Jump to content

Japanese Steel!


haywoody

Recommended Posts

rroossinck and I were talking about the quest for a vintage metal Platinum with an EF nib in another thread... you've got that with the added bonus of stripes. Very nice.

 

/Woody

 

 

It exists!!! Question is how vintage! Platinum made silver pens in the early 1950s. In fact, they may be credited with the first post-war Japanese silver pen. If you are thinking 1970s, there are a host of models from which to choose. Many are silver and we also find their manufacture of stainless models beginning in this era. Most are fairly plain but, you will find some that are nicely decorated.

 

stan

Edited by stan

stan

Formerly Ryojusen Pens
The oldest and largest buyer and seller of vintage Japanese pens in America.


Member: Pen Collectors of America & Fuente, THE Japanese Pen Collectors Club

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Replies 43
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

  • MYU

    7

  • haywoody

    7

  • Phthalo

    6

  • Nikolaos

    5

Top Posters In This Topic

Posted Images

Hi Woody,

 

The pens are sitting on a stainless steel....frying pan :roflmho: I was just thinking of what would make an interesting background to steel pens and the Fissler pan was all i could come up with

 

That striped Platinum is a very nice pen. I have seen some similar short-long Platinums around but not having this solid steel clip with the cut out in the middle. I think the clip is a bit unusual.

 

I am pretty sure Stan has sold similar Platinum pens before

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Nikolaos, I like that frying pan texture--good choice for the pen background. :)

 

Are you certain that there isn't some kind of insert missing on the Platinum clip? Somehow it doesn't look like the complete design to my eye... perhaps the black insert on the Pilot Custom is influencing me. ;)

[MYU's Pen Review Corner] | "The Common Ground" -- Jeffrey Small

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Speaking of steel sections, [edit: Sailor] made one variation with an Arabesque-like motif that is quite beautiful. Phthalo was rather fortunate to obtain one from Stan. I'm hoping to find one sometime in the future. Here's what it looks like:

http://www.ciar-roisin.net/photos/jp/Japanese0205c.jpg

Edited by MYU

[MYU's Pen Review Corner] | "The Common Ground" -- Jeffrey Small

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Mouahaha! That steel Floral / Arabesque pen (which is actually a Sailor, not a Platinum) was like my best purchase ever... I love it. So far the only other place I have seen one is in a book about Japanese pen collecting.

 

http://www.ciar-roisin.net/photos/jp/SailorShort01.jpg

 

My Sailor Egyptian Hieroglyphs pen is pretty darn special too, and also a steel pen:

 

http://www.ciar-roisin.net/photos/sailor/SailorO-01.jpg

 

And a little box of Japanese goodies... apologies that only four are stainless. I will have to take some steel-only photos. :)

 

http://www.ciar-roisin.net/photos/jp/JapaneseBox02.jpg

Edited by Phthalo

Laura / Phthalo

Fountain Pens: My Collection

Link to comment
Share on other sites

That Platinum is stainless steel with black plastic end-pieces, and acid-etched black squares as the cap-band design. It is from the early 1970s... 1972 or so. The section is black, and the nib is an open type made from 18K White Gold. When new, it sold for Y7,000 - twice the price of a Pilot MYU. :)

 

I *love* that Platinum flat-top - the styling suits me perfectly (as you can see I also obtained a very similar model in sterling). I *really* like the squares.

Laura / Phthalo

Fountain Pens: My Collection

Link to comment
Share on other sites

That Platinum is stainless steel with black plastic end-pieces, and acid-etched black squares as the cap-band design. It is from the early 1970s... 1972 or so. The section is black, and the nib is an open type made from 18K White Gold. When new, it sold for Y7,000 - twice the price of a Pilot MYU. :)

 

I *love* that Platinum flat-top - the styling suits me perfectly (as you can see I also obtained a very similar model in sterling). I *really* like the squares.

That's some collection! :puddle: For the less knowledgeable amongst us :embarrassed_smile:, would you put a name to each one? Thanks!

A certified Inkophile

inkophile on tumblr,theinkophile on instagram,inkophile on twitter

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Laura, stop teasing us with these beauties! Nice addition to the thread!

 

Gary, it doesn't look like there is some something missing out of that Platinum clip. but i can't be sure since i haven't seen this clip before.

i bought a Pilot capless last night on ebay, the all black "stealth" version, so a new addition to steel pens! Looking forward to receiving it cause i always wanted one of those

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Names are tricky... Platinum really liked part-numbers and didn't seem very creative as far as names went... I kind of make up names for them, like a lot of people do, I'm sure. However, I will try and describe...

 

1. Platinum 'Karakusa' / 'Tang'. Stainless ballpoint... it would match with the FP on top of haywoody's pile in Post #1.

2. Modern - Sailor Sapporo.

3. Sterling Silver - Platinum Riviere.

4. Platinum 'Squares'. Stainless with black acid-etched squares motif.

5. Sterling Silver variant of #4.

6. Platinum "Zogan". Gold inlay in cap-band, semi-hooded nib...a bit similar to a Lamy 2000.

7. Pilot 'Etched Floral'. Stainless with iridescent enamel inside etched motif. This is the Green/Gold version, haywoody shows a Blue/Violet version in Post #1.

8. Modern - Nakaya Piccolo.

9. Sailor 'Arabesque'. Stainless with floral motifs.

 

Laura / Phthalo

Fountain Pens: My Collection

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Laura, you've really built up a phenomenal collection! :) I hadn't seen that Sailor Egyptian Hieroglyphics before. Which sale of Stan's did you manage to get it? Btw, also have to say nice score on that Platinum ballpoint Karakusa, which no doubt matches nicely with the fountain pen. :)

 

Nikolaos, congrats on the stealth Capless. They are hard to find these days and from what I'd been seeing, the closing prices have been often over $200.

[MYU's Pen Review Corner] | "The Common Ground" -- Jeffrey Small

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The Egyptian Hieroglyphs wasn't sold in any of Stan's sales - it came straight out of Japan.

 

A pair popped up on Yahoo Japan last year - a Japanese collector got one, and in a roundabout way I snagged the other a few weeks later. :)

Laura / Phthalo

Fountain Pens: My Collection

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hi,

 

Nice collection, Laura :)

 

I don't happen to have any of the steel Japanese pens or any stainless pens for that matter, but I used to have a Sailor or two in brushed steel. Nothing too fancy. I always admired the steel pens here, but I had to admit that I preferred the other pens made of plastic or lacquer.

 

Dillon

Stolen: Aurora Optima Demonstrator Red ends Medium nib. Serial number 1216 and Aurora 98 Cartridge/Converter Black bark finish (Archivi Storici) with gold cap. Reward if found. Please contact me if you have seen these pens.

Please send vial orders and other messages to fpninkvials funny-round-mark-thing gmail strange-mark-thing com. My shop is open once again if you need help with your pen.

Will someone with the name of "Jay" who emailed me through the email system provide me an email address? There was no email address provided, so I can't write back.

Dillon

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I am glad to see there was some action in this thread while I was away... in Tokyo, but more on that later. I am happy to see that somebody coaxed Laura into posting a picture of her etched Sailor :puddle: .

 

Laura, the pattern on my etched floral Pilot is actually goldish orange. I got to look through the old Pilot catalogs at Pilot Pen Station last week and noticed that there were many variations of this pen. Your pen appears to be shiny stainless... is it? Mine has a matte, hairline pattern.

 

Nikolaos, your Platinum clip isn't missing any parts. That clip was quite common on higher-end Platinums in the 70's, I think. Ron Dutcher had a Platinum Presidential on eBay last year with a similar clip, but with red lacquered blocks in the ends. I also saw a short Sterling Platinum with the same clip in Tokyo.

 

/Woody

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Welcome back, Woody! I hope the trip was eventful in a good way. Any pens obtained? :ninja:

 

Nice catch there, Laura. Had you been looking for the hieroglyph Sailor, or did someone alert you to it?

[MYU's Pen Review Corner] | "The Common Ground" -- Jeffrey Small

Link to comment
Share on other sites

http://i159.photobucket.com/albums/t154/MYU701/pens/Pilot/Pilot-Set_1.jpg

 

http://i159.photobucket.com/albums/t154/MYU701/pens/Pilot/Pilot-Set_2.jpg

 

http://i159.photobucket.com/albums/t154/MYU701/pens/Pilot/Pilot-Skyline.jpg

 

http://i159.photobucket.com/albums/t154/MYU701/pens/Pilot/fmfm03.jpg

:)

Edited by MYU

[MYU's Pen Review Corner] | "The Common Ground" -- Jeffrey Small

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Gary: I was waiting for you to post those photos! Well done :happyberet:

 

Woody: welcome back! i am looking forward to hearing about your Tokyo pen adventures!

 

Nikolaos

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 months later...
Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm!

 

post-8178-1205702763_thumb.jpg

 

This isn't just an excuse to post an artsy picture. I wanted to start a thread about my favorite material for pens, stainless steel. I love everything about stainless steel and I think it makes the perfect material for a pen body... durable, relatively low cost (maybe not any longer) and beautiful. It can take a wide range of textures and finishing processes from a simple as-formed smooth surface, to brushed, to satin, and then into the more exotic... etched and plated, etched and lacquered, striped, patterned...

 

I would really like to see one of the big three Japanese manufacturers put some effort into designing some modern stainless steel pens. There are so many cool finishing options available now that weren't possible or feasible in the 60's-70's when the material was more common. Physical vapor deposition (PVD) and electro-deposited (ED) dye coatings can add an extremely durable and colorful finish to the material while still maintaining the surface texture, grain structure, and feel of the metal.

 

So let's see your Japanese stainless steel pens! I would love to see or hear about some pens that haven't caught my attention yet.

 

/Woody

 

p.s. No pens were scratched or otherwise harmed during the making of the picture. It was like a high-stakes game of pickup sticks.

 

Hello

 

I'm bumping this old thread to ask whether any of the experts on the forum would have any idea of the approximate value of the Platinum 'karakusa' fountain pen shown at the very top of the pile in haywoody's picture (the one with the etched arabesque pattern)? It appears to be the fountain pen version of the karakusa ballpoint pen shown in Phthalo's photo, later in the thread. I think it's a lovely pen and I may have the opportunity to purchase one, but I'd like to check whether the price is reasonable. If there's anything inappropriate in asking for advice on the value of a pen in this section of the forum, please do let me know. Alternatively, if anyone can direct me to sources of information where I can start to research these things for myself, I'd be grateful. I've attempted googling the name and model number for sources of information without success.

 

Regards

 

~Callida

 

EDIT: I was expecting the picture to show in my quote - the one I'm referring to is the photograph in the very first post in this thread.

Edited by callida
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now


  • Most Contributions

    1. amberleadavis
      amberleadavis
      43844
    2. PAKMAN
      PAKMAN
      33494
    3. Ghost Plane
      Ghost Plane
      28220
    4. inkstainedruth
      inkstainedruth
      26624
    5. jar
      jar
      26101
  • Upcoming Events

  • Blog Comments

    • Shanghai Knife Dude
      I have the Sailor Naginata and some fancy blade nibs coming after 2022 by a number of new workshop from China.  With all my respect, IMHO, they are all (bleep) in doing chinese characters.  Go use a bush, or at least a bush pen. 
    • A Smug Dill
      It is the reason why I'm so keen on the idea of a personal library — of pens, nibs, inks, paper products, etc. — and spent so much money, as well as time and effort, to “build” it for myself (because I can't simply remember everything, especially as I'm getting older fast) and my wife, so that we can “know”; and, instead of just disposing of what displeased us, or even just not good enough to be “given the time of day” against competition from >500 other pens and >500 other inks for our at
    • adamselene
      Agreed.  And I think it’s good to be aware of this early on and think about at the point of buying rather than rationalizing a purchase..
    • A Smug Dill
      Alas, one cannot know “good” without some idea of “bad” against which to contrast; and, as one of my former bosses (back when I was in my twenties) used to say, “on the scale of good to bad…”, it's a spectrum, not a dichotomy. Whereas subjectively acceptable (or tolerable) and unacceptable may well be a dichotomy to someone, and finding whether the threshold or cusp between them lies takes experiencing many degrees of less-than-ideal, especially if the decision is somehow influenced by factors o
    • adamselene
      I got my first real fountain pen on my 60th birthday and many hundreds of pens later I’ve often thought of what I should’ve known in the beginning. I have many pens, the majority of which have some objectionable feature. If they are too delicate, or can’t be posted, or they are too precious to face losing , still they are users, but only in very limited environments..  I have a big disliking for pens that have the cap jump into the air and fly off. I object to Pens that dry out, or leave blobs o
  • Chatbox

    You don't have permission to chat.
    Load More
  • Files






×
×
  • Create New...