of puzzling… is that there is a clear section in the middle. Now, I thought for sure this would mean it has a lead window. It does not. The section and screw threads of the front is clear plastic, but the reservoir tube is metal! So this was purely an aesthetic decision. Very odd. Anyway, it is a pipe slide model. While quite light, it doesn’t necessarily feel cheap. The mechanism works nicely. The rear part has a curious finish. It has some kind of coating on it, making it feel even a little more “velvety” than a satin finish paint. And yet, this is a rather old pencil. It does not exhibit any tacky qualities. Really strange choice by Newman on this. I got it fairly cheaply. There is personalization but it’s just a little paint. A close examination shows that it should be possible to remove it without damaging the plastic.

And speaking of Mitsubishi, the M5-100 double-knock came in a copper version and I discovered this standard single-knock type with pipe slide in the same copper color. Really nice looking. I’ll have to take some photos of them together. I picked up 3 in a lot.

I got another TOMBOW SH-1500EE. Finally found one with a ¥1500 sticker. Such an underrated pencil.

I swore I was done collecting SMASH pencils, but I’d been wanting a Seasar Brown in NOS condition with sticker… and finally grabbed one for a fairly reasonable price. Really is a beautiful colorway. The brown reminds me of root beer.

I have one Pentel PMG, and it’s in very good shape but has no sticker. And after getting so tired of trying to find a 1st gen without severe price gouging, I settled on another later gen with sticker. It’ll be interesting to compare and see if they’re both of the exact same generation. I love this pencil concept with the metal friction fit protective sheath that features lock-in detents for front and rear. The PG5 was a low price pickup from Amazon to push me into free shipping. I have another PG5 in used condition and it’ll be interesting to compare the two down to their inner bits.

I’m a big fan of PILOT’s vintage Hi-Tecpoint pen series, now long discontinued. Sadly, PILOT did not make the new V5 and V7 Precise “Tecpoint” pen refills to be compatible with the older all metal models. At some earlier point, PILOT made some metal bodied “Hi-Tecpoint” Precise pens. I’d not seen any for sale in the USA–they’re all plastic bodied. So when I saw this one in metal, I figured why not. It’s nicely made. More weighty than the all plastic versions, more closely weighted to a Laureate. A matte, almost brushed like finish that is suggestive of a coating. There’s no model number on it. Just “V”.

Also picked up a few of the Uni all black Alpha-Gel Switch. Pretty well made. I like the idea of being able to optionally shut off the Kuru Toga engine, to suit your writing situation. Will be interesting to try out and compare to the Roulette and Dive.

[Pdunc67]

That is a fantastic haul! I love the green M5-59!! I’ve never seen one. And that Pilot!! Congratulations on finding one in such great condition. I’m with you on the Smash - I think i have enough, but that is a beautiful shade of brown.

[Knockologist]

Velvet and root beer…two of my favorite things.

[knowishallnot]

Where do you find the M5-100 double knock? How much does it cost? It’s one of my grail pencils

[ulfesharpe]

That copper looking Mitsu would go well with a certain copper looking Colleen

[cytherian]

@knowishallnot

Where do you find the M5-100 double knock? How much does it cost? It’s one of my grail pencils

Most of us here who’ve added the M5-100 to our collections found them on sites like Yahoo Japan and Mercari Japan. They do appear on eBay, but sellers are looking for big profits there (Singapore Mechanical Pencils for example), so prices are usually quite high. On the Japanese sites, it’s all about timing and condition. Mercari tends to have them more often, but most are regular listings where you buy immediately (they do have some auctions now, but our proxy services don’t work with that). As such, a low price listing will usually get bought quickly, sometimes within an hour or two after listing. These double-knock pencils can be found in used condition with scratches for as low as ¥2,500 (LINK) or in decent to very good condition from like ¥4,000 (LINK) to ¥6,000.

Here’s a seller on eBay asking $100 USD for an M5-100 in good condition: LINK. Note that some call it M5-101, because Mitsubishi reused M5-100 for at least 2 models (same for M3-100). This is quite expensive. You’ll notice in auction history that no one has bought it at this price. And with sticker? They’re charging $120, while the plastic shows wear from use: LINK. This is serious price gouging.

Note that some sellers misconstrue the meaning of “retractable”, as they’ll use this word for the pipe-slide version that looks very similar to the double-knock. Also, some sellers won’t fully disclose damage, like this one being listed for $60 USD. It looks good at first, but the clip has some bad deterioration: LINK. You have to be careful, because their description is simply “Good condition pls check photos for detail. super rare silver color version.” The silver and black are not rare colors, but the copper one is harder to find (that’s the one in my photo above). And the clip? They don’t provide a close-up photo of it in the auction photo gallery, but it has rather easy to see plating loss.

And yet, they sure zoomed in on the Mitsubishi logo:

There’s another Mitsubishi double-knock that has been called the M5-100 but also M5-150 (as the price went up before discontinuation). Those tend to sell on Japanese sites for around $50~$80 USD depending upon condition. That seller on eBay I linked above is asking $170 for one (LINK), which is stated as “NOS” (new old stock), but there’s a very obvious scratch on it.

Another seller sold one recently for about $100 USD, which is comparatively much better. There’s a tiny dent in the cap, but the body appears to be blemish free (LINK).
BUT… a word of caution. I linked that eBay listing, but the same exact pencil was on Mercari JP. And that one closed for about $66 USD (¥8,888). LINK. There are eBay sellers who copy listings from Mercari and list on eBay for a much higher price. And then if you buy it, they then go ahead and buy from Mercari and then ship to you.

Also, you may stumble across another double-knock, which is the M5-53. It is a little shorter than the others but has a rather “bold” looking front end with fluted grooved grip. The shiny silver suggests metal, but it’s actually chromed plastic. You’ll see them listed quite a bit cheaper than the others, and that’s the reason why. LINK

So… to find one you have to keep looking and be patient, but also be mindful of any damage. The anodized back-half of the pencil (which is commonly silver or black) can get nicked and lose the coating in places.

[Knockologist]

@cytherian

I swore I was done collecting SMASH pencils

I sold all of my Smashes and I have to say, I miss them.

[cytherian]

@Knockologist

I sold all of my Smashes and I have to say, I miss them.

You didn’t keep a single SMASH??

[Knockologist]

I think I have one hand painted one left but I haven’t seen it in a while. May be in storage somewhere.