Sapporo Green

One of the current strategies of the Sailor Pen Company is the production of "original" pens and inks. These pens and inks are unique and exclusive for that particular shop, who ordered them. The reasons for those shops to order these unique goods are easy to understand--they have something new and unique to offer to their customers and that differentiates them from the rest of retailers. This proliferation of unique pens and inks, allow me to add, was one of the key elements of the success of the Tokyo International Pen Show and of the Inkunuma Fair in the last months.

In comparison, the other two big pen companies in Japan are very shy--they barely offer any original pen for other companies. They ocasionally do --Platinum Izumo for Kingdom Note and Pilot Custom 845 for Asahiya Kami Bungu and Nagasawa are some examples--, but just not that often.

One of these rare examples is the following Pilot Custom 74 Sapporo Green in transluscent green.

Pilot made it in 2018 for the stationer Miyoshi-ya, in Sapporo, on the ocasion of the 60th anniversary of this company. 100 unnumbered units were released with three different nib points--F, M and B.

The pen carries a special engraving on the cap ring -"MIYOSHI 60th"- instead of the regular "PILOT CUSTOM 74". The nib -the usual size 5 in 14 K gold- is also personalized with the figure of a squirrel by a laser.

The price, as is often the case of these original pens, is more expensive that the regular model: JPY 20000 vs JPY 10000 (that became JPY 12000 earlier this year).

This transluscent green Custom 74 is an attractive pen although it does not offer anything new over the regular model. But collectors strive for the rarity and 100 units are a powerful argument.

Opus 88 Koloro – De Atramentis Beethoven

Bruno Taut
Shinjuku, October 30th, 2019
etiquetas: Pilot, mercado, Miyoshi