Three vintage Micrograph 77017 pencils I presently own.
One is an “HS” (half-slide) and the other two are “F” (fixed).
I obtained one from a relative, that was bought sometime in the late 1980’s or mid 1990’s. The reservoir tube is hard clear plastic that now looks gray, because of graphite buildup. The other was bought more recently, its year of original purchase is unknown. The body color is notably a darker blue, more like navy than “royal blue” (original). The “HS” was recently purchased and the body plastic has changed to a greenish hue (typically found).
Interesting to see the chuck hardware differences. The plastic gray tube on one “F” has no brass collar reinforcement. And the “HS” has no exposed spring, with a metal reservoir tube.
The “HS” clearly has a larger front cone, probably to accommodate the pipe slide travel.
The nice chance here was that the body had a sticker on it, where the adhesive ossified. The sticker fell off, revealing the original blue color.
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Those sticker ‘tan lines’ really show what’s what, don’t they? I think one of my Kaweco pens was made with this aged shade of color and they called it ‘vintage blue’. The darker blues seem to fare better. The lightest blue used for the 0.3 models seem to change the most.
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Yeah, I agree – the lighter blue was most vulnerable. There’s an even lighter blue, a kind of light sky blue vs. the traditional royal blue, and I’ve seen some green examples that were so thoroughly shifted… had to be the light blue.
I like your idea mentioned over on Reddit about sealing the body up in bleach and leaving in the sun for some hours. So you’d seen examples of a pretty good color restoration from that?
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The diluted bleach-in-a-box solution worked for a badly yellowed toy that was originally white. Have not seen it tried for an originally blue item.
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Toy placed in a clear case, raised above a diluted solution of hydrogen peroxide.
AFTER
BEFORE
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Interesting. So it was hydrogen peroxide. Given the small size of the pencil, it should be pretty easy to do this test.
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