I just received a brown Pilot Custom 823 and am in love with the pen. The filling system is excellent and the medium nib is buttery smooth as well as a little springy. But one thing I did notice is that the instructions are for a generic 'Type P Fountain Pen' so I'm wondering if there are other vacuum fillers in the Pilot arsenal. I love Pilot pens but their cartridge/converter filling system is not my spot of tea. The same goes to the other Japanese firm, Sailor. The only other modern Japanese non-c/c filler that I know of is some sailor limited edition that is piston filled. But that was around $500 and probably more now. Can someone point me in the right direction? But the Custom 823 does come in black... hehehe that's a different pen.

Don't forget the clear version! I forget who sells them. Maybe someone can help out.

Alriel

I thinks pensinasia.com has the clear one. So now burneseboyz has two more pens to get. J

Hello,

I really enjoy my 823 as well. It is a fantastic pen. I also have the Sailor Realo that you are refering to. it is a great pen and probably the only modern Japanese piston filler (at least out of the better known brands). It has been sold out long ago though (500+100 pcs were made).
I am sure that Pilot was making lever fillers in the 1930s but i am certain that they will be very hard to find and will cost a lot of money.
Another idea might be to buy a Dani Trio eyedropper which should cost you less.
Pehaps Gary, Stan and Taki might have some other ideas.
Nikolaos

I was eyeing one of these. Of course, you realize, you must now post some photos of the pen in various stages of undress, as well as samples of how it writes. Come on, show us what you got.

A brown custom 823 is on my wishlist. engeika on eBay used to sell them, but now everytime I search for "custom 823" this is the only auction that comes up.

Cyberpens in the UK sell them. They're run by a poster here, I think. "Stan"? Edited to add: NO, NOT STAN - RITCHIE!

http://www.cyberpens.co.uk/

Anyway, they take PayPal, an 823 is £150, and the website is one of the worst designs I've ever seen - you'll have to use the search to find the pen, because Pilot doesn't appear in the list of brands. Oh, and the site mis-formats in Firefox.

Yes, but he's offered only with a stub nose. I'd prefer a fine or medium point.

Click to view attachment

He still does. I got mine from engeika. He's a fast shipper and an honest dealer in my experience. You can send him a message through ebay and he'll respond relatively quickly. His prices are decent although not great but he's reliable. The brown is a nice muted pen and it's great. I have too many black pens already and the brown is a nice addition.

haha and as for the stub nose on the dog. Send him to Richard Binder and I'm sure he can be reground... hahah but that would be incredibly cruel though. Maybe a plastic surgeon can do better.

Richie is the proprietor of Cyberpens. I bought my Fermo from him and it was a smooth and pleasant transaction. I've actually considered buying an 823 from him, but the dollar is sooooo weak against the pound right now. $300? Nah. If I go new I'll go the engeika route I suppose.

A few have popped up for sale in the Marketplace recently, but they are the black model, and I'm kind've down on black pens with gold trim these days. The brown with gold trim looks much nicer.

Oh, and also:

As of last month, so probably still now, Richie ships the 823 to the USA for $200.

The current price on his site is £150. That's more like $300.

His price to the USA is cheaper. If you doubt this, just send him an email. Apparently, there are addition surcharges he must pay in Europe that he doesn't pay in shipping to the USA.

He won't have to pay VAT if he ships to the US: this should take the price down to £130. Possibly import duties are refunded to him on pens he then exports? Even so the price difference still seems rather high.

Once again, go to the "horse's mouth" if in doubt. Last month, I asked Richie both via email and on the phone and he averred this.

I got mine from ebay (engeika or something like that) for ~$240 USD so I'll pretend that it's the lowest price. I read about Richie selling them for cheaper but the £150 on the website turned me off due to the exchange. My research was that normally it sold for 22,000 yen in Japan which was supposed to be around $180 USD but most places selling internationally had it much higher so I was happy with my price. If only I could read Kanji... but the point is that Richie would be selling them at the Japanese price without overhead charges. That would have been nice if I had thought about sending him an email. :-( Too late though, I'm hooked on the one I have now!