Help With Sailor 1911 King Of Pen Identification

[AgtSmith]

Hello everyone! I'm new to Fountain Pen Network, and what has drawn me here is the expertise of the members who frequent the forums here. I would like to participate more in the future, but I do have an immediate question of the community. Please tell me if I've included anything in this post that are against the rules.

 

I recently acquired this Sailor 1911 King of Pen from England. The seller informed me that her father (its previous owner) died recently and that he was an avid pen collector. She is slowly selling the collection apparently because none of the family is that interested in the pens. The only thing she could tell me was that she thinks the body + cap are ebonite due to the smell, which she described as burning tires.

 

My primary concern is to determine if the pen is real, and to know more about its history. I would appreciate any information you might have. I've asked around a little, and the best guess from a trusted source is that it could be a very early King of Pen model, possibly 2005. I've compared this pen to the other 5 Sailor pens I have (all very modern models). There are three things about the pen that cause me to question its authenticity:

 

1) The underside of the clip, the bump, is folded differently than the clips on my other Sailor pens. This could be because the pen is an older model.

 

2) The nib is missing the gold hallmark '875' below the '21K' that's present in every other Sailor nib I have

 

3) The body + cap material appears to be ebonite, but I'm unsure. I haven't been able to find any information on a 1911 KoP made of ebonite, just the large bespoke KoP that does not look like a 1911. Video showing the material characteristics: Sailor 1911 KoP w/ Sound

 

Here are the pictures I've taken; I captured what I thought were all the relevant details. Please let me know if I should upload more of specific areas.

 

Showing the cap engraving of 'KING' and 'SAILOR':

 

 

 

Trying to show the material of the cap and barrel:

 

 

 

 

Nib close-ups:

 

 

 

misaligned tines (since corrected):

 

 

 

Section assembly:

 

 

Back of clip (notice the back of the bump):

 

 

[zaddick]

Yes, it looks like the first KOP that was ebonite with rings vs. The later resin version or the later bandless ebonite.

[AgtSmith]

Thanks for your input zaddick. It looks like the modern KoP ebonite and 1911 KoP ST had a baby. Would you say it's real then, and circa 2003 or 2005? I can't figure out when the first King of Pens came out. The lack of '875' isn't anything to be concerned about? I know some Nagasawa nibs made by Sailor don't have the hallmark on them.

[zaddick]

I'm not super up to date on Sailor history. But I think these pens came put around that time. It was around the time of the 95th anniversary KOP REALO came out in 2005. The nib seems fine.

[zaddick]

Those are getting harder to find now. Good catch.

[Barry Gabay]

Hello AgtSmith,

 

Beautiful pen. Congratulations. May I endorse my friend, zaddick's, expert opinion? Your pen is the real deal. I just checked my banded ebonite King of Pen, like yours, and the nib is identical. It lacks "875" below the 21K. It was purchased years ago from a friend in the UK. However, my bandless red & black ebonite KoP from approximately the same era has a nib marked with both 21K and 875.

 

Hope it serves you for many years.

Enjoy your weekend.

Best wishes,

Barry

[AgtSmith]

Thanks for your input Barry. I really appreciate you comparing it to your own pen. Your opinion, and zaddick's of course, has put me at ease in knowing that this is the real thing! I purchased it not knowing what it was exactly, and was very antsy waiting for it arrive from across the pond ( England to Texas!). I really enjoy the nib despite it being very different from my more modern KoP; I'm almost certain that the previous owner had it smoothed considerably. It is very lovely, and I would get rid of every other pen I currently have before parting with it. Thanks very much!

[AgtSmith]

I reached out to the European Sailor reps before posting here, and they finally got back to me. It is confirmed to be the 1st King of Pen model, released in 2005, just as zaddick and Barry correctly determined. The rep sent me a picture of Sailor's 2005-2006 catalog with the pen pictured (mostly importantly - with the model number). Here is a link to the catalog page in case anyone is interested: Sailor 2005-2006 Catalog King of Pen 11-7001-420

Edited April 17, 2019 by AgtSmith

[zaddick]

Thanks for the link. Crazy how little the price went up over the years vs. Some companies. Cough, cough Montblanc cough cough.

[AgtSmith]

I'm relatively new to the fountain pen world, as I said, but Montblanc appears to be the Rolex of pen brands. Maybe The recent Sailor price hikes are to make up for lost time?

[steve50]

Thanks for the link. Crazy how little the price went up over the years vs. Some companies. Cough, cough Montblanc cough cough.

 

I'm relatively new to the fountain pen world, as I said, but Montblanc appears to be the Rolex of pen brands. Maybe The recent Sailor price hikes are to make up for lost time?

Could this be attributable to the fact that the inflation rate in Japan has been very low (sometimes even in the minus in the last 15 years).

Edited April 19, 2019 by steve50

[XYZZY]

Could this be attributable to the fact that the inflation rate in Japan has been very low (sometimes even in the minus in the last 15 years).

 

Have Sailor prices risen in Japan? Or is this an increase by Itoya America (the local distributor) on Sailor products that it bring into the US?

[AgtSmith]

I believe that the prices have only risen in the US. Most of the authorized retailers have been saying to buy Sailors now before the price hike that occurred this week.

[steve50]

Have Sailor prices risen in Japan? Or is this an increase by Itoya America (the local distributor) on Sailor products that it bring into the US?

On the 2005 calatogue the KOP is priced around 70,000 yen which sounds like the same as what it costs now in Japan.

[mr_mbp]

I was able to recently acquire this pen as well. Has anyone found a serial number or booklet that could help definitively identify it? The polish on the body been maintained although you can tell on the inside and threads that the pen is ebonite.

[cgreenberg19]

I would say that it is legit. I don't know that much history of Sailor pen models, but that one looks okay.

[mr_mbp]

Thank you. I contacted Sailor and they were unable to provide a serial number but my pen looks like several others of this type, so I'm happily convinced it's the real deal.