Pilot Vanishing Point My First Sumgai Moment!

[openionated]

So this past week I had what may be the world's record for a sumgai moment. it certainly was for me.

 

We have a "salvage" store locally that buys overstocks, discontinued items and returns from big box retailers then resells them for 50 cents on the dollar. You never know what you are going to find in there. From new in box BBQ grills and lawn furniture, to women's jewelry they seem to get everything.

 

I went in to browse and came across a box of pen refills. Most of the refills were from the finer brand names that you would recognize so I started to root around in the box. At the bottom of the box was a large black box was a large rectangular shaped box of the kind that tells immediately compels you to investigate further.

 

Upon opening the box I found a nice Pilot box and what appeared to be most of a VP fountain pen. I say most because the clip was loose in the box, along with the manual. I tried the clicker and the nib never emerged from it's hiding place.

 

I asked the owner if the pen was a broken return showing him the loose clip and the non-moving nib. He said he got it in an odd lot and didn't know the condition. I dis-assembled the pen further to investigate and found that the cover was inside, but no cartridge. A little digging in the box and I found the converter. With the converter installed the clicker worked as expected, and I was able to reattach the clip.

 

The store owner observed that I was making progress. I informed him I was getting there, but didn't know if it would write since I had no ink to try it with. He replied "tell you what, I know it's some kind of nice pen, but since you are going to have to work on it, how about I make you a deal?"

 

"What kind of deal?" I asked.

 

"How about $10 USD?" he replied.

 

I may have broken the sound barrier going for my wallet.

 

After a little fiddling, and an ink drop from Goulet Pens I know have a fully working Vanishing Point with a smooth as butter "fine" nib, for not much more than the price of a good cheeseburger!!!!

 

 

[mike.jane]

Great story. I'm happy for you as well. May you have many more such moments in the future.

[Frank C]

I think you got a great deal! I like my Vanishing Points and they are—like all other Namiki-Pilots—good pens. If you find another one of these, let me know . . . .

[mhguda]

I think we might form an exclusive club. Two members.

I got my Vanishing Point from a shop where I'd previously bought other nice fountain pens, like Parker and Waterman.

This was back in the early 90s, and 50+ USD for a pen was a big deal for me.

He had this one curious pen lying around, didn't really know what it was, but since I was interested in pens, why didn't I take a look...? it was this BP-like fountain pen with clicker, and since it seemed a nice curiosity, I bought it. He gave it to me for 10 dollars. At the time though, I didn't know what a bargain I had! I used it for a while, then moved on to other pens, but I always kept it and it rotates into and out of use... at the moment, it's a little too fine for my taste, but I may appreciate its fine nib in the future, and when I realized what I had (after joining here) I did a serious double-take: sumgal before I knew what that was...

[Katharine]

Nice one!

[openionated]

Frank C I gave him my contact info and asked him to call me when he got another box of pen "junk"

 

Mhguda an exclusive club indeed. Happy to be a member!

[Dronak]

Upon opening the box I found a nice Pilot box and what appeared to be most of a VP fountain pen. I say most because the clip was loose in the box, along with the manual. I tried the clicker and the nib never emerged from it's hiding place. ...

With the converter installed the clicker worked as expected, and I was able to reattach the clip.

...

After a little fiddling, and an ink drop from Goulet Pens I know have a fully working Vanishing Point with a smooth as butter "fine" nib, for not much more than the price of a good cheeseburger!!!!

 

Sounds like a great find! As for the clicker, I have one of the older Namiki Vanishing Point models and somewhere along the way I noticed the same thing. If there's no cartridge or converter installed, the nib will come out less and less each click, until after a few clicks, it basically won't emerge from inside the pen anymore. As you found out, that's easy to fix though: put something inside to support the nib section, and it'll work. As for the rest, I probably couldn't have done the work necessary to fix a pen myself, but I'm glad you were able to and ended up with a really good deal on a nice pen.

[openionated]

Thanks everyone! I'm really happy with it.

 

Dronak, I know nothing about pen repair either, but have a little bit of mechanical knowledge and a stubborn sense of curiosity. It didn't take that much to get it going.

[00Photo]

And today another Sumgai was born.

[inkstainedruth]

Great story! That VP looked really nice -- was that rose gold trim I'm seeing, or just the lighting in the photo?

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[openionated]

Regular gold Ruth. The darker coloring is a reflection.

[openionated]

Sorry. Double post.

Edited May 3, 2015 by openionated