Platinum Hayakawa Mechanical Pencil M-10000B

Platinum Hayakawa M-10000B Mechanical Pencil

You may have read of my recent escapade with the pencil sirens. Well I escaped from beneath their heel with my Mechanica bounty, but my mechanical pencil odyssey wasn’t over. I soon foundered on the fabled Isles of Bundoki where no sooner had I stumbled ashore than I fell easy prey to the charms and delights of a new set of exotic sirens.

I am sure that many of you will be familiar with the story of Tokuji Hayakawa, the founder of the leading electronics company Sharp Corporation, and father of the mechanical pencil industry in Japan. His success can be measured by the fact that in Japan, the name for a mechanical pencil is, a ‘sharp’. Sharp Corporation are no longer involved in the mechanical pencil industry, but Platinum Pen of Japan recently created a tribute pencil to Tokuji Hayakawa. I first read of this pencil on Pencil Talk, and in my siren trance, with it there staring me in the face, I could resist no longer. Now, Platinum’s original tribute pencil was a limited edition (M-10000A?) as shown on Pencil Talk, whereas mine is the follow up M-10000B limited edition - 10,000 pieces at JPY 10,000 recommended retail price. I have read there is a companion ballpoint pen, and that the 10,000 pieces is the combined total of mechanical pencil and ballpoint pens.

There is a metallic finish cardboard outer which protects the simple but impressive wooden display case. The wooden case is uncoated, but sanded smooth. The two halves fit tightly together.

Instructions – it’s all Greek to me - but at least I can read the pictures.

Sterling silver plated brass body. The body is decorated with a chevron type pattern. A modern repetition of an old style.

It feels fairly substantial in the hand - the chevrons and lines encourage your fingers to move around. Exploring, as it were.

Decorated capital on the head of the column.

The 0.5mm lead is advanced by a standard twist top ratchet mechanism. You twist the top cap to activate. A new twist on an old idea? Eraser beneath the top cap. Lead magazine beneath the eraser.

These old style pocket clips are never my favourite, but at least this one maintains some staunch square dignity rather than being pathetically spatulate.

The only markings on the pencil are “P Platinum Japan 0.5”

Now Helen might have been the face that launched a thousand ships, but on my package full of Bundoki treasure there was a good old fashioned ink-stamp, the stamp that launched a…debate with a sockpuppet? It was good to see the stamp in real life.

Some other bounty, treasure, flotsam and jetsam from the Isles of Bundoki and Pencils.jp.

Well, I think my odyssey is finally over. It’s going to take me (and my pencil budget) quite some time to recover from it all. I’m just glad it didn’t finish with me waking up on the floor, looking in the mirror and seeing something like this tattooed on my forehead.