I’m not familiar with this pencil, but it looks interesting. I found this eBay auction but now I’m confused after reading the description.
It sounds like the seller is basically describing how a double knock works? Guess I’m missing something.
Can someone please explain how this pencil works? Are these worth collecting?
Thank you 
That’s interesting. I’m tempted to buy a cheap one to see what’s inside.
You must. I’ll split it with ya.
Last week I lost this same auction for $1, but I see Elton reposted them. In the last few weeks there have been many auctions for this pencil on Mercari (or YAJ?). I think I’ll enter again, last week the winning bid was $52, but I’m not going to bid more than that, considering Elton offers free shipping, otherwise I’d pass them up. The SP-5, being the most basic of the series, seems to me the most interesting because of its transparent cone, which shows how it works. It’s not a w-knock. In this video you can see it, starting at 0:54. An interesting pencil that I have always wanted to buy just to see it working. Thanks!
Good luck. Hope you get it. I just jumped in head first and picked up a NOS SP-15.
Elton is one of those accounts on Yahoo Auctions that bought boatloads of those SP-5’s in brown and red, from that account which obtained pallets of these (apparently, so many listings of 25 or 50 pencils per lot). Practically $3 to $8 per pencil, depending on how much competition was in the bidding. Now selling them for a lot more individually.
So Elton is SingaporeMechanicalPencils? I’ve seen his name pop up here from time-to-time.
I really appreciated your post on the piston, but have a question. You mention the sp-5 and sp-10 but have you heard of a sp-15?
I ask because I just bought an SP-15 from Elton (presumably overpriced).
Edit. I didn’t pay $100 for it though…
Yes, Elton is singaporemechanicalpencils on ebay.
OHTO SP-5 : Piston type MP with plastic body and clear nose cone
OHTO SP-10 : Piston type MP with all aluminum (or thin steel) body, opaque nose cone
OHTO SP-15 : Piston type MP with steel body, patterned gel-type grip, steel nose cone
Need feedback on the model numbers:
OHTO SP-20 : Piston type MP with wide black plastic steel enameled body, steel nose cone
OHTO SP-30 : Piston type MP with wide steel striped body (LINK)
EDIT: fixed wrong description of SP-20
Thanks
Hey. Did you win your auction for those SP-5s?
Negative. They sold for $50. I’ll try to negotiate a price with Elton off of eBay.
Kind of maddening, isn’t it? He keeps scooping up those lots, then bumps them up to seriously high profit margin prices on eBay. And if you bid, he’ll just keep outbidding you until you find yourself overpaying too much.
There was a similar situation with PILOT S20’s. Someone was repeatedly selling them in lots of about 6~8, often a mix of 0.3 and 0.5 sizes in different wood colors. After seeing this buyer nab about a dozen of them at a certain price, I went to bid on a lot… and he kept outbidding me, for several thousand above the price he’d been paying previously. I went to another lot, got there first, placed my bid… and he came around again. Bang, bang, bang–outbid again. He wasn’t going to let anyone else get his deal. He’s lucky he was anonymous.
The thing with Elton is that I don’t trust that much now. I’ve done deals with him for around $500, through eBay and direct over the phone. And no pencil has come without some damage. They are minimal things but they surprise me. From microcracks, rusty sleeves, stains, notched threads. Elton doesn’t send you the pencil that corresponds to the photo he posts, he always posts photos of the best copy he has of each model and then sends you any other. I’m talking about pencils that he has posted as NOS. I still don’t like to talk bad about someone who isn’t there, but heck, sometimes it’s frustrating.
I’ve suspected this is going on, but I don’t have definitive proof. I purchased a Tikky Automatic from him, and I felt like the pictures and information had been very carefully put together so as not to reveal specific (unfortunate) details that could wreck a sale.
It doesn’t surprise me. Not to get into a bash bit, but a number of times I’ve looked at auctions he listed as in excellent condition or even NOS, and after zooming in with a photo editor on his photos, I’d find flaws and damage. A recent glaring one was that notable gap on the grip of an OHTO SP-15. He’s selling a TOMBOW Mono Delta set of steel MP & BP, and they’ve both got flaws and his price is higher than real NOS from YAJ. I submitted an offer, and his counter was only a couple dollars down from his BIN price.
Over the last few months, I have been able to pick up a SP-5, SP-10 and SP-15.
My SP-10 just arrived from Japan, and I noticed a problem – it doesn’t retract when you press down fully. I made sure the lead wasn’t jammed, and cleaned it as best I could, but it’s still not retracting.
Any suggestions?
Price is too high, IMO—I would look to get this one for under ¥10,000.
Not sure about the model number, but I’m guessing it’s an SP-30.
