I’ll check mine, but I’m afraid it’s a bit longer than 90mm. I’d be glad to see this short, “stubby” version — I love those kinds of contraptions, slim or fatty.
Also, I should have put more alerts around, for these solid Eastern-Europe clutch pencils: there are so many great items slipping through my feed…
Oh wow, thanks, I didn’t know that pencil but it looks wonderful. Love how many countries made things at one point. It’s not great how much consolidation globalization has forced upon us in the name of efficiency. I love how little bits of personality are in each countries take on solving the same problem.
Here is the short Automat Krakow.
https://www.reddit.com/r/mechanicalpencils/comments/108y72y/swiss_and_polish_holders/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=mweb3x&utm_name=mweb3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button
I just saw the Reddit post: uber-cool stuff.
The metal “Varius” might be a shoot-out to the classic Faber-Castell 9026 “Varius” (wooden body, green lacquer with golden foil imprint, very unusual clutch system), just built with a metal barrel.
Something about the drill-head-like prongs of the F.C. Varius is discussed here (I should add a few more pictures, but at that time my camera did not allow for enough magnification).
PS: some of these old leadholders were either magnificent in construction, or amazing in design — sometimes both, as I think it is the case both for the metal Varius and the short Automat.
I hope the FC Varius and the metal Schweizerfabrikat Varius origin issue can eventually be clarified. In the reddit post there is an image that another user posted in the comments with a bakelite barrel. I made an offer on it when he sold it on ebay, but I had a hard time justifying the $100+ the seller was asking and I let it go.