Identifying Vintage Japanese Pen - "The Radio" Fountain Pen

[LoveBigPensAndCannotLie]

Hey all, I recently got a really interesting little pen and I am trying to learn more about it. Please see pics below:

 

 

My lighting is a little bit bad right now so maybe it's not very visible but it's a very pretty pen. The barrel is translucent (but very dirty) with a type of chevron pattern on it.

 

The only identifying text on the barrel is seen above, it says '"The Radio" Fountain Pen High Class' along with a "Trade Mark" symbol. The nib is an American replacement, a Wahl "Signature" nib, but I am confident that this is a Japanese pen based on the overall style of it. It appears to be a traditional Japanese eyedropper with a shutoff valve, and besides that, it has some kanji on it (a name, I am guessing).

 

So my question is... does anyone know more about this pen? How do I "operate" it? My first thought was that I can just unscrew the section since it is an eyedropper but it is stuck on there tight and I did not want to break it as vintage Japanese pens like these are very rare in my neck of the woods. Any help appreciated!

[inkstainedruth]

My first guess on seeing the photos was that it might be a Vac filler (like an old Sheaffer pen), where you unscrew the back end and draw it out, pulling ink into the barrel.  

Beyond that, have absolutely no clue.  But hopefully someone more knowledgable than me will weigh in.  It is an interesting looking pen (I'm guessing maybe celluloid for the barrel and cap material).  But given that the imprint on the barrel is in English, are you sure it's a Japanese pen?

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[LoveBigPensAndCannotLie]

Aha, I finally got it unscrewed after soaking overnight, came out pretty easily actually. The inside of the pen is absolutely filthy, I need to figure out how to clean around the little tube towards the back of the pen, I definitely do not want to break it off.

 

About the pen being a Japanese pen, I think it is because of the filling system. After taking it apart I can confirm that it's a shut-off valve eyedropper. The little tubey thing has a small bit at the end that plugs the hole in the section when it's fully down, blocking ink access. Also, the kanji on the pen.

 

It doesn't have a seal that extends to the sides of the barrel so it doesn't fill using this plunger. These were really common in Japanese pens (I think they invented them?), I'm curious why they were so popular. Maybe someone who is more familiar with Japanese pen history can tell us. The only modern ones I am aware of are made by Opus 88, similar system.

 

A lot of Japanese pens have English imprints, I am not sure why. Maybe it was a "prestige" thing. Take a look at this vintage Pilot Eyedropper up for auction right now: https://www.ebay.com/itm/165918292580 That's probably from the 30's or 40's? I've also seen "high class" on some vintage Japanese nibs, probably some kind of mistranslation.

 

I'll try to take some more pics once I've got everything cleaned up. The barrel is actually very see-through, the pen was just that dirty that it looks opaque in the pics above.

 

 

[inkstainedruth]

Good to know.  I was not familiar with shut-off valve eyedroppers.   

As for the imprint, and your thoughts of it being a "prestige" thing, that sounds a lot like how Parker apparently sold caps alone (not with the pen) just so people could have that arrow clip sticking out of a breast pocket....

That's one of the things I love most about FPN -- I learn cool things all the time.

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[LoveBigPensAndCannotLie]

12 minutes ago, inkstainedruth said:

your thoughts of it being a "prestige" thing

 

It still happens if you go to Japan. You'll see lots of really funky English phrases and words on stuff, and I guess that makes the products exotic and interesting for locals. I think it's the equivalent of when cosmetics and fashion related stuff here has random French on it, we think it's fancy because it has some exotic language on it. It's all marketing.

 

Kinda similar to that is Häagen-Dazs ice cream. It's 100% American but the name was created to sound "Danish." There were a couple of reasons why they picked that name but one of them was because Denmark had a good reputation for their dairy products and they figured they could take advantage of that.

 

[shalitha33]

I'm uncertain which came first, Japanese ink shutoff system or that found on the Onoto.

If Onoto is earlier, It could have been a copy of the simpler shutoff system, without the more complex vacuum based filling system. 



Some other Japanese nib imprints "Best Point Pen -(2)-" and "Warrernted W.K Hardest iridium".