Scripto Classic mechanical pencils

Curious about these pencils (borrowed pic)



They haven't been made for years. Can someone give me an idea when they first came out? My dad's recollection is fuzzy; says he had several way back and thinks they may go as far back as the late 1950s. Thanks...

 

Here's a link to a Scripto history page.
http://www.roger-russell.com/scripto2.htm#earlier

 

Arriving this week. I look forward to getting them back in shape. Top blue will be a challenge

 

Received yesterday. All of them needed a basic polishing and slight lube at the turn fitting, while a few required more sanding attention to the nickel finish on clip, tip, and ferrule. The upper blue one was completely locked up and is still soaking in an lube bath. I suspect it's rusted solid inside and is a lost cause.

Colors of the styrene are still quite bright despite the start of stress cracks and crazing on a few, but red, yellow, and green now look like new (I also have a smoke gray one not pictured). A coat of clear gloss is planned.

The red's is the only eraser not rock hard. I'm scratching my head on workarounds for the others as the erasers are an odd size.

These take 1.1 mm lead, which is satisfyingly chunky to write with but these have their original harder, paler grade of graphite. Some softer, darker leads are inbound.

The smooth turnscrew mechanism feels refined compared with the click mechanism seen everywhere today, but I guess it was more expensive and labor intensive to make than the clicker. It's nice to be able to choose the exact amount of lead you want sticking out of the end.

Anyway, the Scripto Classic is a fine piece of bygone writing history that you should snag if you ever come across any. Not sure yet if it will replace my 0.7 mm all-steel Zebra...but the relative near weightlessness, cheerful hues, and retro charm of the Scriptos are as big plus in their favor. Thanks for reading.

 

I got one of those in '63 and used it through '67 when I entered the Army. I loved that pencil. It was blue. I went through a number of erasers though.

 

I will end up with an extra blue if you'd like to relive old times. Not the rusty one, it's junked.

 

I would love to relive the old days.

 

I'll PM you when I get them all fully prepped this weekend.

 

That's great, thanks.

 

Happy to see this thread. I've gotten into restoring old Esterbrook fountain pens which led to ancient dip pens, and then vintage pencils. All of this led to writing and sending family members letters, which in turn caused three grandchildren to want a pen like Pa.

 

The colorful Esterbrooks always been my favorite looking fountain pen.

 

And they're still pretty easy to find! (The interchangeable nibs are cool too, tho some of them can be expensive.)

 

I have restored near 20 Esterbrook FP pens from early 1930's through mid 1950's. Wonderful pens. Here are some resources.
http://www.esterbrook.net/index.shtml
https://theesterbrookproject.com/INDEX.html

 

I remember these i got my first ones when i was in grade school in the 90s loved them untell i couldn't find the lead for them.

 

1.1 is available pretty cheaply... I'm just not sure if it's all old stock or current production. If it's current, I've never seen a new pencil that takes that size. Some come in 0.9, then jumps up to 1.3.

 

The easiest eraser hack I could come up with is to pull off a regular wood pencil's eraser, ferrule and all, and trim that ferrule to half its length. It then fits pretty snug inside the Scripto's ferrule and erases fine.

 

Thanks I'll remember that if i come across one again

 

At work. Red lead comes in handy.

 

I just got this nice Classic Scripto from @gorgo2. It looks and feels great. Thank you, my friend.

 

Speaking of mechanical pencils, I got this one to go with a 1942 Parker 51.