Sakai's #3

On the previous text I spoke about a couple of Pilot prototypes made by Sakai Eisuke in the early 1980s. These pens are urushi-coated balance units with Japanese eyedropper filling system.

The bigger of them implements a well-known size 10 nib, and I will go back to it on another text. Today I want to speak about the other pen, that with a size 3 nib: about what it is and about what it is not.

And this size 3 nib is not a modern size 3 nib. This nib size, not very popular, is implemented in current models Grance, and in discontinued Legance 89s, Legno 89s and Stella 90s.

The obviously different size 3 nibs. The Sakai's pen on top; a Stella 90 on bottom.

On the contrary, this nib is much closer, but not identical, to those made in the 1920s and 1930s. Its engraving, actually, follows the pattern seen on Pilot pens from the early 1920s.

The nib on the right belongs to the 1980s Sakai Eisuke pen. The other three nibs belong to late 1920s Pilot pens.

Exceptional size 8 Pilot nib from early 1920s. It belongs to a hoshiawase pen. Photo courtesy of Mr. Syrigonakis.

Then, where does this prototype nib come from? Is it an old nib that came in handy for the occasion? A newly crafted unit for the pen, either by Pilot or by some friend of Mr. Sakai's?

Hard to say as there's hardly any information on these singular pens. And when there is nothing we still have the pen...

Opus 88 Koloro – Caran d'Ache Electric Orange

Bruno Taut
March 18th, 2024
etiquetas: Sakai Eisuke, Pilot, plumín