SKB was founded in 1955. It was Taiwan’s first fountain pen company. Their offerings include a wide range of stationery products. The letters SKB stand for Smooth, Knowing, and Beauty.
They have a few MP offerings but this one is my favorite. It has several brass components in the nose, mid, and rear, making it surprisingly dense in hand. It features a precise twist-spring action, like a Cross Century.
The translucent gray acrylic body features three flutes along the grip area. The solid copper clip and nose cone haven’t tarnished yet, perhaps due to a chemical enhancement of the copper.
The flared end reminds me of Victorian pencils while the rounded stubby clip is practical and modern. The overall look and feel leans on the fountain pen heritage of the company.
All in all a unique and quality item with deep Taiwan roots.
Sentinel Tuckaway II by Shaeffer. Ridiculously small clip. Looks unreal: it is there, but it makes no sense. Amazing precisely because of this form factor.
And I just discovered there is a matching mechanical pencil (probably a 1.18 mm twistaction MP). Why is there a matching mechanical pencil every single time?
There are about 10 other MP offerings from SKB on the website. You will have to look under both the ‘Writing Pen’ and ‘Fine Pen’ series to see them all.
