Sakai Eisuke and Pilot

The good name of the brand Namiki in the West is rooted in the maki-e and urushi decorated pens of the 1920s and 1930s marketed in England under the name Dunhill-Namiki. They have become mythical pens and their prices in the market are equally unreachable for most stylophiles.

The war in Asia –as Japanese call the initial stages of the Japanese colonial expansion in the 1930s—put an end to those luxury goods and the presence of Japanese pens in the West was severely limited for a number of years. We know now that Platinum exported fountain pens under brand names as 555 and President and that Pilot exported Capless pens to US as early as in 1966, but their actual importance in those foreign markets were never big.

A Danitrio-commissioned Ban-ei pen in red urushi.

By 1985, Pilot decided to recreate those old pens from the 1920s in order to activate the more profitable market of the high end pens. To do so, the company commissioned Sakai Eisuke (酒井栄助) to create a prototype of a big (jumbo) pen following the old models. Sakai Eisuke, let us remember, was the leader, and lathe master, of the four artisans behind a large number of apparently anonymous eyedropper pens made in the 1970s and 1980s. These pens are now known as Ban-ei pens.

And out of that prototype, Pilot started the production of maki-e and urushi pens ressembling those Dunhill-Namiki from the 1920s. Following we can see one such example: a vermillion (red urushi) jumbo pen with a size 50 nib. This nib has no special decoration other than the plain engraving of its characteristics: made by Pilot in 14 K gold. The filling system, needless to say, is by eyedropper with shut-off valve operated from the tail.

The Pilot-signed clip.

These are its dimensions:
Length closed: 173 mm
Length open: 158 mm
Length posted: 213 mm
Diameter: 20 mm
Weight (dry): 42.7 g

The nib is engraved with the following text: "14 KARAT GOLD / "PILOT" / REGISTERED / PATENT OFFICE / -<50>-".

The feed is also coated with red urushi.

The shut-off valve seat on the section.

Some years later, the pen was rebranded as Namiki. The nib was now made of 18 K gold, and was struck with an image of Mt. Fuji.

My thanks to Mr. Fukuyo

Pilot Vpen – Platinum Black

Bruno Taut
Shinjuku, August 12th, 2013
etiquetas: Pilot, Ban-ei, Sakai Eisuke

Three More, But Not New

It seems now that Pilot has completed its catalog of Iroshizuku inks, this big success for the Japanese company given the unanimous praising comments on blogs and fora, and despite the ridiculous princes in many a market.

Ink, pen, and paper: 21 of the 24 Iroshizuku inks ready to be tested at a department store in Tokyo.

The latest tally of these inks is 24. The first five of them -–Asa-gao, Aji-sai, Kon-peki, Tsuyu-kusa and Tsuki-yo—- were marketed on December 2007, and the latest release -—Take-sumi, Shin-kai, Ama-iro-- dates from November 2012. But, are all those all the inks marketed under this magic label? No. On January 2009 Pilot launched three new inks named “Tokyo Limited Edition”. The names, always fancy, are related to the big city:

Edo-murasaki (江戸紫), Edo purple. Obviously, a purple color.
Shimbashi-iro (新橋色), Shimbashi color. A turquoise.
Fukagawa-nezu (深川鼠), Fukagawa mouse. A greenish grey.

The brochure of the Tokyo Limited Edition of Iroshizuku inks.

They were available at some shops in Tokyo, and there might still be some available inkwells. The price was the same as the rest of the Iroshizuku inks—JPY 1500, plus tax.

Inkwell of one of the Tokyo Limted Edition inks--the Shimbashi color.

The important question, however, is a different one—now that the Iroshizuku catalog is completed, will Pilot release more limited edition colors? The ink market in Japan looks surprisingly quiet.

Sailor Ballerie pocket pen – Sailor Blue

Bruno Taut
Shinjuku, August 12th 2013
etiquetas: tinta, Pilot, mercado

Categories

Some reflections on the pen industry for today.

I can find three categories among fountain pen manufacturing companies:

1. Companies that produce all the elements by themselves. Limited to Japan, Pilot-Namiki, Platinum-Nakaya, and Sailor belong to this group.

2. The second group is formed by companies that use nib and feed made by other companies and manufacture the rest—body and filling system. Nebotek, in Japan, is a clear example of this way of working—nibs and feeds are purchased from Bock, the pen body is turned out of the in-house ebonite, and the filling systems are devised and build by themselves.

A Bock nib made of titanium in a Nebotek pen. The section is made of the in-house ebonite (Nikko Ebonite).

3. Finally, pen companies in the third group buy nibs, feeds and filling systems —mostly cartridge/converters— made by some other companies. Their creations are then limited to turning and decorating the pen body and cap. Ohashido, Hakase, Stylo-Art Karuizawa certainly belong to this category. In fact, these companies buy complete pens from the big three Japanese companies and discard barrel and cap: Ohashido uses Sailor parts; Hakase uses Sailor and Pilot’s; Stylo-Art Karuizawa, Pilot and Platinum. Nebotek´s cartridge-converter pens could also be ascribed to this third group.

Hakase pen made of ebony wood. The nib is a size 15 made by Pilot. The ink converter is the CON-70 by Pilot.

A Pilot nib signed by Hakase.

Another Hakase pen. On this case, the nib is a medium size made by Sailor. It is signed by Hakase.

It is fair to question the actual authorship of the pens of the last group—is an Ohashido pen so much more than a Sailor equipped with the same medium size nib? Are Hakase so much better than their Pilot or Sailor equivalents?

The paradox is that, more often than not, those making less (Hakase, Stylo-Art, Ohashido) sell their pens for much more than those manufacturing everything. Two reasons are often cited to justify these higher prices: One is the quality of the final nib tuning as done by the in-house nibmeisters. The second reason values the final beauty of these pens over that of the original Pilot, Platinum or Sailor. These pen-body makers often use urushi-coated ebonite, exotic woods, buffalo horns…

An Ohashido nib made by Sailor. Despite being labeled as S (soft), it is a very rigid nib.

This Ohashido pen is decorated with green lacquer. Note the Sailor ink cartridge.

To the first reason it could be argued that the nib tuning can be made by many other people for much less money. In Japan, it would only take a visit to a Wagner meeting or to a pen clinic organized by those major companies in stationery shops and department stores.

To the second point the argument is easier, but also more personal: did you buy a pen or a jewel with a nib (::1::, ::2::)? Some still remember that the wise man follows the nib instead of the pen, but that might work only for those who write with their fountain pens. And this can be said for any pen brand in a moment in which jewels with nibs are a big part of the business.

Now, the possible conclusions derived from derived from this classification are up to the reader. On my side, I just want be aware of what I buy for our money.

Some more reflections were exposed on the Chronicle "Artisanal".

P. S: Around January 2014, Nebotek pens changed its name to Eboya.

Sailor Profit, Naginata Togi nib – Pilot Blue

Bruno Taut
June-August, 2013
labels: mercado, Pilot, Platinum, Sailor, Stylo-Art Karuizawa, Nebotek, Hakase, Ohashido, Bock

Sailor's Shut-Off

The topic of the shut-off valve in Japanese pens has already been covered on these Chronicles (::1::, ::2::). This mechanism has been used for about 100 years in Japanese pens (and in some pretenders) and is known as the “Japanese eyedropper”, even though there exists eyedropper pens in Japan without this system.

Needless to say, there are many examples of this system and some have been reviewed in here. However, few of them are as illustrative as today’s pen.

This is a demonstrator version of a Sailor eyedropper. It was probably made in the early 1950s. The engraving on the barrel, reading "Sailor / fountain pens", is the same as the one seen on a bulb-filler Sailor from 1952. The nib is made of steel and does not show any JIS mark.

The incription on the nib reads as follows: "Super Point / Sailor Logo / Non Corrosion / Pen / -4-".

An interesting feature is this pen is the metallic rod operating the shut-off valve from the tail. Usual concerns about the corrosive effects of ink on metallic part might induce to think that this pen was not for sale and was intended solely as a marketing tool for Sailor’s salesmen. The pen on display does not seem to have ever been inked.

The actual shut-off mechanism, controlled by the rod attached to the tail. In this case, the rod is made of stainless steel.

These are its dimensions:
Length closed: 131 mm
Length open: 118 mm
Length posted: 162 mm
Diameter: 12 mm
Weight (dry): 17.4 g

My thanks to Mr. Sugimoto.

Sailor Profit, Naginata Togi nib – Pilot Blue

Bruno Taut
Yokohama, July 30th 2013
etiquetas: Sailor, soluciones técnicas, Japón

German Platinum

Despite the title, this is not another chapter of the mysterious story of all those Platinum pens sold in different countries under other brand names—in Greece as Joker, in Spain as Presidente, in South Africa as Hifra. Not now, not the case. This is the story of an unusual Platinum pen.

I have said several times on there Chronicles that Platinum introduced the ink cartridge in Japan in 1956 and fully endorsed the system up to nowadays. Its “Good bye, ink bottle” motto of the time did not become true as Platinum still makes inkwells, but very rare are the Platinum pens not using ink cartridges after those late 1950s. The better known case is the series of pens released on the occasion of the 70th anniversary of the company in 1989. Those form a collection of balance-shaped piston fillers made in a number of materials—celluloid, ebonite, wood--, and they seem to be hidden in the hands of collectors or in totally forgotten drawers, as they are rarely seen in the wild.

A piston filler by Platinum. Or maybe not...

There is, though, another piston-filler with the Platinum brand. And let me say that I have chosen the words carefully—this pen carries the Platinum logo but was not made by Platinum. It is, in fact, an OEM pen made by Senator, in Germany, for the Japanese manufacturer. Senator company was born in 1920 as Merz & Krell, and also uses the brand Diplomat for some of its writing products.

The Platinum Regent, uncapped.

This pen model was known as Platinum Regent, following the name of the original German—Senator Regent. Nib and clip are engraved with the Platinum brand logo and name, respectively. The nib is made of stainless steel, gold plated, and is nicely soft, almost a semi-flex.

The nib, made of stainless steel, is engraved with the Platinum logo.

The piston is manned from the tail knob, usually hidden under the blind rear cap.

The knob to operate the piston.

These are its dimensions:
Length closed: 128 mm
Length open: 119 mm
Length posted: 156 mm
Diameter: 12 mm
Weight (full): 15.9 g

This “Platinum” piston filler was sold in Japan in the late 1980s.

My thanks to Mr. Shimizu.

Platinum 3776 Century, music nib – Platinum Pigment Blue

Bruno Taut
Yokohama, July 26th 2013
etiquetas: Platinum, Senator – Merz & Krell – Diplomat

The Capless (1924)

About forty years before the first Pilot Capless had been released (1963), a small company by the name of Capless Kogyosho released an original pen with the name of “The Capless”. The owner, Shôsuke Hatano, had filed the corresponding patent on the previous year, and started the advertisement campaign claiming it was “The World’s Novel Invention”. The actual marketing of The Capless started in 1924. This was the first time ever in which that name was used.

This pen came in a variety of finishes. The one on display today is silver overlaid over an ebonite core. This was a beautiful and luxurious looking pen. However, in a pen like this, the most interesting aspect of it is lies in the internal mechanics. To release the nib, the user must first open manually a small window to allow the nib in and out of the body. Only then, the nib could be slide off by means of a lateral lever attached to the nib unit.

The pen is clearly labeled with the brand "The Capless". On the picture, the window for the nib, now closed.

The Capless with the nib released. This is a replacement nib.

But the pen also shows some sort of cap, albeit very smoothly coupled to the body. Opening it we have access to nib and feed, and to a guiding bar. Seen like this the pen strongly resembles a regular capped pen and, in fact, preserves the basic structure of such—cap, section and barrel. Only that guiding bar revealed some unusual features.

The Capless, paradoxically, uncapped.

Regarding the filling system, there were few options and the time, by the mid 1920s, and using an eyedropper was the easiest option. So, to ink this pen, the now visible section had to be unscrewed from the barrel, as shown on the picture.

The pen with the section detached from the barrel, ready to be filled with ink.

The pen shown in this Chronicles has a replacement nib. These “The Capless” are very rare pens and we couldd not be very demanding on their condition. Mr. Masamichi Sunami and Mr. Andreas Lambrou reported on this pen in their book Fountain Pens of Japan (ISBN: 978-0-9571723-0-2). Interestingly enough, it is covered in the chapter on Pilot pens.

My thanks to Mr. Sugimoto.

Pilot E-300 (1969) – Wagner 2008 ink

Bruno Taut
Yokohama and Machida, July 2013
etiquetas: soluciones técnicas, Pilot, Capless, Capless Kogyosho

Pyongyang

At the Pilot’s museum of pens Pen Station I found the following ink bottle:

GuangMyung Ink (공명잉크), from Pyongyang (평양).

Obviously Korean, but Hangul is an obscure alphabet to me despite being the most rational of them all. Some questions led to some interesting information: it was made in Pyongyang, North Korea (평양, on the bottom line of the label, on the left side). Its name, 공명잉크, transliterated, is something like GuangMyung Ink(u).

This should come as no surprise as fountain pens were the basic writing tool for many years. A supply of ink was needed in most countries either by importing or by producing it, and it is not hard to imagine Soviet and Chinese made fountain pens in North Korea during the Cold War years. But nothing can I say about the production date of this inkwell.

Platinum Belage – Platinum Pigment Blue

Bruno Taut
Yokohama, July 7th 2013
etiquetas: Corea del Norte, tinta, GuangMyung