Random pen photos relaxation area

I’ve been on a Tikky kick here lately.
Trying to get every model

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I’m glad you’ve gotten into your groove! :+1:t2:

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I appreciate all the coaching

I’ve been struggling with shiny ones like the Kerry. I’m happy that everything is in focus for the most part but still need to work on lighting.

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One is the “young gentleman”, what is the other???

In your experience, which mid section has more grip, the regular one, the CDT one or the matte black one?

Honestly I like the normal one best

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I see you have the blue Overseas, it’s beautiful, I have the black one, but I prefer blue for .7

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That’s a Pilot ProTex twist-action double-knock.

Why is that particular pilot so incredibly expensive?

I understand it’s unique, but-to me-it doesn’t seem to justify THAT drastic of jump from most other pilots…

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Supply & demand.

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It’s up there with the H-200X, H-210X, H-300X, and Gentleman Young.

The Gentleman Young and ProTex are the nicest of those pencils, as they feature stainless steel constructions (and, crucially, steel-on-steel threads instead of steel-on-resin).

Beyond that, the ProTex is the most sought-after MP with a twist-action first knock and pushbutton second knock.

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I suppose all I ever see are NOS Protex and used Young Gentleman (?)

Seems Protex are twice their price :confused:

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Last I checked, both were in the 30,000–60,000 range depending on condition and sticker.

There are a few twist advance then knock pencils. As far as I remember, Protecs is the only one that has an extending knock button. Are there others?

Extending button? What is that?

When you twist the ProTecs for the first knock, the “cap” on the end of the pencil extends so it can then be pushed to advance the lead.

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The Grandee Priere pieces have similar mechansims, except the entire cap of this pen-style MP raises up a few mm for knocking.

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Neat idea, of inverting alternating Kerry pencils like that. :art::artist:

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Back around 2016 was when I first noticed the PILOT Young Gentleman, just by chance while browsing “PILOT” and “retractable” under the mechanical pencils category of Yahoo Japan. That angled cut of the rear section opening was what caught my eye. At the time, I’d not bought any pencils for more than about $60 USD. So the auction went higher than my intended budget. Still, I bid up to $100 USD and then stopped. It was won by someone else for $105. There wasn’t any name for the pencil, which was the most vexing thing. No criteria to pin it down. And still today, many people don’t know “young gentleman” is the official name. Anyway, I set a couple of criteria searches for YAJ, and the least specific one I’d fire off every day, to see what comes up. It was tedious… but within a few weeks, another one came up. This one didn’t have a sticker, and I won it for about $90 USD. Pretty much scratch free, except for some cap wear.

At the time, another PILOT was also listed by the same seller (I often browse to see what other auctions they’ve got) and one was the Protecs (Protex). Again, no name. Just vintage and retractable. And it went for ¥20,100. Back then the exchange rate sucked… so it was about $180 USD. So again, I was on the hunt. A few months later, another one appeared and I nabbed it for the equivalent of $180 USD in near mint condition, but no sticker. Still, a very good value that would be realized a few years later as prices increased.

Putting the two side-by-side, they both have their own particular aesthetic traits. The Young Gentleman is probably the more attractive of the two. I just wish it was about 1cm longer. However, mechanically speaking, the Protecs is a little superior. Deployment can be done one-handed (twist). And the two knurled accent pieces are a really stunning contrast to the brushed steel. As for rarity, in the past it looked to me by anecdotal evidence that the Young Gentleman was more common than the Protecs. Today? Both seldom come up, and when they do… prices can be stratospheric. I did see a Protecs in mint condition with sticker (but not sealed) close for ¥66,000. One other came up to ¥61,234 (sealed in bag).

These days, the lower end does seem to be about ¥30,000. I saw a few auctions in the past year close for about that price. With a strong USD against the JPY, that’s an attractive price. A “lottery win” seller has been trying to sell off a Protex for over $600 USD on eBay (link), but closed their auction last month due to no bites. That’s not a feasible price. He might’ve had better luck at $495 USD.

FWIW, when I first encountered these two, I was seriously impressed… and noticed the collector community at the time wasn’t hot for them. The more drafting style pencils were all the rage, particularly the all steel etched PILOT Automatic. I should’ve known that eventually the community would come around and the prices would go up. But I ended up selling a few Protecs for as cheaply as $200 & $300 USD, before interest began to rise. Thankfully I still have a couple.

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