Jinhao A10- New Colorways

[J120]

@mke

Happy hunting where value and functionality meet.

 

We all cannot be lucky enough to find one at an estate sale, antique shop, or within price range from a seller. The option is a why not try buy.

 

 

 

 

[mke]

8 hours ago, J120 said:

Happy hunting

I am not hunting for that Pilot anymore. Eventually, one might turn up at KingdomNote or on Yahoo Auctions but I stopped looking at these sites. 

The Jinhao will be good enough me.

 

8 hours ago, J120 said:

estate sale, antique shop

 

In Japan you don't find estate sales* and antique/secondhand shops mostly sell now at Yahoo Auctions.

* You have to pay taxes on everything in Japan. On one of my bank accounts, I had 24 Yen of interest and the bank deducted 2 Yen as tax. If you don't pay your taxes and someone rats you out, you will pay hefty penalties. So, many things are just thrown away or sold for 100 Yen to secondhand shops.

 

[J120]

@mke

 

Interesting.  Have you had any success with the Japanese yahoo auctions?

[mke]

7 hours ago, J120 said:

@mke

 

Interesting.  Have you had any success with the Japanese yahoo auctions?

Yes, I bought many nice pens there, in 2017-2018.

[lascosas]

I still find lots of interesting deals on Yahoo!Japan.  Many times it is a second hand shop that has acquired a misc set of pens, including junk & valuable, unusual pens.  They are normally sold as non functioning junk, and sometimes the Seller doesn't even bother to show the nibs.  When you look at the seller's other items, no other pens.  I've rarely seen that on Ebay.

[mke]

On 12/7/2024 at 11:30 AM, lascosas said:

They are normally sold as non functioning junk,

 

It depends. These shops know quite well which pen can be sold as a functioning pen and which pens are not worth the confirmation process. 

 

Being junk doesn't automatically mean that the pen remains cheap at the end of the auction. 

 

The problem of Yahoo auctions are the cheaters who don't tell about problems, even obvlous ones. Such sellers are mostly not shops.

 

The 2nd hand shops buy the pens and other stuff for peanuts. Often only 10 yen per pen, I heard. 

 

 

 

 

[mke]

There is now a light pink available (Aliexpress) - didn't find a larger photo. I saw it on two occasions while searching for Jinhao 10.

 

[mke]

I just saw a good comment on Aliexpress. Unfortunately, I can confirm that.

 

"Jinhao is usually good, but this one missed the mark. It does not seal, and the pen will dry out. Even though the spring loaded lid is tight, the barrel that it is mounted to is not. You can prove this by disassembling the pen and holding the lower barrel up to the light. If light leaks through, then you know it's not airtight. Majohn pens do not have this problem."

 

I have only tested one of my pens and it dries out if you let it lie for a day or so. I hope that the others are not like this one. I don't see any light but still ...

I also can confirm that Majohn A1 pens do not show this problem - I have 5.

[mke]

Another comment from the Aliexpress pages

 

"This pen is parts compatible with the Majohn A1/A2 and the more expensive Pilots."

"Be aware that the EF nibs can be a bit 'dry'/'tight'. A polish pad and a gapping tool (.03) will loosen the nib up just fine."

 

The person commenting was from Colorado, so I guess he is talking in inches.

 

Another seller (365DaysStationery Store) got creative:

 

 

 

 

[ScottT]

On 12/17/2024 at 6:38 PM, mke said:

I just saw a good comment on Aliexpress. Unfortunately, I can confirm that.

 

"Jinhao is usually good, but this one missed the mark. It does not seal, and the pen will dry out. Even though the spring loaded lid is tight, the barrel that it is mounted to is not. You can prove this by disassembling the pen and holding the lower barrel up to the light. If light leaks through, then you know it's not airtight. Majohn pens do not have this problem."

 

I have only tested one of my pens and it dries out if you let it lie for a day or so. I hope that the others are not like this one. I don't see any light but still ...

I also can confirm that Majohn A1 pens do not show this problem - I have 5.

 

Same thing happened with my Jinhao 10, except that it dries out far faster than a day.  Glad to know the Majohn A1 pens don't have the problem.

[mke]

What I really hate with the Aliexpress sellers is that they cannot stick to the original descriptions.

 

The pen below is described as "green", "sea pine green" and as "turquoise".

 

My question: are there actually different green Jinhao 10 pens - I know there is/was another green pen with black trim.

 

 

And another question: is the pen below really "purple" because it is often described as "blue".

 

 

 

Or one of the black pens is described as "pearl black", "black" and as "piano black".

[mke]

Perhaps a list with colors would be helpful - always silver trim if not described else:

1. matte black
2. pearl/piano black
3. black striped
4. black, black trim, gold "Jinhao" on band
5. metal grey SOLD OUT
6. grey striped or gun metal striped
7. gradation grey
8. white
9. white, gold trim (could be a Majohn A1?)
10. blue (=purple?) or clear blue
11. pearl blue
12. light blue, black trim
13. gradation blue-white
14. clear red or pearl red
15. marble red, gold trim
16. marble blue, gold trim SOLD OUT
17. orange
18. orange, black trim
19. caramel orange, gradation brown-orange SOLD OUT
20. pearl pink
21. gradation pink-white
22. sea pine green
23. green, black trim
24. gradation green-yellow
25. gold striped; gold trim
26. silver striped or chromium striped

So, what did I miss? I will correct this list as long as I can edit. If not possible anymore, I will make another comment.

The sold out pens are sold out everywhere. Other colors are sometimes also sold out at one seller but not on another.

[jchch1950]

With many colours in such a short period, it is hard to put together the whole collection.😅

[mke]

As long as you don't check and buy on Taobao, you will never be able to collect everything.

 

My personal recommendation are (at the moment):

 

caramel orange and marble red

 

Unfortunately, I missed the caramel orange. Hopefully, Jinhao reproduces the pens which were sold so quickly.

The marble red is a beautiful pen.

[Dan Carmell]

About the color descriptions, the combination of various names and less than perfect images of the pen do contribute to confusion, I agree. 
 

I do think that as a culture, Chinese color perception is somewhat different than the west. I see this most dramatically with pens labeled ‘turquoise.’ I think the Chinese perception of turquoise leans much more green that the light blue we call turquoise. I see it also with pen colors that fall into the green-blue area, and again with purple-blue. 
 

I’m not sure whether this is about language or actual perception, but there’s clearly a gap for for western viewers between names and colors. 

[mke]

5 hours ago, Dan Carmell said:

Chinese color perception

 

I don't think that would be a problem if they would just stay with the description offered by Jinhao. 

 

Anyway, many descriptions of products on Aliexpress are just strange:

"New Hongdian 920S fruit series fountain Pen for calligraphy high-end retro exquisite business school writing pen office supplies"

 

Btw., @Dan Carmell Did you see them, quite cheap at the moment from two sellers?

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Dan Carmell]

3 hours ago, mke said:

 

Btw., @Dan Carmell Did you see them, quite cheap at the moment from two sellers?

 

The Jinhao 10? I see several at $8.90 USD and others at around $12—it appears that prices are finally falling to below A1 pricing, just as it’s priced domestically. 
 

This thread got me to buy the grey gradient version. In general, I don’t like these gradient color schemes—remember when Waterman was producing models in ombré? I didn’t like those and I’m not keen on most of these either, but the grey appealed to me. 
 

I wonder why the solid grey was so popular? Maybe I shouldn’t wonder, since my Decimo is grey!

[mke]

1 hour ago, Dan Carmell said:

The Jinhao 10?

No, I meant the Hongdian 920S from the "New Hongdian 920S fruit series fountain Pen for calligraphy high-end retro exquisite business school writing pen office supplies" mentioned.

 

I put the "metal grey" and the "grey striped" Jinhao 10 onto my "to think about if it reappears" list.

[mke]

Have a look at this picture from Aliexpress. I wonder what they are doing and why.

Could this be the white pen?

 

[mehandiratta]

On 12/4/2024 at 6:12 PM, J120 said:

@mke

 

Buying them all from Taobao for cheap shipping. Great stocking stuffers and a bulk of the black stripped for office use. 

 

 

Is there a guide to buy from Taobao for international destinations or can you guide on the same please ?