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Vintage Japanese Hard Rubber Fountain Pens Onoto-Style?

Marlow

By Marlow
in Japan - Asia

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Marlow Extremely Rare

Marlow

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About this time last year I almost pulled the trigger on a very large (14.5cm+) japanese hard rubber pen on that auction site. It was quite expensive at about $600 so the import duty was going to push it overboard for me. It very closely resembled a long slender clipless Onoto, with knurling in two bands but it was around 10-15% thicker. I cannot for the life of me remember the brand name nor can I locate anything on here or via google-fu!

 

Does anyone have any idea which Japanese brands made hard rubber pens in the Onoto style?! :huh: :)

"Every job is good if you do your best and work hard.

A man who works hard stinks only to the ones that have

nothing to do but smell."

Laura Ingalls Wilder

 

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mke Antique

mke

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> Does anyone have any idea which Japanese brands made hard rubber pens in the Onoto style

 

Maruzen e.g.

 

You didn't save that auction information (link, pictures)?

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Marlow Extremely Rare

Marlow

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> Does anyone have any idea which Japanese brands made hard rubber pens in the Onoto style

 

Maruzen e.g.

 

You didn't save that auction information (link, pictures)?

 

Maruzen! That's the one! Awesome thanks! :D

 

Edit: Ohh, just looked and I found the Maruzen listing I saw a while ago but it was for a nice but modern pen.

 

Unfortunately I was not thinking straight when I saw that hard rubber one and failed to save it in any way! :-(

Edited by Marlow

"Every job is good if you do your best and work hard.

A man who works hard stinks only to the ones that have

nothing to do but smell."

Laura Ingalls Wilder

 

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Marlow Extremely Rare

Marlow

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> Maruzen & Onoto style

 

They still do from time to time.

https://www.fudefan.com/2019/03/maruzen-150th-athena/

 

These modern pens are certainly very attractive though my bag is usually vintage or antique only. I'm guessing the pen I saw for sale last year must have been fairly rare as I can find literally zero on an image search for variants on "vintage japanese hard rubber fountain pen" or "japanese bchr / bcr" etc and there appears to be nothing coming up in the search on here either.

"Every job is good if you do your best and work hard.

A man who works hard stinks only to the ones that have

nothing to do but smell."

Laura Ingalls Wilder

 

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Marlow Extremely Rare

Marlow

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Wow! That's extremely helpful of you. Thank you so much! :D I think I need to become familiar with how to navigate those auctions. Looks pretty scary - I speak a few languages but Japanese is not one of them!

"Every job is good if you do your best and work hard.

A man who works hard stinks only to the ones that have

nothing to do but smell."

Laura Ingalls Wilder

 

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Paul80 Collectors Item

Paul80

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There are a few of them on that auction site now, all in Japan though so the import charges problem is still there.

 

Bit pricey for a cartridge converter pen though.

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Marlow Extremely Rare

Marlow

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There are a few of them on that auction site now, all in Japan though so the import charges problem is still there.

 

Bit pricey for a cartridge converter pen though.

 

Oh fer sure! I'm interested for future reference really. If and when I see another like that chunky hard rubber Onoto lookalike I would like to at least have the option!

"Every job is good if you do your best and work hard.

A man who works hard stinks only to the ones that have

nothing to do but smell."

Laura Ingalls Wilder

 

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stan Collectors Item

stan

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Many small companies produced BCHR pens. The Maruzen 'Orion' is one of the more famous.

stan

Formerly Ryojusen Pens
The oldest and largest buyer and seller of vintage Japanese pens in America.


Member: Pen Collectors of America & Fuente, THE Japanese Pen Collectors Club

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liubrian Near Mint

liubrian

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Many Japanese companies did and do produce hard rubber pens in more or less the form of the Onoto Model N. However, if you're looking for one which is significantly girthier than the Onoto, two particular pens come to mind.

 

In current production, there's the Eboya Kyouka, which comes in three sizes. I haven't handled one in a while, but I think even the smaller one is thicker than the standard slender Onoto. They have an online shop in English.

 

If you're definitely after a vintage pen, I think you might have come across the work of Eisuke Sakai and his team. Their little workshop was producing ebonite pens in various shapes from roughly the 60s to the 90s, and quite a number of them looked like Onotos. There's one on eBay now (https://www.ebay.com/itm/Onoto-Style-Fountain-Pen-by-Ban-ei-Group-Vintage-1960s/232501317220) but that's a slender one, and also way overpriced compared to Yahoo Japan. A significantly thicker one is visible on Euro Box's archive page (http://euro-box.com/biz/726) - run a search for pens sold on 2018/08/08 and it'll come up. If you search 'Sakai' you'll see quite a number of his group's works.

 

Euro Box doesn't have any of these pens listed at the moment, but if you send an email I'm sure Fujii-san will let you know if he has any in the back. Alternatively, you can try picking up the relevant Japanese search terms and start stalking Yahoo, but I find it hard to do that and leave with just the one pen. There isn't much English information online about Eisuke Sakai, but that means that you can say you know all there is to know after an afternoon on Google. Good luck!

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Marlow Extremely Rare

Marlow

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Many Japanese companies did and do produce hard rubber pens in more or less the form of the Onoto Model N. However, if you're looking for one which is significantly girthier than the Onoto, two particular pens come to mind.

 

In current production, there's the Eboya Kyouka, which comes in three sizes. I haven't handled one in a while, but I think even the smaller one is thicker than the standard slender Onoto. They have an online shop in English.

 

If you're definitely after a vintage pen, I think you might have come across the work of Eisuke Sakai and his team. Their little workshop was producing ebonite pens in various shapes from roughly the 60s to the 90s, and quite a number of them looked like Onotos. There's one on eBay now (https://www.ebay.com/itm/Onoto-Style-Fountain-Pen-by-Ban-ei-Group-Vintage-1960s/232501317220) but that's a slender one, and also way overpriced compared to Yahoo Japan. A significantly thicker one is visible on Euro Box's archive page (http://euro-box.com/biz/726) - run a search for pens sold on 2018/08/08 and it'll come up. If you search 'Sakai' you'll see quite a number of his group's works.

 

Euro Box doesn't have any of these pens listed at the moment, but if you send an email I'm sure Fujii-san will let you know if he has any in the back. Alternatively, you can try picking up the relevant Japanese search terms and start stalking Yahoo, but I find it hard to do that and leave with just the one pen. There isn't much English information online about Eisuke Sakai, but that means that you can say you know all there is to know after an afternoon on Google. Good luck!

 

Thanks very much for your very kind reply! -

Here are just two of the faces my wallet just pulled at me: :headsmack: :bawl: !!

Edited by Marlow

"Every job is good if you do your best and work hard.

A man who works hard stinks only to the ones that have

nothing to do but smell."

Laura Ingalls Wilder

 

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Marlow Extremely Rare

Marlow

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Someone is selling off his collection - e.g. an unused Maruzen Athena pen 150th anniversary LE - very good price.

 

https://item.mercari.com/jp/m26157042785/

 

Looks very nice. I might have been interested in it if I didn't have to pay 20% + customs handling fees on top for the privilege of importing it! Also, as I have zero experience of purchasing in that way I don't have the trust / confidence factor yet!

"Every job is good if you do your best and work hard.

A man who works hard stinks only to the ones that have

nothing to do but smell."

Laura Ingalls Wilder

 

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Pen_Padawan Mint

Pen_Padawan

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Does anyone have any idea which Japanese brands made hard rubber pens in the Onoto style?! :huh: :)

Hi Marlow,

When you say Onoto style are you referring to the exterior pen shape or the filling system? A lot of times people discuss the Onoto style filling system, self filler. The modern Maruzen pens are cartridge converters. Vintage ones are self filling or lever fillers.

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Marlow Extremely Rare

Marlow

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Hi Marlow,

When you say Onoto style are you referring to the exterior pen shape or the filling system? A lot of times people discuss the Onoto style filling system, self filler. The modern Maruzen pens are cartridge converters. Vintage ones are self filling or lever fillers.

 

Hi

I was referring to the exterior shape. The pen I saw looked like the long, slender clipless onoto plunger fillers in hard rubber that was an even-coloured brown, with at least 2 bands of knurling similar to the Onotos, just thicker and better-quality looking! The pen cap had the same rounded type top to it that the similar Onotos have (i.e. NOT the flat topped style I have seen on modern-looking japanese ebonite pens.) I am kicking myself for not saving the details and photos of that auction. The title of the listing included a hyphenated japanese-sounding name for the pen, with, perhaps "Ban-?" in the name. The nib was especially beautiful and had a japanese name on it in roman characters.

"Every job is good if you do your best and work hard.

A man who works hard stinks only to the ones that have

nothing to do but smell."

Laura Ingalls Wilder

 

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Pen_Padawan Mint

Pen_Padawan

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Hi

I was referring to the exterior shape. The pen I saw looked like the long, slender clipless onoto plunger fillers in hard rubber that was an even-coloured brown, with at least 2 bands of knurling similar to the Onotos, just thicker and better-quality looking! The pen cap had the same rounded type top to it that the similar Onotos have (i.e. NOT the flat topped style I have seen on modern-looking japanese ebonite pens.) I am kicking myself for not saving the details and photos of that auction. The title of the listing included a hyphenated japanese-sounding name for the pen, with, perhaps "Ban-?" in the name. The nib was especially beautiful and had a japanese name on it in roman characters.

 

I think you were looking at a vintage Ban-ei, Banei or Sakai Eisuke pen. Well documented, just do a Google search. The gold bands were often added to the pen like jewelry.

post-138750-0-09152000-1559703387_thumb.jpg

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Marlow Extremely Rare

Marlow

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I think you were looking at a vintage Ban-ei, Banei or Sakai Eisuke pen. Well documented, just do a Google search. The gold bands were often added to the pen like jewelry.

 

That is the very one!! :yikes: :happyberet:

"Every job is good if you do your best and work hard.

A man who works hard stinks only to the ones that have

nothing to do but smell."

Laura Ingalls Wilder

 

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Pen_Padawan Mint

Pen_Padawan

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That is the very one!! :yikes: :happyberet:

 

If all you are after is the exterior look, then maybe an Eboya Kyouka may fit, they have a small, medium and large version. https://eboyashop.com/collections/kyouka/products/kyouka-tanshin-m-size They are Japanese ebonite with the Onoto shape. But keep in mind, this modern version is cartridge converter. The Ban-ei pen you originally looked at should be a Japanese eyedropper.

 

Let us know what you decide and end up getting. :puddle: :puddle: :puddle:

post-138750-0-43780200-1559729096_thumb.jpg

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Marlow Extremely Rare

Marlow

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If all you are after is the exterior look, then maybe an Eboya Kyouka may fit, they have a small, medium and large version. https://eboyashop.com/collections/kyouka/products/kyouka-tanshin-m-size They are Japanese ebonite with the Onoto shape. But keep in mind, this modern version is cartridge converter. The Ban-ei pen you originally looked at should be a Japanese eyedropper.

 

Let us know what you decide and end up getting. :puddle: :puddle: :puddle:

I don't buy modern pens as a rule. Not unless I get a ridiculously good deal.

"Every job is good if you do your best and work hard.

A man who works hard stinks only to the ones that have

nothing to do but smell."

Laura Ingalls Wilder

 

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