¥350

Despite being mostly unknown outside Japan, SSS pens was one of the leading manufacturing companies in Japan before the Second World War. “The only perfect pen in the Orient”, such was its motto, stopped its production in the 1950s.


Nowadays, SSS pens are relatively easy to find in the second hand market in Japan. They are not regarded as high quality, and their prices are affordable.


The pen I am showing here is a small one. It implements a size 1 nib made of steel and is gold plated. Its most interesting feature is the filling system—a blow filer. The pen tail unscrews from the barrel to allow access to the top part of a rubber sac. Inside it, a snorkel eases a more efficient filling.


The pen combines plastic and metal as the construction materials. It is well made and does not look cheap. Its price, the sticker says, was JPY 350. My estimation is that this pen was made after the War, in the late 1940s or early 1950s.

The size 1 nib made of steel. The inscription reads "S. S. S. / RUSTLESSPEN / IRIDIUM / POINTED / -<1>-".

These are its dimensions:
Diameter: 9 mm.
Length closed: 124 mm.
Length open: 108 mm.
Length posted: 143 mm.
Weight (dry): 8.4 g

(Muji aluminum pen – Diamine Teal)

Bruno Taut
March 7, 2012
[labels: SSS, soluciones técnicas]