Inventive packing! (my new Jinhao 992)

Unpacking my brand-new ivory white Jinhao 992 fountain pen, an eBay purchase that arrived from China earlier this week:

At first glance, I thought the seller had sent the pen in a box, but it felt like styrofoam...

...and it was styrofoam! Removing the packing tape from the styrofoam left a bit of a mess...

...but it was worth it, to find out that the pen was safely nestled inside! (clever, huh?)

Photo below: At first I thought the pen (essentially, a clone of the Sailor ProColor 500) had a defect in its plastic, but it turns out that this little 'bump' on the barrel end is a feature of the Sailor Procolor 500 model, as well!

I own an original Sailor Procolor 500 (one of Sailor Procolor 500 Shikisai's---"Four Seasons"---series) which I love--it's in the last photo in this old post ---but this Jinhao is a great value at $4.49 USD (shipped!), if you're looking for an attractive, inexpensive pen.

Please note: I have heard of some cracking issues with some of the clear Jinhao 992 pens (at the barrel end) so I opted to buy a solid-colour model. I don't know if the solid colours are less prone to cracking during the manufacturing process or not, but my ivory white pen doesn't have any cracks that I can detect. 

Adding a couple of photos (almost 5 years later lol)...

I just got a request for a photo of the Jinhao 992 next to a Sailor ProColor 500 from a reader today (June 5, 2022) so here they are----the Sailor is my 'Procolor 500' in the lovely Shikisai (Four Seasons) Hoshikuzu (Stardust) material

 The Jinhao is a bit thicker than the Sailor, but they are the same length--capped and posted --and look very similar. I'm glad I got that photo request because I just realized I'd never posted a photo of the Jinhao outside of its packaging---whoops!
Cheers,
~Maja