I now have Japanese Pocket Pen from Pilot, Platinum, Sailor

January 29

I've recently discovered a proxy service (buyee.com) which allows me to easily buy (bid) pens from Japan Yahoo Auction. And now 3 pens 'accidentally' arrived... I paid each pen less than the cost of a Lamy Safari, which i think it's a good price, i hope?

Here I'll put some photos of then pen as it arrives, and after I put in some effort to try to 'restore' them.

1. Pilot Elite 1978, 14k Fine nib (my first gold nib)

2. Platinum Pocket Pen 1972, 18k Medium nib (my first gold nibbed Platinum)

3. Sailor Pocket Pen 1974, 18k Fine nib (my first Sailor)

Platinum Pocket Pen (I believe the model is PKB-2000):

Before: some large stain by the clip and the cap ring. Overall section, cap, barrel has some light micro scratches and scuffs.

After: stain removed using polishing paste (Autosol Silver & Gold polish). Also polished up the clip. Section and barrel was then polished with Autosol Plastic Cleaner paste. Overall looks a bit better but the micro scratches are still visible. Just try to admire the pen from afar and don't look it up in from of your eyeball.

Nib, Before - generally dirty and dull. I successfully removed the feed and nib for cleaning. After soaking for quite a long time, the ink started slowly seeping out, its a black ink. I take the feed out to try to brush it, and my can feel the particles in the ink, and can visually see tiny clumped particles as well. I was like, omg, it must be clogged with platinum carbon black! So I soaked for many longer and try to brush it as well as I can.

Nib, After - 18k nib, Platinum Logo, Medium in kanji, JIS logo with no. 5. On the back side of the nib has the date code 747. If according to this blogpost https://estilofilos.blogspot.com/2013/09/datation-of-japanese-pens-iv-platinum.html , it means this pen is made in July of Showa year 47 (1972). I'm not sure what the "5" means. Polished the nib with Autosol Sliver and Gold polish. The nib is so tiny, much smaller than the Pilot Elite's.

Sailor Pocket Pen:

Before: Among the 3, this arrived in the worst of condition. Lots of scuffs and scratches on cap, barrel, section. And quite a few long deep scratches on section. For this sailor I really took a bet, because the auction photo only has 4 photos, and all 4 photos are blurry and out of focus. The nib photo was out of focus, but at least it doesn't appear to be mangled.

After: Again, polished it with Autosol Plastic Cleaner paste. All the scuffs are removed. May scratches still remains, but the surface at least appears shiny. The deep scratches on section is lightened but still visible at certain angle. Again, admire it from afar.

Nib, Before - The nib is generally dirty and dull, and what appears to be pitting damage on both tine (above the breather hole in picture) after I wash it with water. When it arrived it even still has a sailor cartridge installed, all dried out. Who knows how long was it left dried inside?

Nib, After - 18k nib, JIS logo and no. 2 mark to the right, which means a F nib. Sailor logo and date code 403 or 408 to the left (I believe it's 3). If following this blog post https://estilofilos.blogspot.com/2015/06/datation-of-japanese-pens-v-sailor-nibs.html , it means manufactured in either 1964 March or 1974 March, I bet is 1974. Successfully removed the nib and feed for cleaning. Polished the nib with Autosol Silver and Gold polish. It appears generally quite shiny now. Those pitting damage still visible when viewed through loupe under strong light.

The vintage Pilot Elite arrive with generally better condition than the other 2, it also arrives before the other 2, so i didn't manage to take the before/after photo.

And here's a group photo.

The M200 is just there to give size comparison, see how tiny the Platinum and Sailor's nib are.

*Also, I discovered a very neat feature about the Platinum - as you screw back the barrel, the logo "18k Platinum" will always lined up to the nib!

I've no yet ink up the Platinum and Sailor, can't wait when I finally get to it~!

January 29

Congratulations - what a great job! I too love these wonderful, little pens. I don't have a Sailor but have 3 Elites and about 6 Platinums including one with a B nib. My Elites didn't require disassembly, but despite how much soaking they got, the Platinums needed to be completely disassembled to be cleaned before they would work.

January 29

My 3 Pilots have different nibs andthere are 2 different sizes of nibs and bodies. Platinum also has 2 different sizes of nibs and bodies. The one on the top is the broad.

January 29

Take care for anyone cleaning a pen with a zogan on the hood (the little gold diamond in rocl444's photo) cos those will likely come right off in an ultrasonic cleaner.

They can be put back but it requires a VERY thin / runny glue to be as good as it was.

I was grateful I saw it straight away and was able to find it in the inky water! Second time I was waiting for it... and yep. Now I don't let them go under the water.

January 31

On 1/30/2024 at 3:44 AM, rocl444 said:

Congratulations - what a great job! I too love these wonderful, little pens. I don't have a Sailor but have 3 Elites and about 6 Platinums including one with a B nib. My Elites didn't require disassembly, but despite how much soaking they got, the Platinums needed to be completely disassembled to be cleaned before they would work.

On 1/30/2024 at 5:52 AM, rocl444 said:

My 3 Pilots have different nibs andthere are 2 different sizes of nibs and bodies. Platinum also has 2 different sizes of nibs and bodies. The one on the top is the broad.

Thanks! those are lovely pens.

I wonder if there's a unique model name or model number for these pocket pens. For example, when we say Pilot Elite, there's so many different types of Pilot Elite. I know of at least 3 different nib type based on what I've read so far. The 'thumb nail' nib, the 'inlaid nib', the ... 'normal nib'? I don't know what to call it.

January 31

On 1/30/2024 at 6:11 AM, AmandaW said:

Take care for anyone cleaning a pen with a zogan on the hood (the little gold diamond in rocl444's photo) cos those will likely come right off in an ultrasonic cleaner.

They can be put back but it requires a VERY thin / runny glue to be as good as it was.

I was grateful I saw it straight away and was able to find it in the inky water! Second time I was waiting for it... and yep. Now I don't let them go under the water.

Didn't know that piece can fall off, thanks for sharing the info! (even though I don't have that type of pen.... yet?)

February 2

On 1/29/2024 at 3:08 PM, AceNinja said:

buy (bid) pens from Japan Yahoo Auctio

Unfortunately, there are a number of sellers - typically private persons - who "forget" to tell about problems with a pen offered. I run into such problems regularly.

There are also Teikin pocket pens, just to throw in another name.

Btw., I just transferred a large number of pens, among them Japanese pocket pens, to the US to their new owner. At the moment, the person receiving the pens is doing an inventory.

Contact me by DM if you want to see the pocket pens which are now in the US and get in contact with the new owner.

February 2

Do you know that there is a book about Japanese Pocket Pens?

Japanese Pocket Pens

Richard Binder 2020

In the early 1960s, the space race and Hideo Shima’s radical new bullet train, perhaps leavened by the futuristic American automotive stylings of Harley Earl, spawned great changes in the Japanese aesthetic, and a new type of fountain pen burst onto the market. Called “pocket pens,” these pens appeared in myriad trim variations under dozens of manufacturers’ names. Their unifying characteristic was an extraordinarily long gripping section mated with a very stubby barrel, a design concept explored before and since by a number of Western manufacturers.

This book, the world’s first publication devoted to Japanese pocket pens, touches first on the “Big Three,” Sailor, Platinum, and Pilot, in that order, following them with the “rest of the pack,” ordered alphabetically. After the brand-specific chapters, the discussion turns to various features that were, in general, common to many brands (e.g., pens decorated with botanical or similar designs). Appendixes contain several types of information to assist the reader in identifying pocket pens.

https://www.amazon.com/Japanese-Pocket-English-Richard-Binder-ebook/dp/B086K3LGP9

February 26

On 2/2/2024 at 9:00 AM, mke said:

Unfortunately, there are a number of sellers - typically private persons - who "forget" to tell about problems with a pen offered. I run into such problems regularly.

Either the seller "forget" to tell about the problems of the pen offered, or sometimes they maybe genuinely are not pen people, and therefore don't know/understand any problem about the pen they putting up for sell?

To me, this could be a advantage when bidding as a person who know some basics of self-tuning nib in general. Because when a sale/bid post has general lack of information about a pen, I would imagine it deters many potential bidder due to more unknown risk/condition of the pen offered. This means less competition for me, and hopefully lower prices for me. If the pen does arrive with some nib problem, at least I've a little confidence level to tune it back to good writing condition.

But also need to watch out. I've seen sale post where it states pen is a little scratched, but no serious damage. But the photo shows the nib has only 1 side of tipping (broken off tipping on one 1 tine).