That’s really interesting to hear that they had ended up in Portugal. I’ve seen sellers from Taiwan and Thailand selling Korean mechanical pencils and Korea Pilots, but I was unaware of the wide range of countries that they exported to.
Also, perhaps there is another variant out there with a matte finish on the nose cone. Mine is glossy and polished. Honestly, I was surprised how heavy it feels when I got it. I wasn’t expecting much. It has no grip to speak of, though, so I’m not sure how good it is for actual use. Could be good as a desk pencil.
The other Korea Pilot is called 파도, or Wave. The design of the etched grip is meant to evoke the image of waves. I think they captured that quite well. The Parker Harlequin is beautiful too! That’s a really good reference because they are quite similar.
My bad—my memory misled me for a bit. I reviewed some info and finally figured out that the seller was “pastelcactuscafe”, who sells from Thailand! They used to sell a lot of different PILOT pencils, which I believe were made in Korea. A popular line is the Dipper series, which I still think are being sold by the seller.
This looks a lot like the Koh-I-Noor 5610 “Studio” model, but on that one the rear cap is made of plastic, whereas here I notice a much nicer metal cap. Interesting. Also, the “2007” number is used relatively often on clutch pencils: I remember a FILA 2007 (different shape and model; still a plastic barrel with metal ring and clutch).
This box will definitely be a favorite among many online sellers. Having the original eraser intact is also an important part of condition evaluation.
Traditional eraser materials usually don’t release oils or strong odors easily even after long-term storage. However, they can slowly degrade over time due to temperature changes, becoming harder or even crumbling. Proper storage and avoiding large temperature fluctuations are very important.
For eco-friendly eraser materials from the 1990s onward, the quality differences can be quite obvious. Some will develop oil leakage or release a strong plasticizer smell that is almost unbearable. I’ve removed quite a few deteriorated erasers from my collection. This problem seems to occur more often with smaller brands or private-label products.
Thank you for the information. I completely agree with you. I didn’t notice any strange smells or any greasy or oily spills. The erasers just looked a bit aged (i.e., relatively stoned) compared to newer ones. I also think that the peeling-off labels might show they were stored somewhere warm or not very carefully. If they were kept warm but aren’t oily, they might still work. Still, I doubt most Pentel collectors would want to use them instead of just keeping them in their collections. This box looks like it was made for the Japanese market, which is not very common in the US. It also came with a full box of leads, and I’m sharing some photos of it here.
A local Big Lots is going out of business and is running a closing sale. Amongst a bunch of other random household stuff, I picked up this pack of U Brands ‘The Monterey’ ballpoint pens. They have a partial metal construction which gives them a little extra weight. Unfortunately they are a little back heavy as the push button is also metal and leaves the pen feeling unbalanced. It has a nice click to it with a slightly stiffer spring, providing a good kirchunk noise. The refills leave much to be desired with the white pen ceasing to write after a very short time before needing to lift the pen to write more. Some critique on this one to be sure, but for a ~$3.50 impulse buy, it is not terrible. I just need a good refill.
