P203E – Nimrodd's Blog

Over the years, Pentel has packaged their pencils in many different ways. Most everybody is familiar with the different retail packages which we have covered in past blogs:
https://nimrodd.net/2017/09/11/retail-packages-in-the-usa-part-1/
https://nimrodd.net/2017/10/15/retail-packages-in-the-usa-part-2/
https://nimrodd.net/2018/02/12/p205-gilded-collection/

This post will be about other packaging that I have encountered.

P200 for Boys & Girls

These pencils were covered in a previous blog (https://nimrodd.net/2018/03/19/p200-for-boys-girls/). The first of these pencils I received were shipped as individual pencils, and they went straight into my collection. The next set of these pencils I ordered were shipped to me in the package above. The package consists of a molded plastic base for the pencils with a plastic cover with Pentel stamped on it. It is then placed in a Pentel stamped sleeve with a light blue back board and sealed with a strong adhesive strip.

PF337 in Sleeve

I recently (June 2018) purchased this pencil in the protective sleeve. It came with an instruction sheet. This is a standard Generation 4 PF337 for Film that was manufactured between about 1978 and about 1983. The sleeve is a brown vinyl sealed to a shorter clear front. The front is stamped in gold with Pentel and Japan, with nothing on the back. The insert is a generic Pentel Drop-in Load Mechanical Pencil insert. It does not mention the P200 series specifically.

PDS-3 Professional Drafting Set

This is a set of 3 pencils (P203E, P205A & P207C) that was sold as a set under the designation PDS-3. Of the sets in this blog post, this is the only one I have seen in a Pentel catalog. I have a copy of the pencil pages from the 1980 Pentel Catalog, and this one is on page 24.

I picked this up in May 2017, but it did not have the P207C pencil with it. The P203E & P205A pencils are both Generation 4, so I wanted to replace the missing pencil with a Gen 4 P207C. The problem is, this is the one P207C that I do not have in my collection. I do not know if they had too many Generation 3 pencils, so did not make a Gen 4 or why I have never found one, so at the moment, it is still without its mate in my collection.

The vinyl pouch has a flap that covers the pencils when not in use, and it is stamped with the text:
PROFESSIONAL
DRAFTING
PENCILS
P203 P205 P207
0.3mm 0.5mm 0.7mm
ITEM NO. PDS-3
Pentel

I cannot see it in the catalog, but this also came with an insert, which I have scanned below, showing the front and back.

PS315N in case

The newest package in my collection, I have had this about 2 weeks. This is the first version of the PS315 sliding sleeve pencil (Generation 3). According to the page from the German 1975 catalog this pencil was available at that time, and was replaced by the Blue PS315C in about 1978. This pencil has a little bit of damage to the text, probably from the plastic clip holding it in the case.

This case is a hard brown plastic with a white softer plastic clip to hold the pencil in place. It comes with a clear plastic cover that has Pentel molded into the top at the pencil tip end in this picture.

Pentel Presentation Sets

I purchased both of these sets in late 2016 from a dealer in the UK. The first one I received had a PS523D (Gen 4.5), a P207C (Gen 5) and a P209G (Gen 5), along with Super Hi-Polymer HB Lead for each of the 3 sizes. The 0.3mm lead came with 12 pieces, but the 0.7mm & 0.9mm lead both came with 15 pieces. Also included is a ZEH-05 block eraser.

The second set came with a P205A, P207C & P209G, all Gen 5. The included lead for each size all had 15 pieces. Again the ZEH-05 eraser completed the set.

The bottom picture shows the closed case.

Being Generation 5 pencils, these had to have been put together starting in 1983-1984 to 1991-1993.

Generation 4

This is the earliest version of the P203 that I have been able to acquire for my collection. This pencil has the m/m in the printed text on the side, but does not have anything molded into the bottom (like a Generation 3 would). The cap still has the metal insert that keeps it from pushing the eraser down into the Inner Body.

Generation 4.5

When I was trying to buy these pencils online, I assumed they were (what I currently call) Generation 5 because of the text on the outer body. It wasn’t until I received them and found that the inner mechanisms all belong to a 4th Generation pencil.

When I was first categorizing my pencils, I called this “Generation 5” (and later generations were 1 step higher) because I had about 11 out of about 175 pencils, so I thought this was a legitimate full Generation. But I was getting frustrated, because I could not find a “Generation 5” P205A Black pencil. It wasn’t until at one point, I looked at what pencils comprised this generation and found that (at that time) only 0.3mm and 0.7mm made up this generation, and for the 0.7mm, it was only the smaller run of pencils (not P207s).

I then decided that this must be an intermediary generation to use up existing supplies. So I changed “Generations 6 and 7” to the current Generations 5 and 6, and since this is a hybrid of Generations 4 and 5, I decided to call it Generation 4.5.

Generation 6

I picked this pencil up with the label (model # & barcode) on it as my example of a Generation 6 P203. It is hard to tell in the individual pictures, but if you look at the image at the top of this post, you can see that this is a slightly darker shade of plastic that makes up the body of this pencil.

Other Generations

I don’t know when the P203E was first introduced, but I suspect it was at least as far back as Generation 2. On the cover of the German 1975 Catalog (at least that is where I believe this is from), it shows (bottom row, to the left) the 4 standard P200 pencils (at least I think that is Brown, Black, Blue and Yellow) without text on the side.

If this is the case and that is a P203E on the cover, then it was released in at least 1974 as a Generation 2 pencil. The other 4 P200 family of pencils appear to be Generation 3 with text printed on the side, so 1975 is where I assume that Generation 3 starts.

I also assume that there are Generation 5 P203s out there, but as of the date of this post, I have not found any. Each time I have tried to get one, it turns out to either be a Generation 4 (I currently have 4 of these), or a Generation 6 (as it is hard to tell in online pictures).

Hopefully in the future, I will have a more complete collection of this model of pencil and will have to update this post.

Tag: P203E

Pentel Packaging