A Rare1950S Platinum Sterling Pen

[Nikolaos]

Hi All,

 

A few years ago i watched a fierce bidding battle on Yahoo Japan for a rare and really beautiful 1950s Platinum pen in sterling with an incredible carving of Mt. Fuji on cap and a village and farmland on the barrel. The pen sold for a lot of money back then, and it remained in my memory (and a photo from that auction on Stan's wonderful website) ever since.

A few weeks ago i was lucky enough to get this pen. Not the same one but one of the few that were made. The pen arrived yesterday and there was a lot of tarnish on it. It took around 3 hours of careful work to get it cleaned up and once it was all cleaned up the beauty of the design really came alive. It has a beautiful size 4 14K Platinum nib and is a lever filler. The pen is in perfect working condition and i am extremely excited to have it in my collection.

 

Oh and a question: The engraving on the cap reads: PLATINUM IND. CO., LTD PURE SILVER. What does IND. stand for?

 

http://i474.photobucket.com/albums/rr109/nikolaos_photos/platinumfuji3.jpg

 

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

 

http://i474.photobucket.com/albums/rr109/nikolaos_photos/platinumfuji2.jpg

 

 

Nikolaos

[hari317]

Simply marvellous!

 

IND: Industrial?

 

The yellow highlights, are they achieved by gold plating? i have never anything like this on a silver pen, breathtaking.

[Nikolaos]

thank you Hari

 

Yes the yellow highlights are achieved by gold plating (vermeil). IND. indeed could stand for Industrial or Industry. Let's see!

[Hex]

Spectacular and I too was curious as to the yellow highlights.

Did you do the cleanup your self ?

And I am not sure, but is the snow on Mt. Fuji depicted ? In one of the pictures there looks to be some white coloring but it could be just the lighting.

[Nikolaos]

Spectacular and I too was curious as to the yellow highlights.

Did you do the cleanup your self ?

And I am not sure, but is the snow on Mt. Fuji depicted ? In one of the pictures there looks to be some white coloring but it could be just the lighting.

 

 

Thank you Hex,

 

The yellow highlights are certainly vermeil.

I did the cleaning myself yesterday. it took a long time . To be honest when the pen arrived it looked different as the tarnish had given it an overall dull look and the design looked messy. I got a really good silver cleaning cream and worked very carefully on it. Once the tarnish cleaned up and the sterling turned into a mirror-like finish the design really stood out to my amazement. There is still white color on the mountain top for the snow as well as some oxidation on certain parts of the mountain to make it stand out. Same oxidation technique is also used on the rooftops of the village and on what appears to be a river running along the bottom of the barrel.

Edited July 15, 2012 by Nikolaos

[NJP]

Beautiful.

[hari317]

can we also have a look at the nib from the top and also a view of the lever?

 

Thanks!

Hari

[Readymade]

Gorgeous. Congrats!

[Nikolaos]

Thank you Readymade!

 

Hari, here's a shot of the nib and lever :

 

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

[hari317]

Superb, thanks for sharing your joy with us.

 

Hari

[tonysilver]

I love this!

[Strang]

Wowzer! That's a beauty!

[mchenart]

Congratulations on your getting an amazing pen! I can see why there was fierce bidding on Yahoo Japan when a similar pen had been listed. It is a museum piece.

 

Now you have to tell us how it writes.

 

Michael

[Doug C]

That just has to be one of the most spectacular pens I have ever seen..

 

 

Nice job, and wonderful pen and work of art.

[Mattishme]

Just lovely.

[manolo]

Gorgeous pen!!!!

Congratulations.

[Nikolaos]

Thanks a lot guys for your kind comments!

 

Hi Michael,

 

yesterday i was thinking that the pen is too rare to use, but this morning i changed my mind and inked it up with Namiki blue ink. It is with me at the office today. It writes a nice XF/F line and the nib has some flex to it. It is not a pen i am planning to use a lot but still it's great to use this beauty!

 

 

Nikolaos

[tonysilver]

Thanks a lot guys for your kind comments!

 

Hi Michael,

 

yesterday i was thinking that the pen is too rare to use, but this morning i changed my mind and inked it up with Namiki blue ink. It is with me at the office today. It writes a nice XF/F line and the nib has some flex to it. It is not a pen i am planning to use a lot but still it's great to use this beauty!

 

 

Nikolaos

 

Will you be putting wax, or some clear coat, so that use wont wear away the gold anodization?

[sumgaikid]

Thanks a lot guys for your kind comments!

 

Hi Michael,

 

yesterday i was thinking that the pen is too rare to use, but this morning i changed my mind and inked it up with Namiki blue ink. It is with me at the office today. It writes a nice XF/F line and the nib has some flex to it. It is not a pen i am planning to use a lot but still it's great to use this beauty!

 

 

Nikolaos

 

Will you be putting wax, or some clear coat, so that use wont wear away the gold anodization?

 

 

Use of a polishing cloth should take care of that.

 

 

John

Edited July 16, 2012 by sumgaikid

[elvishsiang]

It's so beautiful.