PDA

View Full Version : Looking for info/history on Sailor mini 23



EclecticCollector
November 5th, 2014, 01:45 PM
I was gifted this vintage Sailor 23 by my grandfather after I mentioned that I liked fountain pens during a recent visit. I've searched Google but have so far failed to dig up any history about this model. Is anyone familiar with it and can share some details such as when it was made (I'm guessing the 60's), how common it was/is, etc.? Is it really a 23k nib?

On the cap trim ring is imprinted "Sailor 23". On the nib is stamped "23k Sailor" as well as the number 2 on the left side and some sort of circular symbol on the right. On the underside of the section, near the trim ring, is imprinted "012".

Imgur album: http://imgur.com/a/MQBkU

Appreciate anything you can share!

AltecGreen
November 5th, 2014, 04:33 PM
The 23 stands for the 23k nib. The 23 is not the model number or name of the pen. For the model number, you can ping Stan on FPN. He has access to 1970's Sailor catalogs that should have your pen in them. There is an identical pen that says "22" for the 22k nib.

You can check out this page (http://ryojusen-pens.com/28.html) from Stan's website. Scroll down to the catalog. You should recognize the same pen bidy although I'm not sure it's the 22 or 23 version.

In the late 1960's through the 1970's there was a karat war between the big three in Japan. It started with 18k, then 21k, then 22k and finally 23k. These are almost always found on pocket pens. You can find pens from all three companies in with 21 k nibs. Sailor and Platinum pens with 22k nibs pop up all the time on eBay. There are Sailor and Platinum pens with 23 k nibs although the Platinum ones seem harder to find. The Sailors seem to be the most common of the 23k nib pens. I can't recall if Pilot went to 23k.


btw-people seem to think you cannot make nibs from 24 k gold. That is not true. The #50 nib on a Danitrio Yokozuna pen has a 24k nib. They work quite well.

EclecticCollector
November 5th, 2014, 08:26 PM
Thanks for the brief history lesson! I had suspected the 23 might denote the nib material as I found images for a "21" that appeared to have a 21k nib, but didn't know that there was a 22 also. I will try to get in touch with Stan to see what else he can share.

AltecGreen
November 5th, 2014, 08:35 PM
Thanks for the brief history lesson! I had suspected the 23 might denote the nib material as I found images for a "21" that appeared to have a 21k nib, but didn't know that there was a 22 also. I will try to get in touch with Stan to see what else he can share.

Now that I'm home, I have more info.


There is a description of the karat wars in Lambrou's book. It seems Sailor was the first to come up with a high karat pen in 1970 called the Mini 21. The book has an ad from 1970 for the Mini 21. Pilot countered with the the Elite 22 which I have seen occasionally on eBay. Platinum came up with the the Pocket 22 and later the Pocket 23. Platinum also had several models with 21 k nibs since I have some in my collection. Sailor finally came out with a 23 k nib pen which I would assume would have been called the Mini 23. The Platinum Pocket 22 and 23 are pictured in Lambrou's book and dated 1972. I would presume your pen would have been made no earlier than 1971. The karat wears died after three years so say 1973 but I assume all of these pens were sold for a few years beyond that.


I saw your posts on FPN about converters. All of these pens would have used squeeze converters. Pilot is the only company still making them (i.e. the CON-20). The Platinum and Sailor squeeze converters have long since been discontinued. You can occasionally find them on eBay although Sailor had some weird sized squeeze converters for some of their earlier pocket pens that don't seem to fit the later pens.


I'm not actually certain on the Sailor 22. These pens all look alike after a while especially the black pens.

EclecticCollector
November 6th, 2014, 01:46 AM
Thanks for the update - "early 70s" is a close enough time period for me. Mine has its original converter which appears to still be in working order. I need to give it a good cleaning before I ink it up, and I'm really curious about whether I'll actually be able to notice any difference from my vintage 18k nibs. By Lambrou's book do you mean his most recent "fountain pens of japan"?

AltecGreen
November 6th, 2014, 09:31 PM
Thanks for the update - "early 70s" is a close enough time period for me. Mine has its original converter which appears to still be in working order. I need to give it a good cleaning before I ink it up, and I'm really curious about whether I'll actually be able to notice any difference from my vintage 18k nibs. By Lambrou's book do you mean his most recent "fountain pens of japan"?


Yes, "Fountain Pens of Japan"