How Old Are These Mechanical Pencils?

[Jonny.M]

Hi, I just found 2 pens at a thrift shop for 3 bucks here in Finland. A Pentel P207 that looks old but it's in mint condition. It doesn't look like a normal one and I can't find it on the internet. And an old staedtler 0.5 micrograph, I have seen them on eBay for 25 bucks!

 

I just wonder if they are worth something or should I just use them at school?

 

[Wyre]

PENTEL P200 “SHARP” SERIES (P203, P204, P205, P207, P209)Pentel, Japan

lead diameter(s) : 0.3, 0.4, 0.5, 0.7, and 0.9 mm
mechanism : pushbutton
composition : incremental advance clutch, 4 mm fixed sleeve, plastic barrel, metal mechanism, nosepiece, and endcap
variations : P205 barrel color: black, green, burgundy, white, blue/black marbled, burgundy/black marbled
production date : 1970s to present
origin : Japan

see also

Art Brown catalog, 1978, p 100
Pentel catalog, 1980, p 24
Pentel Sliding Sleeve Sharp
Pentel Sharp for Film
Pentel 11

This is the workhorse of thin lead drafting pencils. I read over at Pencil Revolutionhttp://leadholder.com/assets/site/icon-newwin-gry.gifthat this is Henry Petroski’s (the author of The Pencil) favorite daily-use pencil. The design has remained unchanged since the 1970s. In Japan, Pentel also sells a 0.4 mm model with a green barrel. In fact, they have many drafting pencils in the 0.4 mm size, but none are sold by Pentel of America. Dicks.

Remember when I dogged on thin lead mechanical pencils somewhere on this site and criticized the “little plastic jiggy-jogs all over thier wimpish forms”? This is the pencil I had in mind when I wrote that. Early pentel thin lead pencils were nice. This early Graph Pencil for example has a fairly nice clean design with an elegantly tapering barrel, and a very nice pushbutton assembly. Even some newer models such as the Pentel Graph 1000 have a nice elemental form. The P200 series pencils on the other hand are a train wreck. If the apparently detachable clip is detached, a misshappen groove molded into the plastic barrel is revealed. This probably goes unnoticed by many engineers who for some reason always need to keep their pencils in a shirt pocket as the wander around “the plant,” but to those of us who keep our pencils at a drawing board, it’s a deal breaker. At some point probably in the 1980s, Pentel reworked their identity and began using the Pentel logo we still see today. I speculate that in order to incorporate the logo into the P200 and later versions of the Graph Pencil, they added a rectangular chunk of metal to the inside of the mold with the new logo on it and left it at that. The result is a very weird indentation with the Pentel name 2/3 of the way down the barrel, just before the grip. For me this gives the pencil an unacceptably asymmetrical and ambiguous feel. Further pointward, we find the grip area which has been engineered with precisely the geometry to repel human hands. The P200 grip is to fingers what Teflon is to eggs. As if to make up for this, at the base of the grip, just before the nosepeice, is a little bulge. Functionally, I suppose this could be rationalized as a kind of warning strip alerting the fingers (which have no choice but to slide down the un-grippable grip) that they are getting dangerously close to the point. Aesthetically, this bulge together with the logo canyon negates any chance of seeing the barrel as a pleasant and simple extruded form.

In the Pentel P200’s defense, the mechanism is indistinguishable from pencils costing ten times the price. It operates just as feebly as every other thin lead mechanical pencil.

 

 

SOURCE: http://leadholder.com/lh-thin-pentel-sharp.html

Edited April 12, 2014 by Wyre

[PAKMAN]

I'd go ahead and use them myself. Not highly collectable, but very good pencils.

[Jonny.M]

Ok, I just thought that the text on the side was weird.

Thanks!

[Wyre]

They are a really solid automatic advancing pencil. Nothing really special

[mr2txaggie]

 

 

Hi,

 

I have a Pentel that I used in the early to mid-1970s. It appears to be a generation before your blue P- 207. I also

 

have one of the same vintage as the one you have, late 1970s. I haven't a catalog, just working knowledge.

 

aggie

[mr2txaggie]

Double post.

 

aggie

Edited April 12, 2014 by mr2txaggie

[Jonny.M]

Thanks!!

So are they worth anything?

At least the 3 dollars that I paid :-D

[FarmBoy]

Use them. They will be worth what you paid once you do.

[discopig]

The Pentel P200 series are great pencils that will last you a long time.

[Wahl]

I have 9 mechanical pencils on my desk, Rotring, Staedtler, Faber Castell, Criterium, Wearever, Autopiont,

 

The Pentel P205 is my favorite.

[pagama]

The blue Pentel sell here in Aust for $19.00 new. So you got a bargin if its mint. Ok to write with but I prefer my Staedtler Mars 0.5 & 0.9 for all my drafting work, when I'm not using Inventor of course.

[Black Spot]

I have a that Pentel in a sort of yellow mustard color.

Its a good pen for just carrying about.

[pagama]

Pentel do 4 mechanical drafting pencils still currently sold and produced:

0.3mm in Brown

0.5mm in Black

0.7mm in Blue and

0.9mm in Mustard

[pagama]

Pentel do 4 mechanical drafting pencils still currently sold and produced:

0.3mm in Brown

0.5mm in Black

0.7mm in Blue and

0.9mm in Mustard

[nimrodd]

The P207 you have was manufactured from about 1975 to the late 70's (not sure of exact date). It is what I call a 3rd generation body.

 

I have been collecting information on the P200 Sharp family of pencils and started a blog about these pencils at https://nimrodd.net if anybody is interested.

[torstar]

They are a really solid automatic advancing pencil. Nothing really special

 

Can't retire on resale value.

[bearcat1]

Ordinary Pentel, use it.

[Algester]

http://www.pentel.co.jp/products/automaticpencils/kirarisharppencil/

heres the only remaining P200 pencils that Pentel makes for the local market

[bayindirh]

Pentel P200 series are extraordinary pencils. They may be cheap, may not be the most beautiful, but you can use them for very very long time (tens of years). They are durable, comfortable, precise and reliable. Just use and enjoy it.