04 January 2014

Universal (Japan)

Music nibs are rare finds in the wild, save for the obvious exception of those currently on production. From a purely statistical consideration, those we could find should mostly belong to those made by any of the big companies. But it is also known that minor companies also manufactured three-tined music nibs.

But nobody seemed to know anything about a pen brand called Universal. It seems, in fact, to be a very normal pen, boring and uneventful… until open.


The pen barrel in engraved with the company logo and the brand name: "UNIVERSAL".

Then, the nib this pen sported made the difference. It is a three-tined music nib made of steel. It is not, though, a refined product. It implements a big iridium point underneath that does not seem very finely cut. The filling system is aerometric.


These are the dimensions of the pen:
  • Length closed: 134 mm
  • Length open: 114 mm
  • Length posted: 145 mm
  • Diameter: 11 mm
  • Weight: 11.6 g (dry)


The nib shows the company logo plus the word "Iridosmin".

The pen logo, a World globe with some additional decoration to its sides, resembles that of Platinum before 1969. However, there are no records showing Platinum using the name Universal for its pens.

In the West, a similar logo and the name Universal belong to an Italian company founded in 1956 in Torino. This company sells its products under brand names Carioca and Corvina, but no fountain pens seem to have been ever made by it. So, the questions about the Japanese brand Universal remain unanswered.

My thanks to Mr. Shimizu.


Pilot jumbo with Tsugaru-nuri maki-e decoration – Pilot Blue

Bruno Taut
Machida, January 4th, 2014
etiquetas: Universal (Japón), plumín, plumín musical, Platinum, Universal (Italia)

3 comments:

Kakinoki James said...

I just got one of these. Music nib, aerometric filling system, plastic body that looks kind of like Tiger's Eye stone, but missing the cap.

Kakinoki James said...

Edit: Thanks to your post, I was able to see the cap was on another pen that came in the same group. So this pen DOES have a cap. Let me know if you'd like me to post a link to photos of it.

Bruno Taut said...

Congrats! I was wondering what to say re your capless pen, and how to make use of that nib. Now all is well.

I would indeed love to see some pics of your pen. Feel free to contact me by email.

Thanks for passing by and commenting.

BT

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