Wagner 2015

The Platinum 3776 Century is the current best selling fountain pen in Japan. It is, by now, a well known product even outside of Japan—a balance model made of plastic, cartridge-converter filling system, 14 K gold nib. All these characteristics are common among the direct competitors: Pilot Custom 74 and Sailor Profit (1911) Junior.

Platinum 3776 Century.

Pilot Custom 74.

Sailor Profit (1911 in some markets) in size Junior. The nib on display is not the original.

This success, though, might have come with a curse. Platinum has hardly introduced any new model recently, and its marketing strategy seems limited to making small variations of the success model. And there is more…

Platinum 3776 Century of the Fuji lakes series. In particular, this is the model dedicated to lake Shoji.

Platinum, as many other brands, is open to taking orders for personalized products. The Wagner Pen Club, in Japan, contacted Platinum in 2015 for the creation of the pen to commemorate its 10th anniversary.

The commemorative pen of the 10 years of the Wagner Pen Club.

The result was a 3776 Century in transparent green plastic. However, there is nothing on the pen revealing this otherwise obvious origin. All the inscriptions on it have changed. On the cap-ring it just says “WAGNER 10th”. On the nib, “2015 / WAGNER / 10th / Anniversary”.

The inscription on the cap-ring reads "WAGNER 10th".

The nib also carries its specific decoration. The inscription says “2015 / WAGNER / 10th / Anniversary”.

There were two possibilities for the nib: a music nib –115 units— and a soft fine –130 units. They were numbered separately.

These pens are numbered. There are 115 with music nibs, and 130 with soft fine nibs.

So, all in all these pens are somewhat different from any of the variations of the 3776 Century… but it is still a 3776 Century.

Two 3776 Century, after all.

My thanks to Mr. Shimizu.

Platinum 3776 Century, Wagner 10th anniversary – unknown ink

Bruno Taut
Shinjuku and Nakano, September 2016
etiquetas: mercado, Japón, Platinum, plumín musical

Madrid News

The life of brick and mortar shops is hazardous these times. In the last months, the Madrid pen scene has seen a couple of significant changes.

The first was the disappearance of a very traditional shop, Jomar, in the Barrio de Salamanca area of town.

On the other hand, Papelería Debod has become very active in the area of fountain pens. Interestingly enough, this shop is selling Twsbi products in Spain. Papelería Debod is located near Plaza de España, in front of the Egyptian temple of Debod:

Papelería Debod
http://www.papeleriadebod.es
Ferraz 24
28008 Madrid
Tel: 915 591 049

These changes remind us some of the big questions in the pen business today: Is the fountain pen market profitable? Are traditional shops a viable business model in the world of Internet and online shopping? I do not have any real answer, but I tend to be pessimistic.

These two changes in the Madrid pen scene will soon be reflected on the page dedicated to this city in this blog.

Pilot desk pen DPN-200 – Private Reserve American Blue

Bruno Taut
Nakano, August 29, 2016
labels: Madrid, mercado

Fetishisms

To speak about fetishism in the world of fountain pens is essentially redundant. Collecting is a form of fetishism—to favor the tool for itself instead of for the work it does or for its actual performance. Now, fetishism can go a lot farther…

As of lately, and these Chronicles might share part of the responsibility for that, some “craftsman” pens, made with old technology and in low production batches have gained some name among stylophiles. Brands like Eboya (formerly Nebotek), Hakase, Ohashido, StyloArt Karuizawa, fit in this category nowadays. But some time ago there was another master who by now holds a quasi-mythical dimension—Sakai Eisuke (酒井栄助) the leading figure behind Ban-ei pens and creator of the prototype of modern Pilot-Namiki with size 50 nibs.

Three pens made by Sakai Eisuke.

Sakai Eisuke was a master of the rokuro, the traditional pedal-operated Japanese lathe, and here I am showing one of the rokuro he used. Now, it belongs to Nikko Ebonite, and is, in actual terms, one of the two traditional lathes in service to make Eboya pens.

Ex-Sakai Eisuke rokuro.

Does this detail add any value to the pens made with it? Most likely not, but that depends on your personal obsessions re fountain pens. I, for one, was very happy to see and even touch a tool used by a great master.

The current location of the old rokuro: the building of Nikko Ebonite.

My thanks to Mr. Noritoshi Kanesaki

Oaso “Safari” – Diamine Graphite

Bruno Taut
Nakano, August 1st, 2016
etiquetas: estilofilia, Eboya, Pilot, Sakai Eisuke