Japanese Pocket Pens (in general)

[christof]

very interesting!
I have never seen this before (the Platinum nib).

[PithyProlix]

...this reminds me of my pocket brush pen of unknown origin:



It takes Platinum cartridges and is one of the best brush pens I ever had!

@christof

It looks to be the same pen, most tellingly it has the same section - note the part of the section closest to the brush/fude. (The section/brush can be replaced, by the way.)

I am having trouble identifying the Kanji character. I will ask a Japanese friend and report back.

The Kanji is 宝, meaning "treasure".

I really think it is the same pen as the Kaimei but with a different brand.

[PithyProlix]

I never got along with that double-sided Platinum nib (same with the Parker 180's). While very cool, it's very difficult to get both sides in tune and I think it's a poor design.

(My Stylist writes great. That said, both sides of the nib have the same line width, so I kind of wonder what the point is? I guess there's redundancy, so that if one side gets damaged you can always use the other?)

Sorry - I am being a Negative Nellie.

[iosepus]

Demonstrator pocket pens are not easy to find, but there are some out there.

I already showed one--an L model in transparent pink that you can see here in the company of an S-karakara and two Myu-25:

IMG_5149-blog-3-2-WM.jpg

Only the pen on top sports a gold nib.

Cheers,

BT

[christof]

An interesting design detail:

The clip of the faceted Pilot Capless and the one of the Myu family has an amazing formal similarity.

[iosepus]

Let's add some more information:

In 2013 Pilot launched a modern version of the pocket pen--the Elite 95s. Apparently it was intended as a limited release, but its success upgraded it to becoming a standard model.

On the pic, a trio of these pens: the black, the burgundy and the never-released blue:

IMG_2860-blog-WM.jpg

IMG_2838-blog-WM.jpg

Black and burgundy models are still in the Pilot catalog. The price, JPY 10000, plus taxes.

Cheers,

BT

[JulieParadise]

Let's add some more information:
the never-released blue:

OOoh, the blue one looks great! How sad they did not add this to their line-up! Thank you for showing it (and reminding me that I read about it on your blog 5 years ago already). I had completely forgotten this one exists, tsss.

[iosepus]

The Japanese gold fever in the 70s also hit pocket pens:

IMG_2253-blog-12-7-WM.jpg
IMG_2259-blog-1-1-WM.jpg

Sailor 23 K, Platinum 22 K, Pilot 22 K. There were some nibs (replacement nibs) with even higher grades--Sailor reached 23.9 K (99.6 % Au).

Cheers,

BT

[christof]

your collection is very impressive!

[fountainpenkid]

The Japanese gold fever in the 70s also hit pocket pens:

IMG_2253-blog-12-7-WM.jpg
IMG_2259-blog-1-1-WM.jpg

Sailor 23 K, Platinum 22 K, Pilot 22 K. There were some nibs (replacement nibs) with even higher grades--Sailor reached 23.9 K (99.6 % Au).

Cheers,

BT

Fascinating...was this period the first instance high-carat nibs being sold? How were they advertised?

[Cyril]

Absolutely fantastic pen collection on mini Japanese pen series.

[Zhivago]

One of the reasons I've come to love this design is that the pockets of men's shirts have gotten smaller over the years and even many normal-sized pens will not properly fit in them. It is quite annoying.

My Japanese pocket collection consists of one pen, a gift from a Canadian pen friend who writes from very interesting destinations in his travels around the world. A fellow vendor at a pen show identified it for me as an 18k Platinum "PKT 3000 No. 1," circa 1973. I know not more than that. It is probably the extra-finest writer I have, great for squeezing complete correspondence on the back of a postcard! Cartridges only. The sticker is still there.

Attachment 77605

Attachment 77606

I love that little asterisk-like design element on the barrel and have seen it on another older Platinum or two. Does anyone know if it has any history or meaning? Since it is eight-sided, is it just to denote the 18k nib?