Hello,
I am trying to find the brand and model of a mechanical pencil I used to own back in the 1990s. It was probably the best pencil I ever owned. I suspect it was made in japan but cannot be certain.
It was a .5mm pencil with a blue rubberized grip that covered the entire length of the shaft. Using CAD, I’ve drawn up what, to my memory, is a close rendition of what the pencil looked like. Though the proportions and dimensions may not be perfect, this is pretty close to what I remember.
The defining feature was the full-length, matte finish, rubberized grip. Please let me know if you think you know the brand & model of this pencil. I would love to find one to put back into service…
Thanks!
3 Likes
Hi. Thanks for posting!
What country was this in? Could you tell if the body was plastic or metal? Did it have a pocket clip?
2 Likes
I thought Staedtler had cheaper drafting pencils like this back in the day.
That blue color is the main giveaway for me…
2 Likes
The closest match could be something from the Polo line but idk, it’s not a rubberized grip. The only rubberized grip I can think of close to that era is the Hi-Matic but the “design” doesn’t match.
2 Likes
Maybe this was something like a PaperMate, then? I recall pencils like this from back in the day.
2 Likes
I’m glad you said that. I was thinking PaperMate too.
Do you recall where you bought it? Was it at a pharmacy, grocery store, Walmart?
1 Like
I think I found an actual photo of the pencil in question, tho no reference to make/model.
(not too far off my cad drawing!)
I knew some kids in middle school had them and my mom worked at an office supply distributor, so I got them direct from their catalog in like 1993.
The body was plastic with some kind of rubberized coating giving it a really nice grip.
The pocket clip was stainless steel and removable, just snapped on and off.
It was also a sealed unit, as in you couldn’t unscrew the tip or anything… You could only remove the eraser to refill.
I’ll check out some of the brands you folks mentioned to see if I could nail something specific down…
Thanks everyone for chiming in!
1 Like
These pencils were mass produced in the 80s and 90s for advertising purposes. They came with rubberized grips (a la the famous Papermate pens with grooves cut into the grip), and they all featured the open-ended, large erasers like your drawing.
I don’t recall seeing any with the tip design you mentioned (the ones I remember were simply black plastic cones), but I suspect this is more or less what your special pencil was.
1 Like
So, presumably mass produced by Papermate then? I do remember the groove cut pens you mentioned & yea, the pencils I’m thinking of had a similar matte rubberized finish. Maybe they were nothing fancy, but I definitely recall enjoying the unique grip texture.
Thanks for the feedback!
1 Like
