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Tsuchida Pens


Nikolaos

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Hi guys,

 

I just wanted to post a photo of the Tsuchida pens I have in my collection. They were made by Mr. Tsuchida and his team of artisans (Mr. Sakai, Mr. Kabutogi and Mr. Kitamura). Mr Tsuchida passed away in 2009 and these pens are difficult to find

 

Enjoy:

 

http://i474.photobucket.com/albums/rr109/nikolaos_photos/tsuchida.jpg

 

Nikos

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the bamboo one looks fantastic!

 

The following one is mine ; this is another model but probably based on the same size & form than the 2 of yours on the right:

 

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v190/ed2007/BanEi1.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v190/ed2007/BanEi2.jpg

 

The nib:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v190/ed2007/BanEi5.jpg

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How interesting--thanks for the pictures. I'm intrigued by both the bamboo pen and the stealth pen.

I came here for the pictures and stayed for the conversation.

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Hey - Thanks for the pictures, Nikolaos and Moskva.

 

I seem to remember that the "bamboo" pen and Moskva's pen had a "name" of some sort - are either of you familiar with that?

 

I have a Tsuchida Red Urushi Pen, as pictured at the far right of Nikolaos' photo; mine is Number 050 of 150.

What number is yours?

 

Were all of the "Tsuchida" pens numbered?

 

The "bamboo" pen and Moskva's pen are wonderful - are those pens too "rare" to find out in the market today?

How would I go about trying to find another "bamboo" Tsuchida pen, for instance?

 

Thanks, again, for the pictures and informative discussion.

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I seem to remember that the "bamboo" pen and Moskva's pen had a "name" of some sort - are either of you familiar with that?

Mine as been sold to me as Tsuchida Ban-Ei Kamakura-bori ; "Ban-Ei" for the whole serie of FP's and "Kamakura-bori" for the technic (the urushi lacquer's layers are carved). Does it help ?

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I seem to remember that the "bamboo" pen and Moskva's pen had a "name" of some sort - are either of you familiar with that?

Mine as been sold to me as Tsuchida Ban-Ei Kamakura-bori ; "Ban-Ei" for the whole serie of FP's and "Kamakura-bori" for the technic (the urushi lacquer's layers are carved). Does it help ?

 

Yes: "Kamakura-bori" - That's it - !

 

Thanks.

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Hey - Thanks for the pictures, Nikolaos and Moskva.

 

I seem to remember that the "bamboo" pen and Moskva's pen had a "name" of some sort - are either of you familiar with that?

 

I have a Tsuchida Red Urushi Pen, as pictured at the far right of Nikolaos' photo; mine is Number 050 of 150.

What number is yours?

 

Were all of the "Tsuchida" pens numbered?

 

The "bamboo" pen and Moskva's pen are wonderful - are those pens too "rare" to find out in the market today?

How would I go about trying to find another "bamboo" Tsuchida pen, for instance?

 

Thanks, again, for the pictures and informative discussion.

 

 

The "bamboo" design actually represents a Japanese flute called shakuhachi. From the ones i have the flute and the black urushi (#3) are numbered. They are not engraved on the pen but came with box and certificate with the number. None of my Tsuchida pens are part of the Danitrio Ban-ei production run

 

Nikolaos

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Congratulations on your excellent set of Tsuchida pens that will surely become classics in the near future. Just one question, if none of your pens were under the Danitrio name, are they the same size and with the same appointments? How can you tell which is which? Thanks.

Michael

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Hi Michael,

 

Thanks for your comments! I am not sure how to answer your questions. We will have to compare my pens with the ones Tsuchida and his team made for Danitrio. However having seen a lot of Tsuchida models over the years I am fairly certain that they will be identical or pretty close. The clips and nibs I am sure are identical. I have the book on the Danitrio maki-e collection and there is a picture of the pens there. On that photo black urushi model has a wider diameter than the red one which is also true on my pens. The only difference I know of is a Kanji engraving on the cap rings of the Danitrio pens that mine don't have. I don't know what it means but it's there. Also i think the Danitrio pens are numbered while mine aren't. The first clipless black eyedropper came with an Aurora nib. My guess is that it was made after the nib maker passed away and they were using other nibs, or the previous owner changed the original nib. I also changed the Aurora nib for a pre-war #6 Pilot fine nib with a lot of flex and the pen is a fantastic writer.

 

Hope it helps

 

Nikos

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Thanks Nikolaos for your detailed explanation. I am sure you realise that due to the shortage of literature on Tsuchida pens in English, it must be frustrating to try to dig out info on those intriguing pens. I have the Danitrio book, but frankly, there is very little background info there. However, having looked at the photos of the Danitrio Ban-ei pens and the picture you have posted on this thread, to my eyes they do look very very similar. If they are indeed the same, it begs to ask another question: that perhaps Tsuchida and his team of artisans were producing the Ban-ei pens as a regular production line all through the years, and When Mr. Lyn came along, they just gave him the number of pens he wanted. Meaning that the limited edition status of the Danitrio Ban-ei pens was quite meaningless. Is that so? Perhaps Stan or Kevin could enlighten us on that. Of course, the beauty of the pens would not diminish one bit no matter how many of them were made.

 

You mentioned that on your black urushi Ban-ei pen, there is an engraving on the cap ring. Could it be the owner's engraved name? If you can post a picture of the engraving, perhaps I can translate it (if it is Kanji). Thanks.

 

Michael

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Hi Michael,

 

I would not say the limited edition number is meaningless. Western culture is obsessed with "limited editions" (just ask MB) and that's face it, before Danitrio introduced these pens to the Western world, when is the last time you hear anything about Tsuchida and his team? :-) There are subtle differences on the pens introduced by Danitrio, for instance the Kanji "Ban-ei" is engraved on the trim ring along with the edition numbers, and the nib is different. If Danitrio simply introduced these pens as a regular edition pens, then Tsuchida's pens probably would not have been as collectible today in Western world. So for that, the numbers served the purpose in introducing these pens to the Western users. Limited editions or not, these pens are certainly limited production :thumbup:.

 

For instance, Pilots back in the old days, never produced any "limited edition" pens, until Namiki start selling in Western market, then you have limited edition of this and limited edition of that. This is a more cultural thing I suppose.

 

Tsuchida san has passed away. Danitrio has asked his son to pick up the torch, but he refused. Currently, even in Japan, there pens are not that easy to find.

 

On top of the Ban-ei series, I have a raw ebonite which has long turn olive green and a Matte finish "hana-nuri" by them which are the only two example I am able to find. needless to say, they will be in my collection for a very long time.

 

Best

 

Kevin

To Cross The Rubicon

 

Internet Pens

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Thanks for bringing up some good points Kevin. Too bad Tsuchida's son doesn't want to continue along his father's footsteps

 

Nikos

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  • 1 year later...

I would like to ask about the production dates of those black and red urushi pens by Tsuchida/Ban-ei for both the pre-Danitrio version (no engraving on the cap band) and for the Danitrio-commissioned limited editions.

 

I am not asking for exact dates, but about some reasonable estimate.

 

Cheers,

 

Iosepus

Bruno Taut - Crónicas Estilográficas (https://estilofilos.blogspot.com)

The contents and pictures of this post belong to the author, here identified as Bruno Taut.

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