Zôhiko

There is a relatively new guy –albeit old as well— in town. Zôhiko is indeed a old company as it was founded in 1661 in Kyoto. Its original business was ivory –the zô in the name actually means elephant—, but with the second generation of owners the market expanded to include maki-e and related techniques and the ivory section ended up disappearing.

But only recently Zôhiko included fountain pens in its catalog of luxury goods. This happened in 2008 by means of an association with the French craftsman Michel Audiard.

More recently, around 2012, a new series of fountain pens were produced. These pens were the initiative of fountain pen entrepreneur Mr. Katayama and Zôhiko, and involved a group of unique Japanese craftsmen.

Raden, on the front, and maki-e.

Body and feed were made by Mr. Momose Yasuaki—an old, now retired, lathe master well known and respected in the Japanese scene. He was also in charge of the filling system, Japanese eyedropper (i. e. with shut-off valve), which is one of his fields of mastery.

Nibs, made of 18 K gold, carry the monogram KMK (with the first K inverted), meaning Katayama-Makino-Kubo. This is a brand name registered by Mr. Katayama. However, these Zôhiko nibs were manufactured by jeweler Mr. Tsukii Masao.

The 18 K gold nib made by Mr Tsukii Masao. Note the monogram KMK engraved on the nib.

The feed is also imprinted with the initials KMK, the registered brand by Mr Katayama.

The final assembly of the pen was made by nibmeister Kubo Kohei, well know to the readers of these Chronicles.

The maki-e decoration, finally, was commissioned to Mr Yamamoto Munori, a Zôhiko regular “in-house” craftsman.

The results of the good work of Mr. Yamamoto Munori.

The final result is an outstanding collection of maki-e decorated pens. But they do not come cheap or in large numbers. Of the raden-decorated unit, only three were made at a cost of JPY 1.200.000. Of the rest, between 4 and 6 units of each were produced. Their price is JPY 600.000, save for the unit with spiral motifs, whose price is JPY 800.000.

JPY 800.000.

Some of the pieces carry a signature, but it simply says Zôhiko.

Now, are they good pens? How do they write? The fact that a jeweler and not a nibmeister crafted the nibs is an unsettling and worrisome detail… But maybe the question is a different one: would anyone ink any of them?

Pilot Custom 823 – Montblanc White Forest

Bruno Taut
Nakano, August 13-14th, 2015
etiquetas: Zôhiko, nibmeister Kubo Kohei, Momose Yasuaki, maki-e, raden

Chilton Violet

After having seen a great number of filling systems on Japanese pens, both imported from the West (::1::, ::2::, etc.), and originated (::1::, ::2::, ::3::, to name just a few) in Japan, it will be no surprise to find yet another one.

This time, the pen –by the name of Violet— implements the pneumatic filling system initially created by the Chilton Pen Company in 1925. This Japanese pen, however, was manufactured in the early 1950s.

On the barrel, '"VIOLET" / TRADE MARK / Fountain Pen'. And a very Parker clip.

As for the rest, the nib is made of steel and does not carry any reference to the pen brand, which raises the concern of whether this nib was the original unit of this pen. However, that is not the relevant feature of the Violet.

The nib, made of steel, carries the following inscription: "WARRANTED / EASY / BEST / PEN / 1". This unit could be a replacement.

These are its dimensions:

Length closed: 121 mm
Length open: 105 mm
Length posted: 142 mm
Diameter: 11 mm
Weight (dry): 11.5 g

The barrel extended, the pen ready to be filled.

The hole at the barrel end typical of pneumatic fillers.

This pseudo-Chilton Violet is a rare pen even in Japan, but it illustrates the great variety of filling systems explored by Japanese makers long its more than 100 years of history.

My thanks to Mr. Sunami.

Pilot Bamboo – Nagasawa Bokkô

Bruno Taut
Nakano, August 8th, 2015
etiquetas: Chilton, Violet, soluciones técnicas

Early Cross Nib

Nagahara’s double and triple (and even quadruple) nibs are, arguably, the most interesting development in fountain pens in recent years. But, how recent is that development?

Sailor started marketing cross nibs (2-fold nibs) by the late 1990s. Most of them, as is the case now, were made over open nibs—those present on the current line of Profit/1911 and ProGear line of Sailor pens. But there were also some cross nibs made over the old style finger-shape nib present in the Sailor catalog since the early 1970s.

The only engraving on the pen, other than on the nib, is on the cap lip and simply reads "Sailor".

Such is the case of the following pen. It is a luxury desk pen of the Precious Wood (Mei Boku, 銘木) series. The oversized cap, with no clip, posts securely on the barrel and provides with the usual extra length of desk pens. The four-tined nib ensures a rich flow and a thick line for the typical purpose of these pens—to sign. It is made of 21 K gold. The filling system is by proprietary cartridges and converters.

These are the pen dimensions:

Length closed: 163 mm
Length open: 124 mm
Length posted: 182 mm
Diameter: 15 mm
Weight: 33.0 g

Three different Cross nibs. The one on top is a Cross Concord (with Emperor, the overfeed) with the current nib engraving. The nib on the bottom left is a regular Cross nib with the previous engraving. The nib of the Precious Wood desk pen is on the bottom right. Its engraving only says "21 K / Sailor".

The point of the desk pen is significantly smaller than that of the current Cross nib (bottom left on the previous picture, albeit with the old engraving).

This pen was made in early 2000s.

My thanks to Mr. Demboku and to Wagner member Yoppee!

Pilot Custom 823 – Montblanc White Forest

Bruno Taut
Nakano, July 29th, 2015
etiquetas: Sailor, plumín, nibmeister Nagahara

Pilot Capless - 1984 - FCN-500R and variations

Introduction:

As was described on the more extended introduction to this model, this evolution of the CN-400BS was released in 1984 (some sources speak of 1981, though). This model is commonly known as the “faceted” Capless (usually as Pilot) or Vanishing Point (usually as Namiki). It was made in a number of colors and included some limited editions.

Two faceted Pilot Capless in green and black.

Pairs of Pilot-Namiki Capless-Vanishing Point in different colors. The clips are engraved as either Pilot or Namiki. My thanks to Mr. Capless.

Features:

Codes.	FCN-500R, FCB-800R-B, FC-1MR-B. All these codes belong basically to the same pen, the last two being of the all-black models. The different numbers in the codes show the price of each variation. This model is made of aluminum and plastic in a number of colors.
Original_price.	FCN-500R: JPY 5000 (1984-1998) FCB-800R-B: JPY 8000 (1989) FC-1MR-B: JPY 10000 (1999)
Production_years.	1984-1999. Possibly longer.
Nib_unit.	Type VII, variations a and b. Gold 14 K and steel, all in golden color. 18_K gold nibs were made after 1998 for the following model FC-15SR.
Filling_system	Single spare cartridge. CON-20 and CON-50 can be used.
Opening_system.	“Knock system” (push button).

The all-black model in matte finish. Photo courtesy of Antolin.

Dimensions:

	FCN-500R & variations
Length closed	137 mm
Length open	134 mm
Diameter	11.8 mm
Weight	17.6 g

Nib unit:

Type VII, variations a (common to the previous model CN-400BS from 1973) and b. In 14 K gold and in steel, both with golden finish. 18 K gold nibs available from 1998.

This nib unit uses single spare cartridges and converters CON-20 and CON-50.

Variations a (top) and b (bottom) of the type VII of Capless nibs. Variation a is present on the previous model from 1973, but can be used on the FCN-500R of 1984.

Additional information:

Nibs are engraved with the production place and date, but not so the bodies.

Testing unit of a Namiki Vanishing Point for a shop. My thanks to Mr. Capless.

My thanks to Mr Capless and to Foro de Estilográficas member Antolin.

Back to the "Pilot Capless - 50 years" page.

Bruno Taut
Nakano, July 2015
etiquetas: Pilot, Capless

Early Pilot Nibs. III. Size 1

Size 1 nibs by Pilot are not that different in size to those of size 0. Here we can see the dimensions of two size-1 units:

Manufacturing date	.Oct 1955.	.Nov 1937.
Length (mm)	21.7	22.7
Width (mm)	5.3	5.8
Feed diameter (mm)	5.0	5.0
Weight (g)	0.2 - 0.3	0.3

Dimensions of two Pilot nibs of size 1.

Nib made on November of 1937. "WARRANTED / "PILOT" / 14 K / MADE IN JAPAN / -<1>- / HARDEST / IRIDIUM".

Nib made on October of 1955. "WARRANTED / PILOT / 14 K / -<1>- / MADE IN / JAPAN".

There are some obvious differences between these two units made 18 years apart. And the feed diameter seems even smaller than that of the size 0 nib described some days ago.

The engravings of these two nibs are very similar, but this detail changes with the manufacturing date, as we will see along this series of texts

Parker 51 – Nagasawa Bokkô

Bruno Taut
Nakano, July 19th, 2015
etiquetas: Pilot, plumín

Early Pilot Nibs. II. Size 0

Among early –pre-1955—Pilot nibs, size 0 seems to be the smallest of them. I have only seen it made of 14 K gold.

These are its dimensions, but these data should not be taken very strictly—manufacturing processes, quality controls were not as they are today, and some variations over these measurements should be expected:

• Length: 20.6 mm
• Width (shoulders): 5.2 mm
• Weight: 0.25 g
• Feed diameter: 5.1 mm

This particular nib was manufactured on February of 1935. The engraving reads “WARRANTED / “PILOT” / 14 K / MADE IN / JAPAN / -<0>- / HARDEST / IRIDIUM”.

Pilot Custom 823 – Montblanc White Forest

Bruno Taut
Chuo, July 10th, 2015
etiquetas: Pilot, plumín

Early Pilot Nibs. I. Introduction

Few things are standard in the world of fountain pens. Each pen brand seems to create its small world with its own systems of names and measurements. A very clear example of this lack of standards is the way pen makers number their nibs. Many aficionados as well as traders simplify the wide gamut of Bock nibs as being of sizes 5, 6 or 8, which are, in actual terms, the diameters of their corresponding feeds. But those numbers have little to do with Pilot’s –to name just one company— nibs labeled as 3, 5, 10, 15, 20 and 50. Sailor and Platinum, on their side, do not even bother to number their nibs nowadays.

A Bock nib, with a 6 mm feed, on an Eboya pen (formerly Nebotek).

Sailor nibs in three different sizes.

Four modern Pilot nibs in size 15.

In the early days of Pilot, the numbering system was very different: from 0 to 8, with the possible exception of 7, plus 20 and 50. Now, do those numbers mean anything?

With this text I am starting a new series of Chronicles aiming at describing all these nibs, and to analyze whether those numbers really meant anything. This is, needless to say, a work in progress.

Four Pilot nibs from the 1920s. They are labeled as sizes 1 and 3.

One additional note: The title speaks of “early” nibs. By that I mean all those nibs that followed a more or les consistent system of numeration. This came to an end with the implementation of the Super model in 1955. Up to that year, the vast majority of Pilot pens sported open nibs (i. e, showing the feed as well) labeled with what seemed to be a normalized numbering. Therefore, “early” means, more or less, before 1955. And implicit on this classification is the hope that those standards were maintained over all those years.

This series is a joint effort of some pen enthusiasts who offered their assistance to compile all the information. Their names are N. Syrigonakis and A. Zúñiga.

Platinum pocket pen, black stripes – Platinum Black

Bruno Taut
Chuo, June 13th, 2015
etiquetas: plumín, Pilot, Bock, Sailor, Platinum, Eboya