Uni MX-1052

Does this geometry look familiar?

Yes!

It is the mascot and backbone of Pencilosophy!

The Uni MX-1052 holds a special place in my heart as it is the first pencil that spurred my collection. The structural/industrial silhouette and neutral colorways caught my attention initially while the build quality, weight, and writing feel inspired me to not only to keep searching for more, but to broaden my collection into other brands and styles of pencil.

The "X" in MX-1052 represents lead size, and will change from M3-1052 for 0.3mm lead to M4-1052 for 0.4mm lead, and so on. From my understanding, the pencil was made is 0.3, 0.4, and 0.5mm lead sizes. In all of my searching I have not seen any sizes bigger than 0.5mm for sale, although as a vintage drafting pencil from the 80s it is likely that 0.7mm and 0.9mm versions were produced to complete the set. I have seen body colors in black, grey, maroon, and navy (black most common, then gray, then maroon/ navy are extremely rare). It is my understanding that this pencil was only manufactured in Japan.

The most common version you will come across is the black body/0.3mm lead size. Often on eBay or Yahoo auctions, these versions sell anywhere from $35-60 dollars depending on seller and wear on the body.

The knurling and grip O-rings are not bothersome on your finger knuckles but offer the right amount of abrasion for a solid grip.

As you might have noticed, the pictures shown above show much more wear than any of the previous pictures. This is because I have at least 3 of the black body/0.3mm combo. First purchase was simply to add to the collection, and the next two were part of bigger bundles and I gladly accepting adding another to the collection. This one in particular was part of a Japanese drafting set and showed some serious use, so it has become my designated homework pencil. I've added some wear to the grip, but most of the patina was there before it was in my possession.

The silhouette carried over into the ball-point pen market as well. Instead of "MX as the suffix, the ball point pen holds "SS". I am unsure of what it could stand for.