There are no markings under the clip. The opposite side is impressed with JAPAN. The clip has the old logo.
So, that should be the SG Sharp Gold.
Does anyone here know the production years of the S55, and when production permanently ceased? And also if there were any breaks in between major changes (like Pentel abandoning the metal engraving/stamping and switching to enameled labels)?
Nimrods book says late 1960’s through early 2010’s.
The S55/S57/S59 Deluxe Pencil has a ridged grip with a metal body. The ridges on the early 1970’s pencils were much deeper than on later versions, and some early versions had eraser caps with the size stamped on the end. The body has not changed much over time, other than the size, stamped into or printed on the body, with the earliest pencils being stamped with “5”, even when they are 0.7 & 0.9mm (see set of maroon pencils above). The inner lead reservoir started out with as metal but in the late-70’s started being made in plastic.
Original shipping boxes showed the model number to be S-55, with later ones showing S55.
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I have a “roughly” 1965 US One Sheet catalog (Pentel of America - 1965 One-Sheet.pdf). It doesn’t have a specific date, but it is prior to the S55 and MEC, but the Graph is on there.
I also have a 1967 Japanese One Sheet (Pentel of Japan - 1967 One-Sheet.pdf). It has the Sharp 7, S55 and Graph. I estimate it be 1967, since the MEC (which came out in 1968) is not on there. Plus on the Pentel Timeline presentation, the “S5” shows to be released in Showa 41, which should be 1966.
So, roughly 1966-67 is when the S55 came out. The last catalog I see it in is the US 2011 catalog (Pentel of America - 2011 Consumer Catalog.pdf).
You can grab any of the above catalogs from my website Pentel Catalog PDFs - #3 by nimrodd
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Thanks, Patrick!
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Great info, Jimmy. Thanks.
You really did a phenomenal job of gathering and cataloging information, and I have to wonder if you know more than most of those people working at Pentel product management. 
I clipped out an image covering the S55 and related variants, for ease of reference in the topic:
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The top ones with the printed text are from 1978.
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