Empress

Only a few of the pen companies that ever existed made it through the years to gain some name and to be known today. And those pens are relatively easy to document, although some particular model or some secondary brand might pose some problems. Things, then, become a lot more difficult for all those minor companies that do not show up in any book or website.

The following pen is an interesting example. It is a rare piston filler with a semi-flexible gold nib. The barrel is engraved with a very simple inscription: “EMPRESS / MADE IN JAPAN”. Its structure reminds of classical German pens—a black torpedo, a piston, and a semi-flex nib. Very few Japanese pens, actually, have used this filling system despite the popularity of German pens—the Platinum pens for the 70th anniversary of the company (1989), the two Sailor Realo models (2006 and 2009), and the Pilot Custom Heritage 92 (2010).

The nib is signed as Warranted, plus an “H” at the base of it. Indeed, not enough to identify the pen.

But this pen also carries an aftermarket engraving on the barrel— 三周年記念大東産業, 3rd Anniversary of Daito Industries. And this company was founded in 1978 in Togane, Chiba, and is still active today. Therefore, this pen was in the market in the early 1980s.

The dating inscription.

I should admit that upon seeing this pen I thought it was older.

These are the dimensions on the pen:

• Length closed: 126 mm
• Length open: 110 mm
• Length posted: 141 mm
• Diameter: 13 mm
• Weight (dry): 19.4 g
• Ink capacity: 1.0 ml

Pilot Short – Pilot Blue

Bruno Taut
Machida, March 19th, 2013
etiquetas: Empress