Had a small arrival of stuff just yesterday.
Among the items were these four:
A Zebra Sharbo X ST3 in silver/red that was stupid cheap (and has the refills inside). No noticeable scratches (the specs you see are dust fragments on the clear plastic case).
A Pentel PG2003 without lead indicator. No sticker but in excellent shape, “near mint” is a close qualifier. No flaking of chrome off the clip. Only a couple of tiny blemishes to the “copper” coating that are very hard to see. Mechanism is beautiful and quiet. I’ve got two PG1505’s and had long thought about the PG2003, but kept it on the back burner since examples were almost always available in the marketplaces. Then an Accugraph fever took hold and they jolted up in price. The USD to JPY exchange rate is still decent, so in essence it was like getting pricing from 5~6 years ago. I would’ve loved to get one with a sticker, but those are about 50% more on average… with some exceptions (seller low price listings that get snapped up in a jiffy).
PILOT Fumi Raku ballpoint in mint condition with a clip tag (a little rough). I would love to have the mechanical pencil, but prices are about double on average. Nice to feel the size with the cheaper BP. I like it, but probably wouldn’t use it in mechanical pencil form… but will put this BP to use occasionally. It’s so beautifully done. The mechanism is smooth with a nice tension to extend and then a spring loaded assist in the retraction. I love the matte textured black body in contrast to the ironwood grip. It’s a little petite but still fits nicely in the hand.
PILOT Quatro capped rollerball in white. I love the white and green Quatro series. Just a nifty colorway. The white and blue is nice too, but I’ve had bad luck at finding those. And lately there seems to be scant inventory for all of the two-tone colorways, save for pink. Anyway, the all white showed up for a stupid low price so I snapped it up. I won’t ever use it, but it’ll be a nice accent to photos with the others.
Not shown is 2 more Zebra Delguard pencils in Fog White. Amazon JP had them at such a nice price. I figured I could use them for trading or selling. I have one in rotation. It’s a fun pencil.
Also not shown and not a writing instrument – a pair of Rodenstock sunglasses. Yahoo Japan and Mercari have some pretty nice sunglasses deals for a few brands, compared to what you’d pay on the US marketplaces (eBay, Mercari, Etsy), though some can be quite pricey. Maybe it’s a cultural interest thing. For example, Nikon is so common in Japan, but you can’t buy their sunglasses in the USA (they pulled away from that market at the start of the 21st century). And while Rodenstock is marketed in the USA, some styles were only for Asian nations.