I have this box in my collection.
Does anyone know how old it is? – On the back it reads “Made in Taiwan”.
I haven’t found it in the Pentel Identification Book.
Thanks for every detail!
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I don’t have a year but post 1971. The model is S15. The earlier models had white extenders rather than ones matching the body color.
Now the questions: How long are they from tip to top of cap? There were two sizes of these. They were also produced before the logo change so at least in the late 60’s. Is there anything printed on the edges of the box?
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I have not seen any S17 or S13.
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Thank you! Now I have found it – it’s S-15 in the Pentel identification Book (page 357 in my copy); there it reads “Early to mid-70’s”.
They are 126 mm long.
Front:
Back:
Left and right:
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The model number is on the last picture. I only have one S15 and it is also 127mm. The longer S19 is 137mm.
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Am I seeing this picture wrong, or is there a Greek letter capital “Psi” on the box lid, used twice as a bullet point before the claims “Trouble-Free features” and “Light-weight”?
Boy I do love the Japanese way of dealing with any aspect of writing tools…
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I also see the letter Psi as a bullet point 
Page 357 of the latest version.
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I do not recall ever seeing Pentel called “Dragon Stationery Co., Ltd.”, especially, post 1970.
Usually see it as “Dainippon Stationery”, but that is usually 1970 or before.
Unless these were manufactured for a different company called “Dragon Stationery”.
It does have the Flying Dragon trademark.
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@Gunther would you mind taking a photo of one of these pencils on a white sheet of paper? And can I use the box photos?
This would be for the Pentel book.
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Thank you!
I’d love to take a photo of one of these pencils for you, and if you like, I can take better photos of the box or even scans. Let me know what you prefer and in which perspective you would like me to show the box 
I went down this rabbit hole many many years ago. You are correct that Pentel was never called Dragon Stationery. If I recall my findings correctly, there was a stationery company in China that went by Dragon Stationery that carried a lot of Pentel products.
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Just the pencil would be fine. The box is good, but I would like to see a picture where you said it was Made in Taiwan.
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According to Pentel Taiwan official website (公司里程-PENTEL TAIWAN), Taiwan factory was set up in Sep, 1968. There were 12 staff manufacturing mechanical pencils, sign pen markers and some dyeing pencils.
In 1970, 百龍企業有限公司 (I could not found actual English name online? Literally it means “Hundred Dragon Enterprise Limited Company”) was founded on Jinan Road, Taipei. It imported products from Dainippon Stationery for sale in Taiwan. This company began to produce PHN pastel crayons.
In 1980, 飛龍文具股份有限公司 (Pentel, 飛龍 = Flying Dragon) was founded on Longjiang Road, Taipei.
In 1989, Pentel 飛龍 (Flying Dragon in Chinese) merged with 百龍 (Hundred Dragon in Chinese)
I found a different timeline on Pentel Taiwan Facebook:
Does anyone know whether “Dragon Stationery Co.Ltd.” is the English name of 百龍企業有限公司 (Hundred Dragon Enterprise Limited Company)?
because I see Dragon Stationery Co.,Ltd. got the licence from Pentel:
PENCOL STATIONERY CO., LTD. ?
Pastel sleeve is written TAIWAN
Back of the box says MADE IN TAIWAN
The images above were downloaded from Vintage PENTEL Homerun Pas Oil Pastels, 25 Colors, New in Box & Carry Bag, *Read | eBay
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Dragon Stationery Co.,Ltd. on Pentel Someil box
Pastel sleeve says MADE IN TAIWAN
Picture downloaded from https://www.etsy.com/listing/850416166/vintage-pentel-someil-soft-oil-pastels
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Does anyone know why 大日本文具株式會社 (Dainippon Stationery or DAINIHON BUNGU CO LTD) uses a flying dragon as a trade mark?
Dainippon Stationery was founded in 1946
You can see flying dragon trade mark at the back of the box on this ~1950 pastel:
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I picked this one up used a few years ago for less than $10, from someone who had no idea what it was and I was unfamiliar with it at the time as well.
In retrospect I think that nose cone may not be original, because I’ve never seen another Sharp 15 with a 4mm lead sleeve. But, it has the newer lower case logo on the clip so maybe that changed in newer generations?
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TBH I had never seen that logo. The only thing I was able to find on my first search is this (from the wiki)
エフ水彩
ロングセラーの学童用水彩絵具。溶く濃度により透明にも不透明にも描ける。1962年発売[25]。2000年にポリチューブ版を発売し、絵具チューブとして初めてエコマーク認定された[26]。旧製品に1949年発売の透明水彩絵具「ドラゴンえのぐ」、1952年発売の不透明水彩絵具「ぺんてるえのぐ」がある。
Basically one of their long selling products used to be called “dragon drawing utensils” which then was renamed to “pentel drawing utensils”. There may be some hidden lore, but its probably pretty obscure since searching for “dainippon bungu dragon” in japanese gives no results. Maybe in one of the pentel company history books it’s written
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One post on their 55th anniversary as a referance. Maybe they have explained what the ‘dragon’ trademark stands for somewhere, but I haven’t seen it.