Pre-war share thread

[seven4times]

I was inspired to start this share thread after I took a family photo of my Pilot nibs. Don't be shy - Share what you want, what you're using, what you like most... any and all things pre-war!

 

Edited January 8 by seven4times

[liubrian]

Here are a few of my prewar Pilots!  It can be tricky to date Japanese pens given how a lot of classic design features have carried through to the present day.  A nice thing about Pilot is that the design changes are well documented enough so that their pens can be dated with fair accuracy - and of course the nibs have consistent date codes.  While the chased ebonite design is a clear giveaway that the hoshiawase pen (rotate the very front of the section to seal the ink deposit in the barrel) dates to the 1920s, the flat-topped pens differ from their post-war descendants in that the clip is inserted into the side of the cap, as opposed to attaching to a ring at the top of the cap.  As for the balance-type (cigar shaped) pen, my understanding is that they were made pre-war and did not come back into Pilot's standard lineup after the war until the Custom 67 decades later.

 

The JIS marking on the nibs of post-1954 pens also helps to identify postwar pens, but there are a whole lot of JIS-marked Pilots that otherwise have postwar designs.  I suppose that goes to show the rapid pace of Japan's postwar recovery.

[seven4times]

Thank you for sharing Lubrian, Pilots from this era have a special charm. I have the same #1 balance, but mine arrived with a hidden crack in the nib. What a nightmare that discovery was!

 

I see two of your pens have the little P-shiki ribbing by the tail plug. Are  either fo the two in working condition?

 

 

[liubrian]

Both work - the balance was restored by Stacy Hills (www.paperwantsapen.com) and the other one came advertised as restored on Yahoo.

 

You have some really nice nibs there, but where are the pens to go with them?