New Astura, New Sailor

Two nice pens arrived in the mail this week!

The first was a NOS 1970's Sailor with a neat chequered motif around the cap. This is a stainless steel short-long pen with a very smooth 14K F nib.


Next is a little Italian button-filler made by Astura. This is such a gorgeous little pen - M300 size, and with the original Astura 14K XF nib! This pen was also NOS, and remarkably, the sac was still good!


The photo above doesn't do justice to the celluloid, which is a marbled blue-green with a beautiful metallic shimmer. I've inked this pen with Diamine Umber - a near-perfect match for the celluloid.

Delicious. :)

OMAS Disappointment

I heard back from The Pen Shoppe today, as my Omas Dama has returned from Italy. No paperwork was included by Omas, but it seems that they have replaced the clip.

Unfortunately, they have also sent a bill for US$75. The Pen Shoppe seems to think I'll be paying that bill - but since the pen is still under warranty, I'll disagree.

I'm really quite unimpressed with Omas and this whole fiasco. The clip developed hairline cracks in the gold plating after the pen was *casually* used over a six month period. The clip plating was inferior, and the problem isn't a new one, so I can't believe they actually charge people for the clip replacement! :(

Urushi Eyedropper

Some photos of my lovely 1950's Eyedropper:



This pen is big and beautiful! The coppery-red colour is especially nice.

Incoming Pens!

It's been awhile since my last posting, so today's entry will be a large one - I have lots of nice pen news to share. :)

Last month I acquired some unusual Japanese pens, and while I promised some photos, I didn't get around to posting any. However, they are here now!

Platinum 'Zogan' (1970's)
Initially, I didn't know what to make of this pen, as it was much larger than I had anticipated it would be. I pondered it for a couple of hours, and debated whether it should remain in my collection or not. Eventually, I decided I did like the 'Zogan' and upon inking it with R&K Sepia, I found I liked it even more.

Pilot Etched Floral (1970's)
I saw a couple of these pens sell on eBay earlier this year, but they sold for more than I was prepared to pay (and more than they were worth). Stan had one for sale recently, and I managed to snag my first colour choice at a great price. This is a gorgeous pen, and the photo doesn't do it justice. The metallic enamel inside the deep etching changes under different lighting conditions - really pretty.

Pilot-Namiki Black Red Celluloid (1930's)
I was really pleased to acquire this pen as a NOS item with its box, papers, barrel label etc. It is in great condition, and the dark celluloid and black urushi jewels make a very nice contrast with the nickel trim.

Well Black Urushi Eyedropper (1930's)
Another nice one! The black urushi coating on this pen is perfect, and quite thick. The urushi-clad clip is most sexy, in my opinion. The nib is a nice one, with a cut-out on either side to increase flexibility. I have a Nakaya with an Elastic nib which features similar cut-outs. It's nice to have an early example of such a nib, as well as a modern one.

* * *

In other news, I have several exciting new pens winging their way to me as I type! July has been another good month for interesting pens. A brief summary:

• Platinum PKH-2500. I have one of these cute short-long pens already, as shown here. My current short has a Clover motif, the new short has a Maple Leaf motif.


• Platinum Ivory Celluloid. I’m looking forward to this one. A 1950's Platinum 10 Year model in a lever-fill configuration.


• Well Eyedropper. Yep, another Well... but not quite as old as the first one. This one has a very interesting nib also - instead of a traditional round or heart-shaped vent hole, this Well has the letter W instead. Nifty!


• Yotsubishi Eyedropper. My first Yotsubishi, and hopefully not my last. What makes this 1950's example nice is that it has been finished with a Red Urushi coating.

Lastly, I have my eye on a couple of brand new modern pens. The first is a delicious new Aurora, the Fuoco Minima. I think this Aurora series is based on natural elements, as the Fuoco features a flame motif, just as the Sole Aurea Minima features a sun motif. The colour is beautiful!

The other modern pen I am considering is a Danitrio maki-e pen. I've not yet decided exactly what to purchase though... decisions, decisions!

Ink Capacity

On Friday I had a startling experience - a co-worker approached me, and wanted to know if I could recommend a quality fountain pen with two specific requirements: that it is heavy, and short. I couldn't actually think of any pens to suggest to him (I think I was still in shock from actually discussing fountain pens in my daily life instead of FPN), but I promised I would gather bring some catalogues and recommendations to him on Monday. He also mentioned that price was no object. This makes me wonder if he has any idea of what one could spend on a fountain pen if money were no object...

But I digress...onto the subject of this post - ink capacity!

Ink capacity concerns many people; however, I am not one of them. I actually prefer to use cartridge/converter pens, because with piston-fillers you are stuck with one ink colour for awhile, which is boring. :) Anyway, I decided to find out how much a few of my most commonly used pens differ in regard to ink their capacity:

Brand / Model	Type	Capacity
Parker	Cartridge	~1.3ml
Pelikan M2xx & M4xx	Piston-Filler	~1.5ml
Pilot	Cartridge	~1.1ml
Pilot	Converter (CON20)	~0.8ml
Platinum	Cartridge	~1.1ml
Platinum	Converter	~0.6ml
Sailor	Cartridge	~1.1ml
Sailor	Converter	~0.6ml
Sheaffer	Cartridge	~1.3ml
Other	'Short' Cartridge	~0.8ml

(The above volumes are approximate.)

Looks like I'm on the right track in just refilling my cartridges with a syringe.

More Japanese Pens + Fascinating Facts!

This week, I was very pleased to add a few more nifty Japanese pens to my collection. Here's a summary - I will add some nicer photos when they arrive:

• Platinum 'Zogan'. This is a 1970's Platinum with interesting Lamy 2000-esque styling. The cap band has a floral motif in the decorative zogan technique, which is the inlaying of gold into a surface. Platinum revisited the 'Zogan' in the 1990's, this time styling the pen on their classic #3776 model.
  I dislike using other peoples images, but for now here is the 'Zogan':
  The top image is from Stan Klemanowicz, and shows the 1970's model. The bottom image is from the Internet, and shows the 1990's model.


• Pilot Etched Floral. This is a 1970's stainless steel Pilot with gold trim and deep floral sprigs etched into the body. The etchings are filled with a green-gold reflective lacquer. Pretty!


• Pilot 'L'. Someone on eBay advertises these under the name of "Lex" or the more ridiculous "Mysterious Reflections". The other name for this model is simply the "Lady" - however, while browsing Yahoo! Japan one day, I found one of these pens marked "Laureat":
  My "L" fountain pen is on the left, the Yahoo "L" ballpoint pen is on the right. I wonder what Waterman thought of Pilot using the name Laureat?! Ah, the oddities of the pen world...


• Pilot-Namiki Celluloid. This is a nice, red-black mottled celluloid lever filler which is stickered, and has the original box and instructions. I was especially pleased to find this pen, as it is a prewar model bearing a "N" (Namiki) logo on the barrel. In 1938 the logo letter changed from "N" to "P" for Pilot, so I would put my pen as being from 1936/1937. The pen has a steel 'Shiro' nib.
  Pilot fountain pens from the 1930's to 1960's had a couple of different barrel stamps, as shown below:
  The first two lines of text are the standard imprint - sometimes model names or patent info is present, but that's the basic text. The central round 'lifebuoy' is depicted as one of the above three logos, of which the dates concerning the later two are approximate.


• Well Eyedropper. The Well Fountain Pen Company was founded in the 1920's and was a popular prewar manufacturer. However, after the war, the company had a short lifespan and eventually closed in the 1950's. The pen I bought is an Ebonite (hard rubber) eyedropper, coated with black Urushi lacquer - even the clip is lacquered black! This pen also has a steel 'Shiro' nib.

I'll have these pens in a week or two, so look out for some photos then - this is an interesting group! :)

Ho Hum...

So far, June has not been a good month.

I have tonsillitis at the moment, so I'm at home this week. I'm not happy, because I have a very important deadline next Friday and another deadline at the end of the month! If I keep getting sick, how the hell am I supposed to get any work done?

Anyway... in the more pleasant world of pens I have some nice updates:

• My special Urushi Nakaya Cigar Piccolo will be ready in the next couple of weeks! I've decided to ink it with Stipula Verde Muschiato when it arrives.


• A couple of weeks back I ordered a pen from WTM Pens, which should arrive sometime soon. I ordered an 'El Toro' because I liked its chunky shape, which is actually a little bit like one of my JP Lepine pens. Wayne kindly ground down the F nib to an XF for me, which was very nice of him! :)


• I'm looking forward to Stan K's Japanese pen sale which happens this weekend. I was very lucky to get some wonderful pens from the last two sales, so I hope my luck holds again.


• I'm downsizing my collection a little bit, so in a couple of weeks after work has slowed down, I'm sending a few pens to eBay. My collection is finally finding a focus! :)

Good Reading

The Spring issue of The PENnant arrived in the mail yesterday, so this morning I made some very good coffee and spent an enjoyable couple of hours reading. In particular, I found Daniel Kirchheimer's articles in this issue really interesting! Unfortunately, I now feel the urge to add a couple more early Sheaffer radite ring tops to my collection - particularly those with 'C' and 'F' stamped barrels to keep my 'D' stamped 46 Special company...

May Collection Updates

I've been somewhat slack about posting of late, so let us see what updates we have for May...

INK - I can't believe I didn't post about my new inks. I recently ordered Noodler's Nightshade, Private Reserve Gray Flannel, Rohrer & Klingner Sepia and Rohrer & Klingner Smaragdgrün from The Inked Nib, with wonderful service from Natalie as per usual.

• Noodler's Nightshade: This is a dark red-violet, almost like a mixture of Noodler's Red Black and J. Herbin Moondust. Moderate shading, very well behaved. (Thank you to Gary for getting me interested in this ink. :)


• Private Reserve Gray Flannel: This is a medium gray, quite neutral, with perhaps a hint of a green undertone. Moderate shading, very well behaved, perfect flow.


• R&K Sepia: I recently finished a half-bottle of this ink which I traded for last year, so when I ordered a fresh bottle, I wondered if the colour would differ at all. I was glad to find that it didn't, because this ink is the closest replacement for Parker Penman Mocha that I have found. It's very slightly lighter than Mocha, but the colour is so close... that completely neutral, true brown with no red, orange or yellow undertones. Lovely! Rather strong shading, no feathering, quite free-flowing.


• R&K Smaragdgrün (Viridian Green): Initially, this was an odd colour for me to buy, but my collection was lacking a pure blue-green (not to be confused with green-blue / turquoise). This ink colour has grown on me, and is very reminiscent of Sheaffer Emerald, though the colour is slightly deeper and more intense - a great ink. Moderate shading, very well behaved, perfect flow.

NIBS - I completed a more comprehensive review of my Richard Binder Needlepoint nibs! I uploaded several pages of writing samples on different papers, as well as some close-up shots of those beautiful nibs. Read on... XXXF and XXXXF Round and Italic Points.

PENS - I picked up two more Japanese fountain pens last week, both Platinum brand, and both 1970's Sterling Silver models. The first is a Riviere model with small inlaid red accents on the cap, while the second model is unknown, with red urushi accents on the cap. Both are high-quality pens, and from what I can gather, they were originally sold in the ~15,000 ¥en range.

The Platinums should arrive next week, and I will definitely be photographing them and preparing a write-up. Not much product information for older Platinum models exists out there on the WWW, so unfortunately I will be limited to discussing the design and showing off pretty pictures! :)

Sexy Weblog

Well, it took a whole day, but I finally migrated my blog into a new template - and I think it looks pretty snazzy. ;)