Early Pilot Nibs. VIII. Size 6

Pre-war size 5 nibs by Pilot are very rare, as I have already explained. However, it is with size 6 nibs when die-hard collectors start to raise their eye-brows. This is probably due to the combined effect of size –bigger is sometimes better— and a non-extreme rarity.

I have found several examples of size 6 nibs. Only one of those presented today is attached to a pen; the rest come from a collection of nib. These are the dimensions:

Manufacturing date	.Jan 1937.	.Oct 1931.	.Undated.	.Undated.
Length (mm)	29	30	30	30
Width (mm)	6.9	7.0	7.6	7.6
Feed diameter (mm)	5.5	--	--	--
Weight (g)	0.4	0.4	0.5	0.6
Material	14 K Au	14 K Au	14 K Au	14 K Au
Notes			Oblique	Stub

Two of these nibs are not explicitly dated, but the type of the inscriptions on them allow us to think they were made in the 1930 or early 1940s.

From January of 1937.

From October of 1931.

Non dated. Note the inscription "OBL". In fact, an oblique right nib.

The same right-oblique nib of the previous picture. Detail of the nib point.

Non dated. A stub.

The point of the stub nib.

Previously on these Chronicles we have seen two other examples of this size of nibs: one belonged to a hoshiawase pen from 1924, and the other to a lever-filler in celluloid from 1942. I have not included those nibs in this list because I do not have their dimensions.

The obvious variations in the sizes of the four examples here shown are not unusual, as we had already seen on Pilot nibs of smaller sizes (see, for instance, those in size 1).

My thanks to Mr. Niikura and Mr A. Zúñiga.

Lamy Safari Aquamarine – Yard-O-Led Blue

Bruno Taut
Nakano, June 23th, 2016
etiquetas: Pilot, plumín

Colors of the Four Seasons—Again

“If it ain’t broke, do not fix it”, but this wise sentence does not seem to apply to the world of marketing. In fact, it might be right the opposite—making noise and calling for attention are often the names of the game in advertisement strategies.

Back in 2009-2010 (::1::, ::2::, ::3::), Sailor changed its line of inks. The old selection of colors, including some sorely missed ones, was discontinued in favor of four batches of limited editions—the seasonal inks. Much hype they generated, but being limited releases they were gone all too soon… to revive some years later. In 2014, as I reported on these Chronicles, Sailor reissued eight of the old sixteen seasonal inks.

The colors left behind in 2014 are now back.

And now, in June of 2016, it is the turn of the remaining eight inks:

Spring:
若鶯 - Waka-uguisu.
桜森 - Sakura-mori.

Summer:
藤娘 - Fuji-musume.
利休茶 - Rikyû-cha.

Autumn:
金木犀 - Kin-mokusei.
仲秋 - Chu-shu.

Winter:
囲炉裏 - Irori.
雪明 - Yuki-akari.

The not-so-new inks.

Some of these new inks, on display in a shop in Tokyo.

It seems that these not-so-new inks will coexist with those released in 2014. Therefore, the catalog of Jentle inks (by Sailor) will be composed, for a while, of sixteen fancy colors plus the well-known triad of black, blue-black and blue. Prices remain unaltered—JPY 1000, plus taxes.

The seasonal inks released in March of 2014.

At the time of writing this text (June 16, 2016), few shops have stocked these inks, but it is likely these inks might soon become widely available in the next few weeks. These inks hace also been announced on the last issue of the magazine Shumi-no Bungubako (趣味の文具箱, Vol 38, June 2016, page 82).

And the question previously asked remains adequate—does Sailor have any consistent policy regarding inks? It might just be a matter of making noise now and then.

Pilot Murex – Pelikan 4001 Brilliant Brown

Bruno Taut
Nakano, June 16th, 2016
etiquetas: Sailor, tinta, mercado

Hiroshi (II)

Some months ago I presented a couple of pens decorated with urushi lacquer. Those were Pilot Custom 67 decorated by maki-e artist Hiroshi (洋). At the time I did not know the actual origin of those customizations and I ventured the idea of proofs of concept. But now the facts are clearer and the whole story can be written correctly.

A couple of Pilot pens customized by Hiroshi (洋).

Asakura Yukihiro (朝倉行洋) is a maki-e craftsman from the province of Kanagawa. He worked for Pilot between 1960 and 2001, when he retired. His signature, as we have already seen, is 洋, which can be read either as Hiroshi or as Yô. Here I am showing a creation of his—a rendition of the classic motif of the goldfish. This pen was made in 1978.

A creation of Hiroshi (洋) in 1978.

Asakura’s signature appears together with the inscription “kokkôkai” (國光會), the guild of maki-e artisans working for Pilot.

Asakura's signature (Hiroshi or Yô, 洋) together with the "kokkôkai" (國光會) inscription. In red, the kaô (花押).

The nib of the pen: "18 K - 750 / PILOT / / H878 / JIS mark". The nib was made at the Hiratsuka factory in August of 1978.

The pen uses a cartridge-converter system and implements an 18 K gold nib. Its dimensions are as follows:

Length closed: 132 mm
Length open: 122 mm
Length posted: 147 mm
Diameter: 10 mm
Weight: 28.1 g
Ink deposit: 0.9 ml (cartridge) / 0.8 (converter CON-20) / 0.4 ml (converter CON-40) / 0.6 ml (converter CON-50)

But retired did not mean to stay idle, and Asakura takes commissions to decorate, at least, pens. These creations are, as before, signed as Hiroshi or Yô, 洋, but without the “kokkôkai” sign, as he is no longer part of the Pilot team of artisans.

Another pen customized by Hiroshi.

And this is the case of some pens shown on these Chronicles—commissions taken by Asakura Yukihiro performed on the well known Pilot Custom 67.

These two pens are already known to the readers of this blog.

My thanks to Mr. Fukuyo, Mr. Niikura, Mr. Sunami, and Mr. Shige.

Lamy Safari Aquamarine – Yard-O-Led Blue

Bruno Taut
Nakano, June 13th, 2016
etiquetas: Pilot, maki-e, urushi-e, urushi