How Many Pilot Elites Were Made?

[Icywolfe]

On the bay I often see the Sailor and Platinum Elite like pens go for much higher than the Pilot elite. Which normally means the Sailor's and Platinum's version were made less. Even old waterman pens go for much more at the lowest I saw was 25 USD. Yet I see Pilot Elites go for around 20 USD and the lowest I saw was 8.60 USD.

 

Which also makes me wonder 18k gold nib is going for that cheap?

[EMPen]

I bought a Pilot Elite from Speerbob here on FPN. I paid $20 with shipping. He explains that these are new old stock pens and that they have steel nibs.

 

Pilot recently re-made a gold nib version. It is called the Elite in Japan, E95s in the US. I've never seen these go for much less than $80 at auction.

 

Could that be what you're seeing?

[Algester]

the elite was the best selling pen Pilot ever made the fact it was made in South Korea, Thailand to name a few in 1960s

your seeing something similar to the esterbrooks of Asia as a matter of fact

Japan has gold nib

student version of Japan has steel nib

South Korea and Thailand has Steel Nibs (they are probably still in production)

Sailor Pocket and Platinum Pocket pens are something of a competitor pen but it was said that who ever came first no one knows but Pilot came out on top after all of them vying for a market position

just as how Sailor came out on top from the Karat wars with their 23.9kt nib...

Edited March 1, 2015 by Algester

[earthrace57]

The ones you are seeing are probably the steel nibbed pens. There are 18k variants, but those usually go for $60-80. Also, Platinum had a steel pocket pen that someone on eBay is selling for $24.

[Icywolfe]

I'm seeing 18k versions and the occasional 14K with the vintage like feed.

[Algester]

but if were going for the true numbers expect somewhere at least in the 500K range at least 1M at most this is shared among all the Elite variants

unless stan can dig up old documents showing how many Pilot had sold prior to 1980 where it was halted

[Icywolfe]

but if were going for the true numbers expect somewhere at least in the 500K range at least 1M at most this is shared among all the Elite variants

unless stan can dig up old documents showing how many Pilot had sold prior to 1980 where it was halted

Because I'm find it odd that many of the gold elites are auctioning and selling at low prices. While Sailor and Platinum's are much higher. Vintage waterman pens are going for much higher. Esterbrooks (the regular ones) are going much higher. Which means Pilot must had made a TON of pens or some other reason.