I don’t consider S55 remakes to be worth the price of admission, but if this is the only form in which these were ever issued, I might have to re-think my stance…
2 Likes
Those look very nice. Wow.
3 Likes
Those are great pieces and as collectors they are definitely worth being in the exhibit. But that price is a no.
3 Likes
Do you know about the history, though? These are modern S55 remakes, which do nothing for me…
(Basically, I want to know if the transparent grips were ever produced between 1969–1989.)
1 Like
As far as I know they only came out in 1997. Blue, black. and brown transparent grips.
1 Like
And for the record…
these do a lot for me. 
2 Likes
I wish these had the deeper grooves of the really old Pentel 5’s 
To me, the S55 is a shitty “modernization” of a classic—I especially hate how they did away with the “Pentel 5” etching on the barrel.
Total horseshit pencil 
1 Like
Yea I find myself asking about how deep grooves are on these kinds of pieces a lot. I like the deeper grooves, too.
1 Like
I would like the S55 just fine if it wasn’t a garbage evolution of what came before it.
If it emerged on its own, I’d think it was great.
As it is, no etching = no love
1 Like
These are etched with Pentel over 5 over Japan. I think there was only a short period during the late-70’s and early-80’s where they printed the size on there. All others I have found had the etched “5”.
1 Like
Outside of these re-issues—which, again, I regard as being semi illegitimate because they were not produced during the Showa Retro era—there are no S55s with etching. (And the etching was only done on these because they were intentionally nostalgic pieces.)
In my view, the first S55 was the one with silkscreening on the barrel and barely-there grooves in the grip. (In other words, I regard the original Pentel 5s as Pentel 5s and NOT as S55s…)
There are no “re-issues”. The S55 was in production from the 1960s-2010s. They were all S55s The ones with the printed “0.5” and “S55” were the last generation and can be seen in the catalogs.
Here are some pictures of boxes which I have saved:
Clearly there were S57s and S59s in the early days with the “5” logo which sort of confuses things. There were also non-S5x pencils with the 5 logo. The model number S55 has been in use for a long time.
Looks like someone paid the ¥50000 and walked a way with a nice set of pencils.
Doesn’t look like Pentel was using the S55 designation during the blue/green box era, but they clearly started using it by the time the red box came around.
Any idea what year that was?
(Also, I make 99% of my points based on colloquial usage among Japanese collectors. Absolutely none of them would refer to an original Pentel 5—with the deeper grooves—as an S55.)
I am not sure what you mean by the blue/green box not designating as S55. It is on the side right next to the price - S-55.
A lot of the early boxes did not have the model listed on the front, only on the edges.
1 Like
Absolutely could not see that until I was pointed in its direction.
I really hate that the model number is used on what I consider to be drastically different pencils 
I guarantee every Japanese collector thinks of the newer version when you say “S55”
The listing that spurred this conversation went for $360 USD. Weaux.
2 Likes
Wow… 
(Post must be at least 20 characters)
1 Like