I thought I had better place a pre-order for the new Namiki Vanishing Point, rumored to be purple. I was dismayed to learn that I am already too late to get one from my dealer of choice. Apparently, Pilot is only allowing this dealer to order six pens. This is a big deal for me. I have several hundred Capless pens, having acquired nearly every model ever issued. BTW, if anyone would like to trade a VP, I am open as I have many multiples of certain pens.

Several HUNDRED? Wow.

I too found that the dealer of my choice doesn't have room to reserve me one either. I think, however, that it's not going to be hard to get one - the 2005 and 2007 LEs are still in plentiful supply... though for a price (~$200)

You mean to say that several hundred different capless pens have manufactured???

You mean to say that several hundred different capless pens have manufactured???

Yes, I think if you count all the color/trim variations back to the 1960s there would be several hundred (or at least 150).

I too found that the dealer of my choice doesn't have room to reserve me one either. I think, however, that it's not going to be hard to get one - the 2005 and 2007 LEs are still in plentiful supply... though for a price (~$200)

I would be willing to go that high to get one just for the sake of completing my collection.

WOW

I would love to see a list of all Capless pens. Here's a start with the modern ones I know of (post '99):

Silver/Deep Yellow/Black/Red/Blue/Green/Slate/Gun Metal/Raden with Rh trim (9)
Black/Red/Blue/Green/Slate with gold trim (5)
Decimo in 5 colours - gold/pink/white/blue/gray (5)
Fermo in 5 colours - silver/blue/green/black (5)
Sesenta in 3 colours - blue/red/brown (3)
LEs in 5 colours - Orange/Japan Orange/Ice Blue/Japan Turquoise/Mandarin Yellow (5)
Marbled colours with gold trim - red/blue/green/gray (5)
Kasuri with Rh trim - black/blue/green/red (4)

That's 41 varieties already...

Rotomobees, do you have models that aren't covered by Carmen Rivera's VP History pages? If so, I'd be very interested to hear about them. Also, aside eBay, from what other sources have you been able to get your vintage Capless pens?

One should also add the rare rhodium with rhodium trim to the post 99 list. It looks like the silver but is all rhodium rather than lacquered.

There are at least twice this number of retired models. Remember that the capless line began production in 1963, so there are many variations, especially from the early 1960s, when Pilot put out models featuring a lot of different plastic colors.

The Rivera page is quite complete insofar as models are concerned. However, there are many color variations among the early pens that are not covered in this resource. I have the Platinum copy of the Pilot VP and several colors not on Rivera.

I've gotten most my pens from eBay before it went bad. There's not much there anymore. I still look to see if anything shows up. I rarely see any uncommon models on the boards or eBay these days.

Sounds like an amazing collection Rotomobees. Would be wonderful to see some photos of your VPs. By the way, have you managed to find a capless demonstrator?

Nikolaos

I second that motion!!

Siv, there were two reds with gold trim in current model up til a few years ago, but they discontinued the brighter red.

Taki, do you have pictures of them side by side? I have suspected this when looking at the photos on the pilot websites around the world - there is a deep red and a bright red and also a deep blue and a bright blue in both red and gold trim. I had put this down to photography...

Pilot Singapore



Pilot Japan



The red and blue ones I have look like the Japanese models but were bought from an authorized Pilot USA dealer.

I'm not sure if there were rhodium trim versions, but this pen store shows two different kinds of blue and red in gold trim VP's. I actually got the brighter red one for someone from this store, and when I bought it the owner of the store told me that color is no longer produced. He showed me a Pilot dealer catalog, and in fact it was not in there any more. I didn't pay attention to other colors, but I assume the brigher blue has also been discontinued since Pilot Japan does not show it on their site.

I have never photographed my pens, but I have the intention to do so. No, I don't have the demonstrator. As far as I know, you have the only one. I would give my eyeteeth for one, though. I would be willing to make a nice trade!

As a recent convert to the Pilot Capless I would love to see photos of your collection of VPs.

Taki, that link you gave if the first conclusive evidence I have seen that there are two different colours and I'm not hallucinating!!!

Rotomobees, the Rh/Rh trim one appears on the Pilot Singapore website. I wonder if anyone from Singapore can let us know if it's still available?!

The double rhodium was sold in the US a few years ago for about 150.00. I just happened to buy one because I wanted a silver VP and it was the only one made at the time. I don't think it is still in production, so any now available would be NOS.

I know what you mean. I remember seeing your eBay ID winning a number of auctions back in '06, to include black stripe Capless and black stripe MYU. I was lucky to follow afterwards and get some as well. Oddly, although there are now more vintage Japanese pen sellers than ever before, more buyers have appeared to take up the slack. The weak US dollar exacerbates the problem--about 50% of sales are to overseas buyers.

It's too bad us folks outside of Japan still can't buy anything off of Yahoo Japan. For a while, pens were seriously cheaper there. They still are to a degree, despite rising quite a bit in the last year or so. Sakura_zeppelin buys some of his inventory from there and resells on eBay. I've seen him make more than double the original purchase price that way. Not a bad little profit.