I got this pen today

[Arkanabar]

On 4/27/2023 at 11:10 AM, Number99 said:

The three diamond shapes of the design, derived from the water chestnut (菱), are Mitsubishi (三菱) for three and Yotsubishi (四菱) for four.

However, the Mitsubishi logo has been redesigned by fusing two different family crests.

I think I have seen a pen with a "four diamonds" mark on the nib and "Yotsubishi" engraved on the nib.

 

The actual logo on the clip of that pen looks very much like the Takeda mon:

the Yanagisawa mon, called yotsu-hanabishi per the Wicked Paedia's writeup on the clan's founder, is very similar:

Given the limited level of detail that's possible on the clip of a pen, the argument could be made for either.

[PithyProlix]

On 4/27/2023 at 10:10 PM, Number99 said:

The three diamond shapes of the design, derived from the water chestnut (菱), are Mitsubishi (三菱) for three and Yotsubishi (四菱) for four.

However, the Mitsubishi logo has been redesigned by fusing two different family crests.

I think I have seen a pen with a "four diamonds" mark on the nib and "Yotsubishi" engraved on the nib.

 

 

50 minutes ago, Arkanabar said:

The actual logo on the clip of that pen looks very much like the Takeda mon:

the Yanagisawa mon, called yotsu-hanabishi per the Wicked Paedia's writeup on the clan's founder, is very similar:

Given the limited level of detail that's possible on the clip of a pen, the argument could be made for either.

 

The pen is confirmed to be a Yotsubishi by resident expert, @stan, and, as such, it is a four chestnuts/diamonds logo, as @Number99 indicates. I don't know if there is evidence that this logo is derived from a family crest.

[Number99]

Most of the blog post was image information…

I mentioned that "I think I have seen a pen with a "four diamonds" mark on the nib and "Yotsubishi" engraved on the nib.", but I cannot reconfirm this.

I would therefore correct this to be in a pre-comment state, including as to whether "Yotsubish" indicates the name of the manufacturer or the brand name.

 

As for the Yotsubish logo, we are currently working on a draft.

 

PS.

To tell the truth, the word "yotsubish" does not appear in any of the documents issued by "ishishouten" in the blog post...

 

Then, "yotsubishi" is a basic Japanese word and a common designation for patterns that include family crests.

"Yotsuwaribishii" (四つ割菱)for the Takeda crest(紋=mon=crest) is a Japanese term for the family crest.

 

Edited May 4, 2023 by Number99

[Number99]

I found a picture document on the internet.

*An engraving of the "Yotsubishi" mark and letters on the barrel from aucfan.

https://aucview.aucfan.com/yahoo/n1087501200/#&gid=1&pid=4

 

[Number99]

13 hours ago, Arkanabar said:

The actual logo on the clip of that pen looks very much like the Takeda mon:

the Yanagisawa mon, called yotsu-hanabishi per the Wicked Paedia's writeup on the clan's founder, is very similar:

Given the limited level of detail that's possible on the clip of a pen, the argument could be made for either.

The "yotsubishi" is a common pattern and is also found in family crests.

It is reasonable to speculate that the Penn logo is derived from their family crest (I think it might be, too). However, this needs to be verified.

Yotsubishis are also found on kimono fabric patterns. It can also be found on the handle of a Japanese sword.

 

And it is also here.

Please take a look at the map in the Ishishoten catalog.

*From a blog post, Fountain Pen Graph.

https://stat.ameba.jp/user_images/20140914/08/kamisama-samasama/b0/00/j/o0800073513065922211.jpg?caw=800

 

 

[Penguincollector]

I got this lovely 10k gold filled Cross Century II with a lovely 14k M nib. I just cleaned out the old ink, so I haven’t inked it yet, it’s air drying. I wanted to see if the section was interchangeable with the Wanderlust, but the clutch rings are different and they screw onto the barrels, but the caps don’t fit. 

[Bo Bo Olson]

Does it count? I have a sapphire blue with chrome trim Townsend, that had been used or dipped once, back when i was a Semi-flex Snob, and looked down my nose at regular flex.

I was also a 'noobie' but someone had a sale (Galleria Kaufhaus, famous for pen sales or my B&M), and I got it and the matching ball point for €100.00, So of course it had a steel nib......was sort of a dumb gold myth believer back then too. Hadn't run into Osmia's grand steel nibs then either.

 

All in all I was not happy, so it lay a decade  or more under the bed, while my wife held it's the ball point captive in the living room, as too good to take to work. She is a Ball Point Barbarian, so much, her three fountain pens, are in my collection.

My wife had kicked the pen box out from under bed storage in she needed the space. (You know how sneaky women are....perhaps she wanted me to use it....)

 

Someone mentioned his nice springy Cross Townsend nib......and by golly, it wasn't the nail or semi-nail I remembered. It was regular flex.................and I grew up a bit since being a Semi-flex Snob, to liking regular flex......

 

I have so many pens sitting there saying next.....but if when I ink it, it would be very much like a just received pen.

Not my picture.....but this is the pen.

I had known the name Cross.....almost bought an expensive $8.00 thin matt black Cross ball point pen***, the status ball point of the early 1970's but was ambushed by the P-75 brothers. (The sterling silver ball point was as thin as the Cross mat black ball point....and had a mechanical pencil cartridge in it...the normal jotter cartridge fit it.In a Jotter cost $3.50 or so, an $8.00 ball point was expensive, and the P-75 ball point at $18.00 was outrageous. *too expensive to take out the house, did that a nervous thrice. The P-75 fountain pen cost an ungodly $22.00. and I'd just got don drooling over a classic black and gold 14 dollar Snorkel.

***Yep there was a time when Cross didn't make fountain pens.

It was then the P-75 ball point, the term Classic came in a few yars later, from my reading.

 

I'm addicted to Pen sales, out side my 200's all my 4-5 new pens were bought on sale.

The Cross box has moved from behind an inkwell set to on the desk....it will be inked ..... soon.

[Waltz For Zizi]

On 4/29/2023 at 10:51 PM, Misfit said:

@Waltz For Zizi it is curious why Cross made the cap ring that way. The pen is kind of bling, and the cap ring is not quite there. I think it would snag fabric. 

You are right. I does snag the fabric a lot.

[Paul-in-SF]

Today I received in the mail a Crocker Boston pen. It was not a practical purchase, in that it did not come with a cap, but I felt compelled to have it. The main section of the barrel has 8 facets of mother of pearl, flanked by two figured gold rings; the rest of the pen appears to be ebonite. The gold rings have no hallmarks, but considering the early period they might be any configuration of gold content, I suppose, except probably not gold plated, as they show no signs of brassing or loss of surface gold. They appear to be cast rather than carved, but I don't know much about such things. The nib is also not hallmarked, it just says Crocker Boston 3, but it looks like 14K. There is a tiny chip out of one of the tine tips so it probably doesn't write well without a little attention. There appears to be some possibility of semi-flex writing. The pen body with nib measures 127 mm long, and the barrel is slim at about 10.5 mm at the thickest point. 

 

Based on what I have read I was expecting this to be a blow-filler, or possibly a hatchet-filler, but there does not appear to be any evidence of either. There is no hole to blow into at the end of the barrel. I found a photo of what appears to be the same model in the Gopens archive, including a cap, but there is not much information there.

 

So I am looking for more information, including advice on taking it apart to replace the sac, if it has one. 

 

edited to add: I've decided to post in the Repairs forum to ask about disassembly. 

 

 

 

[irrigger]

 

In other posts, I swore off buying another TWSBI. But I liked my 540 before it's death and decided to try the 580. So I picked up the Iris version with a 1.1 stub. So far, no issues. Only time will tell.

[Penguincollector]

🚨 GRAIL PEN ALERT 🚨 

 

 

My birthday present got here a week early, a 1995 Pelikan M400 Schwarz-Blau with an OM nib.  I’ve wanted this pen since I was 20. 

[Stompie]

11 hours ago, Penguincollector said:

🚨 GRAIL PEN ALERT 🚨 

 

 

My birthday present got here a week early, a 1995 Pelikan M400 Schwarz-Blau with an OM nib.  I’ve wanted this pen since I was 20. 

Very nice!

 

I don't have a single Pelikan and I have not yet been tempted to get one either, no reason why not.

 

And Happy Birthday for when that arrives!

[Penguincollector]

4 hours ago, Stompie said:

Very nice!

 

I don't have a single Pelikan and I have not yet been tempted to get one either, no reason why not.

 

And Happy Birthday for when that arrives!

Thank you, it’s Saturday. I had one lonely Pelikan for about 30 years, then  suddenly got 2 in the last 2 months ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ 

[Bo Bo Olson]

4 hours ago, Stompie said:

I don't have a single Pelikan and I have not yet been tempted to get one either, no reason why not.

My flock has been called a danger to humanity.

I have a double hand full of them but only two modern ones....don't care for the nibs.

Vintage '50-65 (semi-flex)....semi-vintage '82-97 (nice springy regular flex, a comfortable ride) ...are nibs that write with a nice clean line.

Post '97 are fat and blobby with a double ball nib.........the 200 had been safe until @ 5 years ago.....so an older 200 is well balanced and has a great regular flex nib....as good as the gold '82-97 400.

 

Stompie, if you do get a Pelikan get a medium-long 400nn. Semi-flex (soft ++)...which is flair not calligraphy...for calligraphy one is abusing the nib......perhaps even an OB....which is still a writing nib, it adds a bit more flair to a flair nib. If you want narrow the nibs from then are 1/2 a width narrower than modern.

 

It or any of the '50-54 400's hold between 1.95-2.0ml ink.

It took me some three years of dithering to judge the 400nn a tad better balanced than the 400...posted of course.

 

I have three tortoise Pelikans, but not a 400nn.They don't cost much if any more than normal green stripped Pelikans on the auction section of German ebay..........for sanity stay away form Buy Now. I'd say between €90-120....looked last year not this.

 

And a 400NN has plastic gasket 2.0!! So should be good as your child's heritage pen.

 

So Stompie...what pens do you chase????

[Stompie]

On 5/14/2023 at 3:04 PM, Bo Bo Olson said:

My flock has been called a danger to humanity.

I have a double hand full of them but only two modern ones....don't care for the nibs.

Vintage '50-65 (semi-flex)....semi-vintage '82-97 (nice springy regular flex, a comfortable ride) ...are nibs that write with a nice clean line.

Post '97 are fat and blobby with a double ball nib.........the 200 had been safe until @ 5 years ago.....so an older 200 is well balanced and has a great regular flex nib....as good as the gold '82-97 400.

 

Stompie, if you do get a Pelikan get a medium-long 400nn. Semi-flex (soft ++)...which is flair not calligraphy...for calligraphy one is abusing the nib......perhaps even an OB....which is still a writing nib, it adds a bit more flair to a flair nib. If you want narrow the nibs from then are 1/2 a width narrower than modern.

 

It or any of the '50-54 400's hold between 1.95-2.0ml ink.

It took me some three years of dithering to judge the 400nn a tad better balanced than the 400...posted of course.

 

I have three tortoise Pelikans, but not a 400nn.They don't cost much if any more than normal green stripped Pelikans on the auction section of German ebay..........for sanity stay away form Buy Now. I'd say between €90-120....looked last year not this.

 

And a 400NN has plastic gasket 2.0!! So should be good as your child's heritage pen.

 

So Stompie...what pens do you chase????

Thank you for all that information, much appreciated.

 

To be honest Bo, I have stopped chasing pens now and am concentrating more on my actual handwriting. 

I have found the Jinhao X159 to be a fantastic pen with a nice thin line and an ever so slight amount of give to the nib if I want to enhance any specific letter.

For pure flex I find my dip pens to be more than adequate and far better than any fountain pen for flex writing. I do still look a little at Ebay in case a nice holder comes up but, I have an adequate supply of holders courtesy of Brian from Unique Obliques.

 

If I had to be chasing any pen at all it might be an old Conklin Crescent Filler with one of those Russian gymnast nibs like GClef had, if you remember that one from years ago - what a beauty that one was.

[dms525]

 

David

[Bo Bo Olson]

Semi-flex is a flair nib....not any more a flex pen than a regular flex one is....just natural nothing forced.

Line variation comes with out thought, the heaviness of the hand forming the letter makes it wider at stress points and thinner where the pressure is released.

 

I'm glad you are learning how to write...been promising to do that for some 15 years.........promises whispered .... I have dip pens, and wet noodle or better pens.....Even got the hammer and chisel to open the closed by fossilized dust handwriting book. 

[inkstainedruth]

7 hours ago, dms525 said:

 

David

Interesting color.

So, what's the ink?  It's got some serious sheening going on....

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[dms525]

1 hour ago, inkstainedruth said:

Interesting color.

So, what's the ink?  It's got some serious sheening going on....

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

 

The ink is Leonardo Blue. It shades and, with a wet nib writing on smooth paper, it sheens bigly. I like it a lot.

 

David

[Misfit]

I got this pen, though I do not know a proper name for it beyond Metal 83.