What Was Your Last Impulsive Pen Acquisition?

[Ashenden]

1 hour ago, Mercian said:

I agree with your own thoughts about it in that the characteristic that I find least-appealing about the Slytherin pen is the presence on it (& on the others too) of those two "©WBEI" imprints.
Other than that, I find the Slytherin pen to have a 'pleasingly reptilian' look to it

 

Same. I think it's fine to put a copyright on it, but surely there is some less obtrusive way?

 

I bought the entire set but have yet to see it because it's still waiting to ship, evidently the vendor I bought it from didn't actually have it in stock. It was a complete and total impulse buy and after I hit the order button, I waffled for 3-4 days whether to cancel it or not.

 

By the way @A Smug Dill, your handwriting is lovely

[ruby.monkey]

A Mikuni-branded pen from Japan, with a nib similar to a Sailor Trident. I've no idea who actually made it, or what cartridge it's meant to take; but it seems happy with a short Kaweco cartridge and writes quite smoothly any way up.

[AmandaW]

11 hours ago, A Smug Dill said:

my wife quickly claimed the pen for herself

She has excellent taste. I find it appealing too. Is it a grey-green as it appears in online photos?

[A Smug Dill]

12 minutes ago, AmandaW said:

Is it a grey-green as it appears in online photos?

 

Not grey-green as in De Atramentis Document Ink Green Grey, but more of a Diamine Green/Black.

[Penguincollector]

On 11/11/2024 at 2:41 AM, carola said:

Nice!

And a 101N? Which one?

  I don’t know. There were several available and I will look a little more closely at them all at our annual pen club sale. 

[Penguincollector]

  I bought a green Eversharp Symphony 914 F. My burgundy one is such a lovely writer, that when I saw another like it I didn’t hesitate. 

[A Smug Dill]

Seeing as Diplomat Germany's website — from which I've ordered directly once, previously — is having a 20%-off site-wide (by application of a discount code posted on that site), and there appeared to be the option to order the Viper fountain pens in various nib width grades, I tried it on for size, ordered two Vipers (in different colours) with EF nibs, and just for good measure, added the most discounted Aero fountain pen to the cart (effectively stacking two significant discounts) just in case.

 

Diplomat came back to say the Viper is only available in F-M nibs, and were prepared to cancel either just the Viper pens or the entire order. I said I'll still take the Aero if free international shipping still applies even though the residual transactional spend falls below the published threshold after the cancellations.

 

So, now I have a blue-and-silver Diplomat Aero fountain pen with EF nib on its way to me. I still haven't inked the champagne-coloured Aero that I ordered from Diplomat Germany a while ago!

[carola]

14 hours ago, Penguincollector said:

  I don’t know. There were several available and I will look a little more closely at them all at our annual pen club sale. 

 

I am waiting for an update of course. 😊

[Penguincollector]

2 minutes ago, carola said:

 

I am waiting for an update of course. 😊

I will definitely keep you posted! 😁

[Doug C]

Waiting for an Esterbrook. 

[A Smug Dill]

On 11/15/2024 at 8:18 AM, Ashenden said:

By the way @A Smug Dill, your handwriting is lovely

 

Thank you! Not as awesome as your own.

 

I do want to improve on my ability to draw convincing fú.

[PithyProlix]

On 11/15/2024 at 4:57 AM, ruby.monkey said:

A Mikuni-branded pen from Japan, with a nib similar to a Sailor Trident. I've no idea who actually made it, or what cartridge it's meant to take; but it seems happy with a short Kaweco cartridge and writes quite smoothly any way up.

 

It's a Mikuni "Multi-angle Pen" - I have one too. I've discovered that Mikuni, a company who currently makes parts for cars and motorcycles (and, perhaps, airplanes), made it but is no longer in the pen business. Like yours, mine takes an international cartridge. I believe them to be very rare - with yours and mine I've seen online references to only four actual pens, though I haven't looked lately.

 

The history of the Trident is a bit muddled and there is inconsistent information. This page seems to claim that the Mikuni preceded the Trident Trident: https://detail.chiebukuro.yahoo.co.jp/qa/question_detail/q12242332177  As far as I can tell the Mikuni disappeared when the Trident came out, suggesting there may have been some kind of business relationship between Mikuni and Sailor, though that's just speculation on skimpy data on my part. I also wonder if Mikuni might have manufactured the Trident for Sailor?

 

Another interesting thing is that it seems like it may have preceded the Aurora Hastil, a pen cited as being the first pen with this rather cylindrical-looking design and which inspired the design of the Montblanc Noblesse. (And, seemingly, the Sailor Hoscal, the ST Dupont Classique, and many other pens with the same sort of look.)

Here's mine. The manual indicates that a company called Apex was the patent holder. (Other information indicates that it was a company called Spacer.)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[efpen]

Pineider Avatar Twin Tank Touchdown in Blue Extra-Fine Nib. It was on sale at pensavings.com. I love this pen. A modern Vacuum Filler with some unique features like twin-tank system with the small tank bigger than in conventional vacuum fillers,  bayonet blind-cap  and magnetic snap-on cap (the only feature of the pen I do NOT like). It is slick and looks pretty, at the same time built as a tank. There are videos on youtube showing the pen surviving Dante del Vecchio beating it with a small hammer  and Doodlebud dropping it several times on a bathroom floor.

 

 

[Number99]

2 hours ago, PithyProlix said:

Another interesting thing is that it seems like it may have preceded the Aurora Hastil, a pen cited as being the first pen with this rather cylindrical-looking design and which inspired the design of the Montblanc Noblesse. (And, seemingly, the Sailor Hoscal, the ST Dupont Classique, and many other pens with the same sort of look.)

I have been looking only at the nibs and have not noticed this, but the outline looks exactly like the Hoscal.

Is the exact geometry of both different?

Curious if the section/nib units are interchangeable.

If you need to find a pen I will leave the question out.

😄

 

2 hours ago, PithyProlix said:

. (Other information indicates that it was a company called Spacer.)

The online image of the spacer

multi-angle pen was still there.

 

*Images are borrowed from the Internet.

Edited November 16 by Number99

[ruby.monkey]

9 hours ago, PithyProlix said:

 

It's a Mikuni "Multi-angle Pen" - I have one too. I've discovered that Mikuni, a company who currently makes parts for cars and motorcycles (and, perhaps, airplanes), made it but is no longer in the pen business. Like yours, mine takes an international cartridge. I believe them to be very rare - with yours and mine I've seen online references to only four actual pens, though I haven't looked lately.

 

The history of the Trident is a bit muddled and there is inconsistent information. This page seems to claim that the Mikuni preceded the Trident Trident: https://detail.chiebukuro.yahoo.co.jp/qa/question_detail/q12242332177  As far as I can tell the Mikuni disappeared when the Trident came out, suggesting there may have been some kind of business relationship between Mikuni and Sailor, though that's just speculation on skimpy data on my part. I also wonder if Mikuni might have manufactured the Trident for Sailor?

 

Another interesting thing is that it seems like it may have preceded the Aurora Hastil, a pen cited as being the first pen with this rather cylindrical-looking design and which inspired the design of the Montblanc Noblesse. (And, seemingly, the Sailor Hoscal, the ST Dupont Classique, and many other pens with the same sort of look.)

Here's mine. The manual indicates that a company called Apex was the patent holder. (Other information indicates that it was a company called Spacer.)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thank you for that, it's fascinating info. Mine is in brushed steel with a fully-plastic section, and seems to be a promotional pen for Kenichi Mikawa if Google Translate is to be believed. I have to say that the more I use it, the more I like it. £10 well spent.

[PithyProlix]

15 hours ago, Number99 said:

I have been looking only at the nibs and have not noticed this, but the outline looks exactly like the Hoscal.

Is the exact geometry of both different?

Curious if the section/nib units are interchangeable.

If you need to find a pen I will leave the question out.

😄

 

Well, I currently have two Sailor Tridents (I sold another a few months ago), and I can only find one of them right now! 😅 So, probably not a good idea to generalize from this N = 1!

 

The length of the Trident's (the one I could find!) cap is slightly longer than the Hoscal's. Both have snap caps and are interchangeable between the two pens. The barrel length is the same, as is the length of the section + nib. They appear to be the same diameter through the whole cap and barrel.  The section/nib units are indeed interchangable - the couplers (the part with male threads) are metal and look identical. The clip on this particular Trident is the same as one found on some of the lower-end Hoscals, such as this one:

[Photo hotlinked from a Yahoo!Japan listing.]

 

BTW, regarding overall proportions for my Mikuni versus this particular Trident: basically the same except the Mikuni's cap is roughly 5mm longer and the exposed part of its nib is maybe 2mm longer. Neither caps nor section/nib units are interchangeable.

 

16 hours ago, Number99 said:

The online image of the spacer

multi-angle pen was still there.

 

May I ask, please, for the link to the page the Spacer photos are from?

 

16 hours ago, Number99 said:

 

The nib of this Spacer (sans gold plating) could very well be the same as my Mikuni's. But the rest of the section/nib unit is quite different.

 

16 hours ago, Number99 said:

 

 

Now this is striking! Not only the same name for the Spacer and Mikuni but, unmistakably, the manual covers have been designed by the same entity (assuming one didn't copy the other)! Could Spacer be the same company as (or closely related to) Mikuni? I think this would likely point toward Apex as being the original patent holder for the nib.

 

It's not going to happen soon but hopefully I'll find time to take comparison photos and discuss further in either an existing Trident thread or a new one. (Need to try to find the patent, too!)

[PithyProlix]

17 hours ago, Number99 said:

I have been looking only at the nibs and have not noticed this, but the outline looks exactly like the Hoscal.

Is the exact geometry of both different?

Curious if the section/nib units are interchangeable.

 

I just realized that the similarities between the Trident and the Hoscal undermines my theory re: Mikuni manufacturing the Trident for Sailor. I can be slow sometimes ... 😅 I do think there is a reasonable likelihood Mikuni made the nibs for the Trident, however.

 

10 hours ago, ruby.monkey said:

Mine is in brushed steel with a fully-plastic section, and seems to be a promotional pen for Kenichi Mikawa if Google Translate is to be believed.

 

Maybe they were more common than I thought?

[Number99]

On 11/17/2024 at 5:59 AM, ruby.monkey said:

Kenichi Mikawa

For further Google searching.

美川憲一

 

[Number99]

On 11/17/2024 at 3:26 PM, PithyProlix said:

 

Well, I currently have two Sailor Tridents (I sold another a few months ago), and I can only find one of them right now! 😅 So, probably not a good idea to generalize from this N = 1!

 

The length of the Trident's (the one I could find!) cap is slightly longer than the Hoscal's. Both have snap caps and are interchangeable between the two pens. The barrel length is the same, as is the length of the section + nib. They appear to be the same diameter through the whole cap and barrel.  The section/nib units are indeed interchangable - the couplers (the part with male threads) are metal and look identical. The clip on this particular Trident is the same as one found on some of the lower-end Hoscals, such as this one:

[Photo hotlinked from a Yahoo!Japan listing.]

 

BTW, regarding overall proportions for my Mikuni versus this particular Trident: basically the same except the Mikuni's cap is roughly 5mm longer and the exposed part of its nib is maybe 2mm longer. Neither caps nor section/nib units are interchangeable.

 

 

May I ask, please, for the link to the page the Spacer photos are from?

 

 

The nib of this Spacer (sans gold plating) could very well be the same as my Mikuni's. But the rest of the section/nib unit is quite different.

 

 

Now this is striking! Not only the same name for the Spacer and Mikuni but, unmistakably, the manual covers have been designed by the same entity (assuming one didn't copy the other)! Could Spacer be the same company as (or closely related to) Mikuni? I think this would likely point toward Apex as being the original patent holder for the nib.

 

It's not going to happen soon but hopefully I'll find time to take comparison photos and discuss further in either an existing Trident thread or a new one. (Need to try to find the patent, too!)

Thank you!

It was all done before I knew it, and the information is exactly what I expected!

 

[dms525]

Visconti Homo sapiens Lotus Garden. Stub nib. Visconti's own site offered it for 40% off. Triggered my buy impulse.

 

 

David