Who can identify this very thin fountain pen?

[JWG J]

Who can identify this very thin fountain pen? Probably it is cheap, but it is interesting (at least to me): a fountain pen, in comparison to which a Sheaffer TRZ is thick! It writes well, probably has an F-nib, which is marked with (a styled) "GE". The max. diameter of the barrel is 6.7 mm; it is a cartridge pen. It has had text in gold lettering on the barrel, but this has almost 100% disappeared. The first picture shows the pen next to a Pelikan M200, and its writing; the squares are 10x10 mm. Any help would be appreciated!

[Sailor Kenshin]

What sort of cartridges does it use?

[Mangrove Jack]

Looks like a Sailor Chalana.

[JWG J]

Thanks! I think Mangrove Jack is right, found this on internet (could not visit the website, though), see last picture. For Sailor Kenshin some pictures of the cartridge (I only have one, found it in the pen); there is no text on the cartridge.

[Sailor Kenshin]

Thanks.  Looks like a Chalana indeed.

[Doc Dan]

I tried looking up the Chalana because I thought this pen interesting. It looks like a Chalana. But, all of the nibs on all of the Chalanas I can find have a different look and the usual Sailor decorative style or at least has Sailor on them. This nib doesn't resemble any of them. What does the GE stand for? Is that the French company? I am not being argumentative. I would simply like to know. 

[Number99]

Sailor supplied Sharana type fountain pens on an OEM basis.

Sailor slim ink (cartridge) and Sailor slim converter (not Sailor mini converter) are both no longer in production. In Japan, there were a few available until last fall, but now it is difficult to get them.

Please take good care of your cartridges. If you find one somewhere, don't hesitate to get it. (It depends on the price...)

Here is an example of one of the catalogs. (From Blog article "万年筆評価の部屋".)

https://livedoor.blogimg.jp/pelikan_1931/imgs/f/3/f379f397.jpg

 

P.S.

The logo on the nib was previously requested for identification, but I could not figure it out.

The person who asked me to identify the logo said he thought the pen was Sharana. (And he is the owner of Sharana.)

If this pen was an OEM product, I do not know what company placed the order, but the cartridge is most likely Sailor Slim Ink. (Manufacturer's nominal length 59.5 mm, maximum width 4.5 mm. The width may have been increased by installation.) (It is as thin as the thinnest type of straw used for drinking cold drinks.)

https://sailor.co.jp/product/13-0150/

Of course, there remains the possibility that this pen is an authorized Sailor product.

There was also a gold plated stainless steel nib variation and a 24k gold nib variation. (Yes 24k.)

From goo blog.

https://blog.goo.ne.jp/tomikei_2011/e/29ae0392e0295a89afe6f327c590f0fe

Postscript.

The 24k variation described as Chalana in the blog post appears to have the name Gracile.

 

Edited January 4, 2024 by Number99

[Mangrove Jack]

My Sailor Chalana set.

Fountain pen with Sailor 14K 1 nib, Ball Point and Pencil. 

1 must be for EF nib. It writes a very fine line. I use it occasionally and once you get used to the thinness of the pen it works well. 

 

[Penguincollector]

  I found Chalana cartridges and a converter at Fahrney’s last year. I don’t see them on the website, but it wouldn’t hurt to get in touch with them to see if they might have something available. They’re super old school so it’s possible. Oh, I also bought a Chalana clone from Aliexpress and it came with a converter that fit. It was super generic so I will edit this with a direct link when I find it. 
  
ETA: I misremembered. The nipples are not the same. The clone’s converter is too narrow.  But I did see converters at nibs.com- hurry!

Sailor Chalana converter

Edited January 4, 2024 by Penguincollector
Clarification

[Mangrove Jack]

7 hours ago, Penguincollector said:

  I found Chalana cartridges and a converter at Fahrney’s last year. I don’t see them on the website, but it wouldn’t hurt to get in touch with them to see if they might have something available. They’re super old school so it’s possible. Oh, I also bought a Chalana clone from Aliexpress and it came with a converter that fit. It was super generic so I will edit this with a direct link when I find it. 

Super. Please do.

[JWG J]

Hi folks, thanks very much for your replies, appreciated!

[Number99]

18 hours ago, Doc Dan said:

I tried looking up the Chalana because I thought this pen interesting. It looks like a Chalana. But, all of the nibs on all of the Chalanas I can find have a different look and the usual Sailor decorative style or at least has Sailor on them. This nib doesn't resemble any of them. What does the GE stand for? Is that the French company? I am not being argumentative. I would simply like to know. 

This is simply my personal opinion.

As for the OEM supplied Chalana type fountain pens being referred to as Chalana by enthusiasts, I am not sure if that is correct or not.

Surely the base of the pen is the same and it is easier to understand that way.

I just think it needs to be properly clarified when it is sold.

We also do not know if this pen is an OEM product as details are not known.

 

12 hours ago, Penguincollector said:

  I found Chalana cartridges and a converter at Fahrney’s last year. I don’t see them on the website, but it wouldn’t hurt to get in touch with them to see if they might have something available. They’re super old school so it’s possible. Oh, I also bought a Chalana clone from Aliexpress and it came with a converter that fit. It was super generic so I will edit this with a direct link when I find it. 
  
ETA: I misremembered. The nipples are not the same. The clone’s converter is too narrow.  But I did see converters at nibs.com- hurry!

Sailor Chalana converter

I am very curious about clones.

Is it a brass (metal) based pen? Is there a dedicated cartridge ink?

What does it look like and are there color variations?

I would appreciate it if you could share the link to the product page.

 

 

[Penguincollector]

5 hours ago, Number99 said:

This is simply my personal opinion.

As for the OEM supplied Chalana type fountain pens being referred to as Chalana by enthusiasts, I am not sure if that is correct or not.

Surely the base of the pen is the same and it is easier to understand that way.

I just think it needs to be properly clarified when it is sold.

We also do not know if this pen is an OEM product as details are not known.

 

I am very curious about clones.

Is it a brass (metal) based pen? Is there a dedicated cartridge ink?

What does it look like and are there color variations?

I would appreciate it if you could share the link to the product page.

 

 

  The clone is a very soft metal, not sure what, but the cap posted for a bit, then got too wide to post until I shaped it back over the end of the barrel, and now it posts again.  There’s a large color range to choose from. The nib is .5 mm. No ink came with the pen, just the converter. 
 

Here’s the link: 

Chalana clone

[JWG J]

These clones clearly have a different ending of the barrel, compared to the Chalana

[Penguincollector]

2 hours ago, JWG J said:

These clones clearly have a different ending of the barrel, compared to the Chalana

 

   Yes, the barrel end is similar to a Parker 88/Vector. Once I had it side by side with my Chalana, the only similarity is size of the nib and that it is also slender.
  I don’t know if you saw that I did find Chalana converters for sale at Nibs.com. Link is in my first post on this thread. 

[JWG J]

Thanks for the Chalana converter link!, didn't see it before 😀

[Penguincollector]

   You’re welcome; I really should have just made a new post instead of an edit, but I had said something incorrect and wanted to make sure I noted it. 

[Mangrove Jack]

Thanks Penguinollector, that's useful info about the converter.

[Number99]

19 hours ago, Penguincollector said:

The clone is a very soft metal, not sure what, but the cap posted for a bit, then got too wide to post until I shaped it back over the end of the barrel, and now it posts again.  There’s a large color range to choose from. The nib is .5 mm. No ink came with the pen, just the converter. 

Thank you for sharing the link!

The search function of AliExpress Japan, the reference site, does not work at all in either Japanese or English, so your sharing of the link was helpful.

 

The clone's product name is Candy Color Slim, which is similar to Sailor Candy Slim which has the same nib size as Chalana and uses the same cartridge.

It looks similar to the Chalana with the cap post and the barrel end design is completely different from the Candy Slim but has a Candy Slim-like feel to it.

I would compare one of these to a Japanese pen designed 40 years ago.

 

I'm glad you found a converter.

As for the ink cartridges, I don't think it has been that long since they were discontinued, as they were sold at Sailor-owned stores until recently.

It makes sense that its exclusive consumables would run out of stock quickly in Japan, where there are likely to be the largest number of Chalana users, and that inventory would exist overseas.

 

Sailor Candy Slim FP.

The images are borrowed and quoted from the product images of the pens I purchased.

 

Edited January 5, 2024 by Number99

[Penguincollector]

Here’s my Sailor Slim Candy. It’s a little bit bigger than my Chalana. I should take a picture of both with the clone.

 

Edited January 5, 2024 by Penguincollector
I don’t know why the picture is so tiny.