Yotubisi 1930s eyedropper

November 8, 2008

Hi all,

My wife returned last week from a business trip in Shanghai and Taipei and brought back with her some very interesting pens we bought a few weeks ago.

We bought a 1930s huge Yotubisi eyedropper amongst a few other pens.

Stan's website offered some great information about Yotubisi pens along with some gorgeous photos of their pens. Also Laura has a 1950s Yotubisi and helped me out with her info about this maker. Our example is a very large black lacquered eyedropper. According to our source the 1950s Yotubisi had the four diamond logo imprinted on the clip and the cap band and were probably R14K. Also the 1950s pens had gold nibs by other manufacturers.

Our pen doesn't have the imprints on the clip and the cap band. Only about halfway along the barrel there is an imprint that reads: Yotubisi and has the four diamond logo. The main find here is its steel huge nib with the imprint: Rustless, Yotubisi Pen. It also has the four diamond logo on it. All this along with the information we got from the seller makes us feel that this is a pre-war Yotubisi and a great find.

The pen measures 14.8 cm capped, and the girth of the barrel is 1.75cm, with the section being around 1.5cm. It is a huge pen but feels really comfortable to hold.

Below are some pictures of the pen and also some size comparisons with a Bird Pen eyedropper and a large Sailor eyedropper with a size <5> nib. The Sailor was the other pen i got along with the Yotubisi. There is a nib comparison photo. The Bird Pen has also a very large Seito Pen 14K nib. Also a picture of the Yotobisi versus a MB 149.

I would love to hear what our expert members think about this wonderful pen.

Nikolaos

November 8, 2008

Some nice photography of some beautiful pens, Nikolaos. Well done!

So... how well does it write? :hmm1:

November 8, 2008

Wow... that is one huge pen. Curious as well as to how it writes. Great pics by the way.

November 8, 2008

Thank you guys for your comments,

Regarding the photography, i can't take credit for it. It was all Jade's idea and execution. The background used is from a traditional Taiwanese cookie box that run out of cookies last night. :embarrassed_smile:

As to how the pen writes, i have only dipped the nib in ink so far and it writes a very smooth fine line with tiny amounts of flex. I am sure the pen will be a fantastic writer, but i am not sure i will be using it on a regular rotation. It is more for collecting purposes. What is really excellent about this pen is how well balanced it is and how nice the grip section fits my fingers. Even though it is a huge pen it can be used for long periods of writing. Holding the pen feels very similar to holding the Namiki Emperor size pen that i tried a couple of months ago

Nikolaos

November 8, 2008

WOW!

November 9, 2008

and another shot of the feed

November 9, 2008

Can I have it.

November 10, 2008

Can I have it.

Would you please inform me where you found these beautiful huge pens?

November 10, 2008

That is an impressive pen, Nikolaos. Congratulations on the find. I assume the Yotubisi is lacquered in urushi, but is the core made of ebonite? Your older Sailor ED looks interesting as well. I don't recall seeing a metal end piece to the barrel in that particular design. Usually it is a rounded tapered end of the same barrel material. I wonder at what point Sailor stopped making eye droppers and switched to cartridge/converters.

November 10, 2008

That is an impressive pen, Nikolaos. Congratulations on the find. I assume the Yotubisi is lacquered in urushi, but is the core made of ebonite? Your older Sailor ED looks interesting as well. I don't recall seeing a metal end piece to the barrel in that particular design. Usually it is a rounded tapered end of the same barrel material. I wonder at what point Sailor stopped making eye droppers and switched to cartridge/converters.

Hi Gary,

Thanks for the comments. You are correct, the Yotubisi is made of ebonite with a coat of urushi lacquer. Same story goes for the Sailor ED which is a very impressive pen as well and in top condition. I haven't seen the metal end piece before myself also but i don't have too much experience with these sort of eyedroppers. I think the switch to the cartidge/converter system must have happened sometime in the early 1960s.