Prototypes

Prototype pens, proofs of concept, are some of the holy grails of collecting almost anything. The reasons are clear: they are rare –very few units were indeed made-, and they were not supposed to be sold. So, rarity, the added value of any collectable, speaks loudly through prototypes.

Last week, at the annual Mitsukoshi “Fountain Pens of the World” Festival, nibmeister Nagahara Yukio was on duty fixing pens despite the very sad family news. And he had his personal pen case with him.

Nibmeister Yukio Nagahara's pen case.

Few of the pens in there were standard—one of them was the following cross nib.

An unusual cross nib.

Cross nibs, in the Nagahara tradition, are two-fold nibs based on a Naginata Togi. Over it, then, a second set of tines are welded. That is called an “over-cross” nib. This prototype is, on the contrary, an “under-cross” nib. The noble side, engraved, is a flat regular nib, and the crossing half-nib is nested between that one and the feed.

The clean-looking upper side of the "under-cross" nib. Note the two-fold tip of the nib.

The result is a cleaner looking nib, although it does not really ad that much to the well-known over-cross unit. So, this might only be a prototype... or maybe a test for a future change in the geometry of Sailor’s cross nibs. In any event, this nib shows that Sailor has ideas under development. Experiments are indeed needed, and nibmeister Nagahara Yukio is alive and well.

Clear enough--Yukio Nagahara's personal pen. But many would be happy to own such a signed experiment.

And this under-cross pen would be a most valuable possession for mostly any collector.

Pilot Ladypearl – Parker Quink Blue

Bruno Taut
Nakano ward, March 12th, 2015
etiquetas: Sailor, soluciones técnicas, evento, nibmeister Nagahara Yukio, plumín

Four New Pens

Chinkin technique consists, basically, in sprinkling some gold powder on an lacquered surface, previously carved with the pattern to be revealed after the whole process was completed. Chinkin is not considered as maki-e—chinkin is not so much painted as it is carved.

A number of pen makers offer this decorative technique on their pens, and those pens are always expensive. A case in point is the Namiki Chinkin Series—a collection of five pens with nibs in sizes 20 and 50, and pen shapes balance and vest (flat ends). Their prices range from JPY 300000 to JPY 700000.

This past January, Pilot –again under the luxury brand Namiki— has made a more affordable series of chinkin-decorated pens. These new four units are flat tops, cartridge-converters and implement size 10 nibs made of 18 K gold. In actual terms, these pens are like those of the Yukari Collection, but with a different body shape. They are not signed with any name in particular, but as made by the “kokkokai”, the guild of maki-e and chinkin craftsmen of Pilot founded by the much respected figure of Gonroku Matsuda.

The four new chinkin pens by Pilot, branded as Namiki.

This is not the signature of any artist. It just says "kokkokai", the group of maki-e and chinkin artisans working for Pilot.

The price of these new arrivals is JPY 100000, plus tax—one third of the cheaper of the older Chinkin Series sized as the Yukari Royale Collection (size 20 nibs). Affordable? Only in relative terms.

One of the pens, uncapped. The length of these pens, when capped, is about 138 mm.

In the meantime, I am writing with a very similar nib (size 10, albeit in 14 K gold) for less than one-fifth of those “affordable” and beautiful chinkin Namiki. The Custom Heritage 912 and the Custom 942 implement 14 K, size 10 nib with 15 different points—a stark contrast with the just three available points of the Namiki Chinkin shown today: F, M and B. In fact, this might simply mean that these overly decorated pen are mostly a jewel with a nib.

A newly-released Namiki Chinkin on the left, together with two other maki-e decorated pen that will be covered on another Chronicle.

Pilot Custom Heritage 912, music nib – Sailor Yama-dori

Bruno Taut
Chuo ward, February 27th, 2015
etiquetas: Pilot, maki-e, mercado, chinkin

Nagahara Nobuyoshi (1932-2015)

Nibmeister Nobuyoshi Nagahara (長原宣義) passed away yesterday in Kure. He was 82.

Nibmeister Nagahara in 2011 in Tokyo.

He will be missed. His legacy, though, is safe in the hands of his son Yukio, who spent the whole day tuning pens at the Mitsukoshi Festival of Fountain Pens.

Nibmeister Yukio Nagahara at work yesterday at the Fountain Pen Festival in Mitsukoshi Nihonbashi.

Sit tibi terra levis.

Written, of course, with a Naginata Togi nib.

Bruno Taut
Nakano, March 12th 2015
etiquetas: nibmeister Nagahara

15 points

Sometimes the blog acts as public service. But I will also add a personal consideration.

Years ago I published a text on the size 10 series of nibs by Pilot. Now, some thread in the Fountain Pen Network has made that Chronicle popular again, and I thought that a writing sample of all fifteen nib points was in order.

Writing samples of the 15 nib options of a Cutom 742 (size 10 nib). The previously unreliable falcon (FA) nib seems to work fine now.

Fifteen different nib points ready available in two different models –Custom 742 and Custom Heritage 912— make Pilot stand apart from any other brand in the pen scene today. And the once faulty “falcon” unit seem to be working fine now.

The fifteen different options for the Custom Heritage 912 on the counter of a stationery store in Tokyo. Ready for anyone to try. From left to right, EF, F, SF (soft fine), FM, SFM, M, SM, B, BB, C (coarse, sort of BBB), MS (music, three tines), PO (posting, very rigid, pointing down, extreme F line), FA (falcon, flexible, cut shoulders), WA (waverly, pointing up, F line), and SU (stub).

The world of nibs is a lot richer than the very trite triad F, M and B. But we, stylophiles, are just too few and too weak in economic terms to justify a broad variety of nib points… Save in the case of Pilot, it seems.

Pilot Custom Heritage 912 - Sailor Yama-dori

Bruno Taut
Chuo, February 27th, 2015
etiquetas: plumín, mercado, Pilot

Hina Ningyo

March 3rd is, in Japan, Girl’s Day. People celebrate it with altars –the hina ningyo, 雛人形-- showing male and female dolls –the emperor and the empress— dressed in Heian period (794-1185 aD) costumes, and, space permits, a number of attendants and musicians.

The emperors in a Japanese home.

Pen people have an alternative, money permits, according to Pilot.

The hina ningyo I would like to have.

Pilot’s luxury brand Namiki has released a pair of maki-e decorated pens –two Yukari Royale-- with maki-e decoration, made by master Wakabayashi. The price, JPY 700000 (both pens, taxes not included).

Details of the main decorative themes.

These pens, in case you cared, are cartridge-converters (Pilot proprietary) and implement 18 K gold nibs in size 20.

Sailor Profit Naginata togi – Pilot Blue

Bruno Taut
Chuo, February 27th, 2015
etiquetas: Japan, Pilot, maki-e

Storia Inks

Sailor seems very active lately in the ink department. Last year, let us remember, Sailor changed the ongoing selection of Jentle (regular, dye based) colors for a selection of eight of the previously released as limited editions in the series of seasonal inks (2009-2010). (Incidentally, some sources have reported that the actual change was merely in the names, and that the colors remained the same).

For 2015, Sailor’s strategy is based on the area of pigmented (permanent) inks.

On top of the well known Kiwaguro and Seiboku, Sailor has announced eight new pigmented inks in apparently very bright colors. Their generic name is “Storia”.

The colors of the Storia series of permanent inks are red, pink, blue, purple, yellow green, green, yellow, and light brown. The inkwells hold 30 ml of ink and will cost JPY 1500, plus tax, which makes JPY 50/ml. For comparison, Kiwaguro and Seiboku cost JPY 40/ml. (Picture taken from the 2015 Sailor Catalog).

Initially, the launching of these inks was intended for this month of March, but it has been postponed to April. However, given the number of pen events in Tokyo in March, I would not be surprised if these inks showed up, even if in limited amounts, earlier.

There might be a niche for colorful pigmented inks in the market, but I wonder how much bigger the ink market might become.

Athena Basic Line – Sailor Yama-dori

Bruno Taut
Nakano, March 1st 2015
etiquetas: tinta, Sailor, mercado

From Nebotek to Eboya

Up to about one year ago, Nebotek was –so to speak—the pen brand without name. On one hand, there was nothing on the pen that could identify its origin. nothing, well, save the nib, but this was signed as Bock. A Bock pen?

Then, on the other hand, there was a wealthy mixture of names associated to these pens. Nikko Ebonite is the name of the mother company; then there was the name Eboya for its online shop. Finally, Nebotek was the pen brand.

All this changed when around January 2014 the company decided, first, to forget about the name Nebotek; and, second, to sign the pens. These pens are now named Eboya, with the lemma “Made in Tokyo” under it, as can be seen on the photography accompanying this text.

The newly branded Eboya, previously called, but unsigned, Nebotek.

Eboya’s marketing problems do not finish here. Eboya pens lack visibility in the market, and they rely solely on their website, which is only written in Japanese. This also might be changing. To start, Eboya pens are now going to be distributed in the US –and beyond— through John Mottishaw’s website Nibs.com. In fact, the first fifteen Eboya pens have just been shipped to the US, according to Eboya nibmeister Kanesaki.

Nikko Ebonite is a small company, and Eboya pens are in essence the product of one man alone, Mr. Noritoshi Kanesaki. Their limited resources might be at the bottom of their precarious marketing, but they could do better as many other small operations in the world of fountain pens are showing.

Pilot Custom 912, music nib – Sailor Yama-dori

Bruno Taut
Nakano, February 25th, 2014
etiquetas: Eboya, Nebotek, mercado, Kanesaki Noritoshi