So, I just got a pen from an eBay listing, and I don't know what it is. To summarise the listing:

• "Vintage Pilot Fountain Pen"
• Nib marked: 18k - 750 Custom Korea T971
• 5.5" long capped

And the rest is in the pictures!



Any help appreciated - I do love a mystery...

You should put this in the "guess the pen" post.......

John

It is a Pilot Silvern (at least that's what it was called when it was made in Japan and made of silver), made under license in Korea in the 1970s. Unless noted otherwise, the cap and barrel are stainless.

Nice find. The one's made in Korea are much harder to find and come in several designs.

Stan

Thanks for the help!
But most of the Silverns I find on a quick search (eg here) have a ball-ended clip and a regular pattern - is this just a limited selection?

I'd love a resource to do my own reading, too, if anyone knows one...

EDIT: I found the sale here, and subsequent discussion, very helpful. Still, I'd love to know more about the company's older stuff! Thanks Stan for the quick ID - I love this place...

You bought a beautiful pen!

Great looking pen and find. Congratulations!

Rick

Thanks! I'll post more pictures when I get it through the post and have inked it a bit. I've never had a Japanese pen! Can't wait to try it out - the nib will be a complete lucky dip.

Pilot changed the design of the clip. the older original model has the clip as on your pen. When they ressued the pen in the late 1990s, they used a ball clip.

The nib is your classic Pilot Custom large inlaid nib from the 1970's. Eventually Pilot moved onto a more traditional design. I personally prefer the inlaid look, as the nib is so smoothly integrated into the section for a fluid appearance. These nibs are superb in terms of writing quality and resistance to drying out. Anyway, very nice find on yours. I can't make out the design--what is the motif?

Nice pen, congratulations! I have also one of those Korean made silverns with the dragon design on it. It came from ebay as well. I do prefer the Silverns made in Japan though (I have two of those) because they are slightly larger pens and they are made out of sterling silver. I do agree with Stan though, the Korean versions are harder to find.

Enjoy your new pen

Nikolaos

Sheesh...

I was starting to get close to "having enough" Japanese Steel......

Now I want one of these!!

My bank account thanks you Vemiculus!!

Rick

Bad news, all.

The pen arrived rattling around inside a plastic pen box with no padding except a scrap of deflated bubble wrap, and a consequent crack of about a half inch in the plastic barrel. Not such a bad thing, perhaps, but it's letting air into the feed area, causing drying in between writing sessions. It's such a wonderful nib - extra extra fine full-flex and so smooth!

I'm in discussions with the seller about what to do. Does anyone know how much it would cost me to have a barrel crack repaired?

Ouch--sorry to hear of the damage. This urks me to no end with sellers who commit this kind of irresponsibility. I take a risk of insulting and give a full "shipping request" that covers proper packing, unless I've done business with them before and received a properly packed pen.

A pen repair specialist can repair barrel cracks. Is it a hairline crack or are there some fragments?

I'm a bit surprised at what you said about the nib, though. Full flex? I've never heard of these nibs having any flex, but more like 'spring'. Can you post a writing sample?

It's a hairline, no fragments, thank god. I wonder what it will cost me so I can ask for an appropriate refund for his stupidity! I wouldn't limit this to pens, but to any eBay item - it's simply common sense, and it doesn't take much - four or five times round and a jiffy bag as a basic standard will do for all but the most delicate pens!

The flex on this is nice - from about a "fine" or "extra fine" (I can't tell because of the nib problem) to perhaps 1.2mm. Yum! Not a wet noodle, but definitely an 18kt flexi. Can't really do a sample as-is, unfortunately, as it barely writes even with the slow-drying good-flowing Noodler's Black.

The interesting thing is that it does look silver, or silver plate. I'm not certain, and might get it tested at the local jeweller's.

Well, a lot of it will depend upon the seller and the price you paid. A pen repair specialist might charge you about $40 to repair it. I take it the package wasn't insured?

Can you write down the markings that you see on the nib? I'm guessing you'll see <F> or <EF> for the nib size. I'm curious to see if there's any mention of flex. Pilot did make a semi-flexible version of their Custom inlaid nib.

Just a quick one, to answer both the nib markings and the writing sample (which I would now say is the semi-flex):




Does anyone read Korean?

Also, today I took it to the jeweller's, who confirmed that it is made of silver (he specifically said not plate), which is encouraging.

Now that's interesting. I've never seen a Pilot nib with Korean symbols on it (even Japanese Kanji)--they've all had standard Western lettering and numbers (e.g. "18K-750", "18K W.G.", "14K", and a nib size from <EF>...<B>), and either "Japan" or "Korea". I'd say this is an unusual one.

And since you've found this pen to be a good writer, I'd work out a partial refund deal with the seller for the repair and keep it.

Congratulations!

You seem to have found a rare pen. I'd try to get aother section and keep it. You won't find another.

What does the fill shipping request cover?

I have never bought a pen on-line and this seems crucial.

Thanks.