Does "PILOT" manufacture it's own nibs ?

[stan]

As much as I relish complex mysteries and answers, the response received from Pilot was more prosaic than my hypothesis.

 

Pilot did not own a mine. They negotiated an exclusive deal with the mine owner/operator to obtain iridium from a mine in Soya Prefecture in Hokkaido. In the early 1900s iridium did not have the value it does today and it was easy to make such an arrangement. At the time most iridium was obtained from Tasmania and Central Asia and found to be less pure than desired for fountain pen nibs. The deposits in Hokkaido were purer and, obviously, much closer to home.