My Colleen Collection

[drifand]

Came across this current product: a set of Colleen colored pencils in a nifty red roll case. Gave the pencils away to a friend’s kids and used the roll to organize my little collection of Colleen MPs.

Model numbers AFAIK, L-R:

1. Jib drafting 0.5mm with knurled grip. Similar to Fuji Corona series.
2. Jib EXTRA K-502 0.5mm with grooved grip, black accents.
3. Jib EXTRA K-502 0.5mm with grooved grip, red accents.
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4. BIG JIBSON WK-555 w-knock 0.5mm in black with green accents.
5. BIG JIBSON WK-555 w-knock 0.5mm in black with grey accents.
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6. MY SHARP 500 ‘Sleeved’ 0.5mm black
7. MY SHARP 500 ‘Sleeved’ 0.7mm blue
8. MY SHARP 500 ‘Sleeved’ 0.9mm black
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9. Jib YOUNG HEART 0.5mm red
10. Jib YOUNG HEART 0.5mm green
11. Jib YOUNG HEART 0.5mm black
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12. Jib K-520 0.5mm triangular profile body in green
13. Jibson K-525 DOHC 0.5mm square profile body in black
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14. Jib WK-1035 w-knock 0.5mm in blue (amended from WK-1051)
15. Jib WK-821 w-knock 0.5mm brown
16. Jib WK-821 w-knock 0.5mm black
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17. Jib WK-823 w-knock 0.5mm silver
18. Jib WK-?? w-knock 0.5mm in steel with square tipped clip
19. Jib WK-813 w-knock 0.5mm with chromed gridded body
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20. Unknown design with knurled mid-body ring
21. Jib K-?? 0.5mm in orange
22. Jib K-301 0.5mm with half-pinstriped body
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23. Hi-pierce Holder 2.0mm black
24. Hi-pierce Holder 2.0mm brown

Corrections and model numbers for #18 and #21 are most welcome!

[amjacobs7]

The longer w knock, number 14, looks good. Do we know why Colleen’s double knocks were often short?

[drifand]

I think the golden leads are a big clue as were the fancy filigree patterns: most of the Jib WK models were targeting the fairer sex.

[pearsonified]

That’s the WK-1035 (and maybe the WK-1036 variant). IMO, it’s the best pencil from Colleen Jib.

And I don’t have any insight into the short double-knocks, other than to say I have a bunch of them and really like them.

Could have just been a differentiation point for marketing/identification purposes. They also did the gold lead, so this practice seems right up their alley.

[Ok-Satisfaction3135]

Nice collection! In my 4 years of non stop mercari browsing I have never come across those drafting pencils on the left side for sale. I only found about them because of Rays posts from past. I really liked the red plastic and metal combo on one of those. Can you please upload a closer look if possible at those sometime?

[pearsonified]

Those pencils on the left are manufactured by Ohirra for Fuji Corona, Ohirra itself, and also Colleen (and maybe some others I don’t know about).

I mention this to suggest you’ve seen these pencils before, though perhaps not the Colleen variants.

[drifand]

Here is an old post of the Jib EXTRA along with the Fuji Corona drafters…

[ulfesharpe]

@drifand

17. Jib WK-823 w-knock 0.5mm silver
18. Jib WK-?? w-knock 0.5mm in steel with square tipped clip
19. Jib WK-813 w-knock 0.5mm with chromed gridded body

Number 18 sits among two of the nicest colleens imo — the 823 and the 813 — but I believe the “jewel” one was in the 1000¥ range, as the sticker in this picture indicates

The normal version, without the “jewel” or squared clip tip, are the ones you indicate as WK-821 (#15 and #16).

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In other news, managed to find a rubber/red WK-813 in good condition recently. It’s my favourite colleen along with the WK-1025. Pretty happy with that as the mistake of selling the mint specimen I had is partially corrected.

[Gunther]

A very nice collection! Especially the Hi-pierce leadholders on the right are great (by the way, there were also woodcased pencils from Colleen with that name).

My Colleen pencils:

The ones with the striped ring (second and third from the left) came in a cardboard box with “K585” on the flap, and the one on the right was sold with the gold-coloured leads. Unfortunately, I don’t know the product names of the others.

[cytherian]

Very nice collection of the Colleen Jib. There’s much that confuses me about how Colleen designed and sold this line. Inconsistencies too.

How would you compare these two?

@drifand

Jib WK-813 w-knock 0.5mm with chromed gridded body
Jib K-301 0.5mm with half-pinstriped body

[ulfesharpe]

Some inconsistencies may arise from the fact that when sold in blisters along with leads in general stores (as opposed to singles in stationery stores), the combo inside would be given another ref.

Btw @drifand, as far as I was able to check on my notes:

— the squared clip tip one is the WK-1021
— and the one you have marked as WK-821 is the WK-816

[drifand]

I’d grouped those 3 single-knock models together (K- for single knock, WK for double knock). All are simple affairs, so it’s down to the aesthetics. Orange one also comes in silver and a couple other shades. The silver half-pinstripe I would liken to some of the PILOT ‘aerospace’ striped designs in terms of look and feel, except, PILOT was far more prolific with their variants.

[drifand]

Yes, thank you for the additional info. The WK-816 has a different finish to the WK-821, which is more ‘metallic’, but the form factor is identical.

[pearsonified]

The all-black variant with the striped ring is SUPER rare! The larger W-knock on the left with the hairline finish is pretty rare, too. That’s a great little vignette of Colleen Jibs.

[pearsonified]

Adding some more pencils to this thread so we can hopefully identify the various Colleen model numbers. I have one OEM box of short W-knocks I need to check for the model number, but outside that, any model numbers I have are printed directly on the pencils themselves.

And even then, there are unmarked variants. For example, I have a WK-1035 with a “0.5 Japan” imprint instead of the usual “WK-1035”.

In the last image above, the 3 in the middle with the black, red, and green grips respectively, are K-518.

And I think it’s worth noting the 3 on the right in that last image do not carry the “Colleen Jib” designation; instead, they are just “Colleen.”

[pearsonified]

I checked my OEM box of short W-knocks, and the model number designation is WK-816. I have no idea if this encompasses all color variants of the short W-knocks, but since none of them have any model number imprints, this seems like a good baseline model number for the series.

Next, in the last image above, there are two “Rubber Glip” models next to the K-518s I mentioned earlier; these are K-703 specimens.

And as @drifand suggested, the square-bodied DOHC pencils are “Jibson Colleen K-525.” Both are very hefty pencils!

The green piece to the left of the K-518s is a K-514, and the aluminum + green piece to the left of it is a K-521.

Next, we move on to the Rubber Glip W-knocks on the right side of image 4 above. The one on the far right (with the unique tip design) is a WK-1033. (This piece also comes in black and green, though they are extremely rare.)

The 3 pieces to the left of it are the Rubber Glip W-knocks, and they carry the WK-1031 designation.

Finally, in his original post, @drifand has the blue W-knock labeled as WK-1051, but I believe this is incorrect. I have the same piece, and mine says WK-1035 on the back.

There’s also a WK-1036, as seen on the far left of @Raybonche’s image on Reddit.

As far as I’m concerned, @Gunther’s hairline piece (pictured above), @Raybonche’s WK-1036, the blue and green variants of the WK-1035, and the Rubber Glip WK-1033 are the coolest and rarest W-knocks from the Colleen Jib library.

[ulfesharpe]

By the beard of the unsung ones, that’s some Colleen Jib phD, bro!

[cytherian]

I’ll bet you’ve got the most complete Colleen Jib collection, Chris (at least in the USA). Bravo! I never knew Colleen had made so many different models. Given how most were priced at ¥500, with a few at ¥800 and ¥1000, I hadn’t paid them much mind years ago being fixated on brands like PILOT, Pentel, Tombow, Platinum, etc. But Colleen had some real gems in their lineup.

[Ok-Satisfaction3135]

The long blue double knock and those gripper double knocks do it for me!

[ulfesharpe]

In Japan Colleen was the tip of the spear for almost 70 years. That world doesn’t exist any more. But what is most noticeable is that some (not all) of its designs still capture highly informed tastes these days and at least 3 or 4 of their pencils are still relatively adequate to post-modern ideals.