FABER CASTELL ALPHAMATIC GOLD LIMITED EDITION FOR 230TH ANNIVERSARY (1991)
파버카스텔 230주년 한정판 알파매틱 골드 (1991)
I haven't collected Faber Castell's famous alpha-matic mechanical pencils until now, but I had no choice but to get this historic one.
It is the limited version of alpha-matic, which was made to celebrate Faber Castell's 230th anniversary in 1991.
This one is contained in a case exclusive for highend alpha-matic lines.
It is written Faber-Castell alpha.
Faber Castell's alpha-matic lines are one of the mechanical pencil lines in the world, and intensively sought after by mechanical pencil collectors.
Alpha-matic series were made after TK-matic series as a more prestigious line, and were made in 1980s to 1990s.
Even the cheapest models with plastic barrels were ¥5000.
This price range explains how much quality these mechanical pencils have.
The expensive models, the famous executive series, were estimated to be around ¥20000, although I don't know their exact prices.
This gold version was a limited version, and its original price is not known.
Surely I guess it would be much more expensive than ¥20000, considering its gold body and its symbolism.
I also don't know how many pieces were made.
1991 is not that old age, but many things are unknown about this mechanical pencil.
Alpha-matic series share the same appearance.
What differentiates them are the material, and highend models have a gold ring between the grip and the barrel.
As you can see, this one is made of metallic material with the full gold color.
I don't know what carat it has, and whether it is gold plated or made of gold.
Of course I guess it is made of 14K-18K gold plating, since pens made of purer gold would have a tremendous price.
(For example, POTY 2016 SLE plated with 24K gold, and perfect pencil "made of" white gold.)
Its gold body is more clear with the white background.
I think this makes a good companion with TK 9400 sterling silver edition.
Gold and silver always play together.
Now, let's take a close look at it.
First, what do you think of this grip?
The front part has dotted patterns, while the latter part has stripe patterns.
Pentel's graph 500 comes to my mind, and you'll find out these two have identical grips except for the lead grade indicator.
It seems that graph 500 was first released in 1982, and it's not easy to say which one is original.
Probably, both Faber Castell in Germany and Pentel in Japan came up with the same idea independently.
Another feature is that it can retract its lead sleeve.
Not every alpha-matic series doesn't have this function.
It's not seen well, but there is a gold ring between the grip and the barrel.
Furthermore, this one doesn't have its name above the ring.
There is a Faber Castell emblem on the clip.
This symbol is now familiar to us as the Graf von Faber Castell's trade mark.
The end point also has dotted patterns.
It is made in W. Germany.
Germany unified into one in 1990 October.
Although this mechanical pencil was released in 1991 to celebrate Faber Castell's 230th anniversary, it was made earlier than that.
It seems that Germany was not unified when these mechanical pencils were produced.
Nothing special in this view.
Do you know the reason it is called alpha-matic?
It's because these are automatic mechanical pencils.
As one writes, the mechanical pencil automatically replenishes the lead.
That is, the user doesn't need to knock the backside to use this mechanical pencil.
In fact, Faber Castell is the world's first automatic mechanical pencil maker.
It was first tried in DS75 mechanical pencil, and continued to this model.
The eraser has a cleaner pin.
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