Can someone tell me a little about these models, like when were they manufactured and where were they distributed, etc.?
Also any information on variants.
The H-58x models I have seen have blue plastic parts and come in .3, .5, .7. & .9. (Is there a .4?)
The H108x models I have come in the same blue color. But in this picture it looks looks black?
The come in .3, .4 (expensive), .5, .7 and .9 - any other?
Are there other models that you would say are in this “family”?
I am really bad with keeping track of the series names, but I think both of these have a .4mm variant. I remember there was another model which had all metal upper half.
The H-58X (3, 4, 5, 7, 9), H-108X (3, 4, 5, 7, 9), and H-208X (3, 5) are Pilot’s classic drafting family from the 1980s.
The H-56X (3, 4, 5, 7, 9) and H-109X (3, 4, 5, 7, 9) make up Pilot’s alternative drafting family.
You can expect to pay the most for the 0.4 in each set, with the H-584 and H-1084 being particularly hard to find.
If you ever see a complete set of 5 for sale—with stickers—you should probably just get it. When I started collecting, the entire H-109X family was available for $210, but I was too stupid to jump on the deal. Same thing would cost at least $350 to put together now, if not more.
Pilot has plenty of other drafting pencils, but I consider all except the double-knocks (hi-mecha) to be precursors to the series mentioned above (think 1970s vs. 1980s).
Two other drafting outliers exist—the knurled ring ¥800 pieces (3 & 5, red & green & yellow rings) and the first generation Pilot drafter with lead hardness indicator window (red and white specimens in the lower left corner; I’ve seen black, white, and red in 3 and 5).
Thanks Chris
I updated that post with more info you’ll enjoy 
Thanks. I’ll keep a look out for these.
I was able to pick up all 5 of the H-56x model.
I thought they were sold in the 80s but I didn’t see it in the 1988 Japan catalog. Do you think it came out before or after 1988?
I think those pencils were popular before the 1988 catalog, but I suppose I don’t have any real way to confirm this. (And I could be totally wrong—maybe they appeared after 1988.)
I found an H-585 at an old stationary/art shop in Venice a few months ago; it was quietly sitting in a drawer I was scavenging for other stuff (a Nestler 31655, a Pentel AM13 in 1.3, etc.): it looked nice, so I picked it. Very interesting and nice MP: great balance, the grip is a pleasure to hold, everything in it says “ok, I know I’m not on the high end of the spectrum, but allow me to show how good I can be”.
Honestly, however, I thought it was way more recent as an item — around mid 2010’s at most.
I’m glad to know it’s much older; and I think I really ought to look for the .4 sibling…
Nestler!! That’s a rare beast outside of Europe…
I knew the company for basically three reasons: their slide rules — which however had already been superseded by electronic calculators when I started my journey as a consumer of drafting supplies — their drafting tables, and their plastic set squares and templates.
It took me years to know that they also produced some MP’s, and yet I had only seen metal or metal-like pencils with silver-ish barrels.
Imagine my surprise when I spotted this all-plastic, green 0.5 pencil much akin to a Faber-Castell, a Staedtler, or a rOtring. I had to give it a try.
Is there a photo somewhere of this Nestler pencil?
I was a bit surprised of Venice being outside Europe, but I guess there’s a dozen venices in the USA 
Greetings @2nd_astronaut! As for the picture, I’ll try to take a snapshot as soon as I can, and post it here.
But talking about the place… Sorry, my bad, I provided a poor explanation. This August, I took a trip to the Venice in Italy — it’s actually pretty close to where I live — and found the pencil there.
So, you’re right: the Nestler pencil didn’t move too far away from Europe; in fact, it did remain within the European borders the whole time.
Oops, I sold a Nestler to a buyer in California last year… now expecting a visit from Madame Lagarde 
Ok. I think I misunderstood drifand, probably he didn’t want to say that you found it outside of Europe
Looking forward to a photo… I have seen a quite „normal“ Nestler pencil at the house of an acquaintance, but didn’t dare to confiscate it
Here it is, in all its lack of glory — I suck at taking pictures, and I’m in some of the worst possible conditions to take a properly lit snapshot. Very sorry.
As can be seen, this is a fairly “standard” MP: plastic body with metal tip and rear button, silver-ish foil imprint, an unusually extended grip section. Quite comfortable to hold and work with. It came with a clip, which I removed because I hate pocket clips. But it’s still somewhere in my room, I’m sure about this.
Maybe this type of MP is much more common than I thought — I didn’t buy it for its supposed rarity, just because it was sitting alone in a drawer, and I liked the green colour of the barrel — and I even suspect it might have been once a component in a set with other drafting instruments, but who knows?
I mean, who among you knows something more about this Nestler?
I have never seen this model, thanks! Immediately the question arises, if there is also a 0.5S (sliding pipe) …
PS the color of course looks faber-castellish …
It might be, but I’m afraid the S for “sliding” is a very English-oriented thing to write on a pencil barrel. Given the robust German roots of the Nestler company, I tend to think that the “T” might be instead a symbol for “Technischer” — or however the word “Technical” is spelled in German.
I remember many “S”'s or “FS”'s on rOtring, Staedtler and Faber Castell MP’s, but they always had an English-speaking box or multilingual instruction leaflets; not sure about this case.
Maybe there is a catalogue somewhere with the reference number and all the details: I have some pdf catalogues, but nothing from the Nestler company, or covering the Nestler lineup — just instruction booklets for slide rules. I’ll try to dig deeper, maybe something crops up…
I know Nestler is German, but as you wrote it’s kind of standard with the letters, even amongst German manufacturer (bigraph also have T and S versions). The German word for S would be “gleitendes Führungsröhrchen”, but I have never seen a “G” pencil version …
I don’t think old catalogues of the Nestler pencils can be found. The “Rechenschieber” (sliding rules) are well documented, e.g., Nestler – Rechenschieber.org , but the pencils were probably just a minor add-on in the product range of Nestler.
Indeed. Except for the Kaliber, all the Nestlers I’ve seen look like an OEM of some other brand… The “Professional” looks a lot like the Staedtlers 25 or 35… I also have a nice fully black Herlitz that looks a lot like the Nestler/Staedtler except that it has a rubberised plastic body…
I’d even go as far as to say that they might have interchangeable parts
