Datation of Japanese Pens. III. Pilot’s Pen Bodies

On part II of this series of Chronicles, I explained the well known date code present on most nibs made by Pilot. That is, more often than not, the most solid piece of information available on any Pilot pen. But at times there is something else. Between 1960 and some time after 1980 Pilot also dated most of its pen bodies, and did this in a very detailed form.

On most –but not on all— Pilot pens from those twenty-something years there exist a subtle engraving on their barrel in the form

ABcc

The exceptions to this general rule are all-metal bodies and richly decorated barrels.

The push buttons of two Capless pens from 1965 (C-100RW). On them we can read the dating codes: GJ13 for the one on the left, and GF15 for that on the right. (Click on the picture for an enlarged view)

On that code, A is a letter ranging from A to Z. This encodes the production year starting in 1960 (letter A), and increasing on alphabetical order: B for 1961, C for 1962… And Z should be 1985. However, this code disappeared in actual terms around 1980 (and I would love to be proven wrong on this).

B is another letter and encodes two data: Letters from A to L represent the months from January to December when the pen had been made at the Hiratsuka plant. And M to X do the same –M for January, N for February… X for December— on pens made at the Tokyo plant in Shimura.

Finally, the digits cc simply indicated the day of the month in which that pen had been made.

The tail of the Capless model from 1963 (C-600MW). It was manufactured at the Hiratsuka plant on May 28th, 1964.

In summary, the ABcc engraving should be read as follows:

A is the year of production: A=1960, B=1961, and so on.

B is the month and place of production:

A to L are January to December at Hiratsuka plant.

M to X are January to December at Tokyo plant.

cc is the day of the month in which the pen was made.

Indeed an exhaustive way to date each pen—down to the very day it was produced. Although limited to about twenty years of the history of Pilot.

This picture corresponds to a pocket pen whose body was manufactured at Hiratsuka on July 25th, 1976.

My thanks to Mr. Sunami.

Pilot Grandee, Sterling Silver – Platinum Black

Bruno Taut
Yokohama, September 11th, 2013
etiquetas: Pilot

Tokyo Olympics

The XVIII Olympic Games in Tokyo in 1964 are usually associated, pen wise, to the release of the first Capless model (C-600MW) by Pilot. In fact, there are some ads associating the pen to the sport event. However, I know of no Capless pen with any obvious reference to the Games, but there are some other pens that did celebrate the event.

The Tokyo Olympics poster made by Pilot to announce the first Capless.

The first Pilot Capless, C-600MW, from 1963.

On the picture we can see an E model, predecessor of the first Elite pens and evolution of the earler Super line of pens from the 1950s. In fact, many E Pilot still carried the inscription “PILOT / SUPER 200” on their barrels. But the looks of these pens departed clearly from the old Super models by using of straighter lines –both on the pen ends and on the clip— on the overall design. Two different filling systems were implemented on these pens—the hose system (often known as quarter switch) and ink cartridges, albeit with the caveat of two different types of these. Both the double spare type, long gone, and the single spare cartridge still on production were available on the E model.

This Pilot E does not show the E indication, though. Instead, it sports a sign saying “TOKYO 1964” together with the Japanese flag in between. The filling mechanism is the hose system, and the nail-shaped nib is made of 14 K gold with a manifold point.

These are the dimensions of the pen:
Length closed: 141 mm
Length open: 121 mm
Length posted: 144 mm
Diameter: 12 mm
Weight: 14.5 g (dry)
Ink deposit: 1.0 ml

This particular unit was made at the Hiratsuka plant on September of 1964. The Tokyo Olympics were celebrated between the 10th and the 24th of October.

Pilot Prera – Platinum Black

Bruno Taut
Yokohama, September 10th, 2013
etiquetas: Pilot, Tokyo

Datation of Japanese Pens. II. Pilot Nibs

This is the easy and well known part—the date code present on most Pilot nibs along its whole history.

The basic structure of this code is as follows:

xMMYY

On it, x is a letter; often omitted, especially on old pens. But when present, the options and meanings are as follows:
T: manufactured at the Tokyo plant (in Shimura, Itabashi).
H: manufactured at the Hiratsuka plant in Kanagawa prefecture.
A, a: production line A at the Hiratsuka plant.
B, b: production line B at the Hiratsuka plant.
F: manufactured at overseas plants (India, Burma...).

The nib of a Pilot Justus, original model, dated in Hiratsuka (production line A) on December of 1993.

Those in Shimura (JIS code 3249) and in Hiratsuka (JIS code 3248) have been the two traditional Pilot plants in Japan. However, Pilot had some other plants overseas: Brazil, India, Burma, Thailand. Nibs made on those might carry the label F --foreign-- stamped.

MM are one or two digits to show the month of the year YY, vid infra, in which the nib was produced.

Finally, YY are the last two digits of the production year. Pilot has consistently used the Western calendar for these codes. That was not the case of other Japanese companies.

A Myu 701's and a M90's nib dates. On these cases, nib's and the pen's dates are one and the same.

Few Pilot nibs are not engraved with this code, and those are mostly inexpensive units made of steel, like the nibs of the Petit-1 and V-pen.

This code allows for a good and accurate dating of the pen—provided the nib had not been replaced. On another Chronicle I will speak about other dating codes present on some Pilot pens.

Pilot Vpen – Platinum Black

Bruno Taut
Yokohama, September 6th, 2013
etiquetas: Pilot

Datation of Japanese Pens. I. Introduction

Japanese fountain pens are, in general, easy to date precisely. Many of the pen companies have systematically engraved their nibs if some code reflecting the time in which they were struck. In some cases there is even more information.

The well-known dating code on a Pilot nib.

Here I am starting a series of texts on the dating codes of some pens. I am well aware that some of the information might be well known and available in from a number of sources. I will, nonetheless, repeat it with the aim in mind of providing a website with as much information as possible. But I also hope to offer some information that is not known.

These are the Chronicles of this series:

I. Introduction
II. Pilot Nibs
III. Pilot's Pen Bodies
IV. Platinum Nibs
V. Sailor Nibs
VI. Sailor's Pen Bodies

Twsbi Diamond 530, Kubo Kohei's music nib – Gary’s Red-black

Bruno Taut
Machida, September 3rd, 2013
etiquetas: Japón

Twsbi Naginata

Sailor, we all know by now, is focused on creating nibs, new and exciting and even experimental. But at the same time, this experimentation seems to be done at the expense of neglecting the filling system. Only two options are available—the piston of the Realo models, and the clean and aseptic cartridge-converter.

On the other side, Twsbi follows the opposite strategy. The German nibs (either Bock, JoWo or Schmidt) are good and reliable in general, but all too predictable albeit with the exception of the series of italic units. Besides, Twsbi pens are easy to maintain due to the policy of the company, eager to provide tools and information to disassemble its pens completely.

Combining both worlds is not a new idea. I already installed some Pilot and Sailor nibs in a Twsbi Diamond 530 with good results. And many other stylophiles were successful with other combinations. After all, it is only a matter of try and error. And so did I try another possibility—the Twsbi Naginata.

The chimeric pen.

I attached a Naginata Togi nib (size big, 大型) to the Twsbi Vac 700 using the feed of the Taiwanese brand. The ink demands of the rigid Naginata are not high and can easily be met. Of course, this is not the only possibility. Any large size nib by Sailor would do the trick—from the ultra fine Saibi Togi to Nagahara’s specialty nibs. The only limit is the ink flow supplied by the Twsbi feed.

The Naginata Togi nib, more in detail.

A cross-music nib in a Twsbi Vac 700.

Needless to say, I would feel a lot more comfortable if I could use the Sailor feed on this Twsbi. Or it might only be that I respect Sailor work too much… but not enough.

The paradox is that nibs and feed are harder to design that filling systems, although Twsbi has made a very fine job –not to be underappreciated— with this plunger filler. This Twsbi Naginata is a frankenpen, a chimera, but also a doable chimera. And wouldn’t it be great to have a Naginata or a specialty nib in a vacuum filler?

Twsbi Vac 700, Naginata Togi nib – Platinum Black

Bruno Taut
Yokohama, August 30th, 2013
etiquetas: Sailor, Twsbi, soluciones técnicas

23

Long time ago I spoke about the gold fever in the pen industry. The basic idea of the text was that the use of gold in nibs was justified by its good resistance to corrosion by the ink, but higher gold purity is not better. Very high gold purity, in fact, results into plastic (as opposed to elastic) deformation of the nib.

However, a number of pen manufacturers over the years have made nibs with high gold content, probably pushing the idea of jewels with a nib over that of a useful pen…

Sailor was one of those companies. In fact, the big three Japanese manufacturers competed in that area of the market in the early 1970s. In that competition Sailor made nibs of 23 K gold that are, nowadays, relatively common in the second hand market. Higher gold purity were also used by Sailor, up to 23.99 K, but they are hard to find.

A green pocket pen by Sailor.

Originally, it cost JPY 6000. This one implements a fine (細) nib.

The more-common 23 K gold nibs are mostly found in pocket pens, like the one on show today, although they were also implemented in other models, including some with maki-e decoration.

These pens were upscale models with a number of luxurious features:
-- The nib is larger than usual. Other Sailor pocket pens implemented basically the same nib, but smaller in size and poorer in gold content.

On top, the pocket pen with the 23 K gold nib. Its diameter is 14 mm, and it weight, dry, 18 g. On bottom, a much more common unit with a 21 k gold nib. Its girth is 11 mm, and its weight, 11 g. Note the absence of decoration on the section in the later.

-- This bigger nib makes the whole pen thicker in diameter and more substantial on the hand.
-- Finally, the decorative damascene on the section was reserved for more luxurious models.

As is often the case with Sailor pocket pens, this model can only be inked with Sailor-proprietary cartridges. In this model, not even modified converters could be used.

This pen can only be inked with Sailor cartridges.

The original price, as can be seen on the sticker, was JPY 6000. That was around 1973. These are its dimensions:
Length closed: 118 mm
Length open: 103 mm
Length posted: 149 mm
Diameter: 14 mm
Weight: 18.0 g (dry)
Ink deposit: 1.2 ml (cartridge)

The battle over gold content of nibs ended up by mid 1970s, but during those years a number of makers marketed pens with 22 and 23 K gold nibs. I will cover some of those on future Chronicles.

Pelikan 400NN (Merz & Krell) – Platinum Black

Bruno Taut
Chuo (Tokyo), August 27th, 2013
etiquetas: Sailor, Japón, mercado

Custom Grandee, Music Nib (1978)

What are the key characteristics of Japanese fountain pens in the 1980s? On the previous decade, we had seen the glorification of the pocket pen invented in the 1960s and the birth of some model that became iconic after the years: Pilot’s Myu. With regard to filling systems, everything had turned to easy, clean and inexpensive cartridges and converters, save for the very few exceptions still using the old Japanese eyedropper system.

Platinum launched the initial 3776 model, designed by Haruo Umeda, in 1978. Sailor was already using 21 K gold on nail-shaped nibs that would last for many a decade longer. And Pilot was in the transition between the old nail-shaped nibs and new geometries, while keeping the inlaid nibs of some Elite and Custom pens. And then, the new Custom and the Custom Grandee models became the workhorses of the company in 1978. This later model was exported to some markets overseas.

A Pilot ad from 1978 showing the Custom Grandee together with the Murex.

Another advertisement of the Custom Grandee (1978). It shows the seven available nib points. Picture taken from Lambrou and Sunami's Fountain Pens of Japan (2012. ISBN: 978-0-9571230-0).

The Custom Grandee line of pens was composed by seven different nib points, including a three-tine music nib. And this is the example on display today. This pen was a cartridge-converter pen, equipped with a 14 K gold nib, a snap-on cap, and a flat-top shape. The original price was JPY 7000.

This three-tine nib is slightly –but clearly— flexible and has quite sharp edges, thus becoming almost a cursive pen. It provides a remarkable line variation.

Written sample done with the pen on review, and an iron-gall ink made by Gary.

The very flat point of this three-tine nib.

These are its dimensions:
Length closed: 137 mm
Length open: 122 mm
Length posted: 150 mm
Diameter: 13 mm
Weight: 19 g (with inked CON-50 converter)
Ink deposit: 0.9 ml (cartridge), 0.8 ml (CON-20), 0.6-0.7 ml (CON-50)

The nib is simply decorated. Note the chipped ring on the section.

This model has a weak point. The ring on the section is metal plated, but the quality of the plating is very poor and easily chips off. It is in fact very difficult to find a unit with this ring in good condition. The music nib, though, is well-worth this cosmetic inconvenient. Later music nibs, like those in the current models Custom 74 and Custom 742, are a lot rounder on their edges and do not offer the line variation of this Custom Grandee.

The nib of this unit is dated as having been made at Hiratsuka factory (Kanagawa prefecture) on November 1982.

Platinum Century, music nib – Platinum Pigment Blue

Bruno Taut
Shinjuku, August 12th 2013
labels: Pilot, plumín, plumín musical