Date codes on Pilot Nibs

[English John]

Can anyone tell me how the date codes work for Pilot nibs ?

 

I have a couple of new aquisitions and wondered what the numbers represent.

 

Thanks

 

John

[Dillo]

Hi,

 

First letter is factory.

First or first and second number is month.

Last two numbers is the year.

 

H1278=December 1978

A908=September 2008

 

I forgot the various locations on the Pilot factories. Sorry!!

 

Dillon

[MYU]

The "H" letter means the Hiratsuka factory in Japan.

The "T" letter means the Tokyo factory, which has been closed for some time.

According to Taki, Pilot later changed the letter designation to "A" or "B", representing the two different production lines at the Hiratsuka factory.

Edited December 2, 2008 by MYU

[petravana]

Would this apply to Namiki nibs also? My Grance nib says 14k585. Would this mean it was made in (May) 1985?

 

Petra

 

Hi,

 

First letter is factory.

First or first and second number is month.

Last two numbers is the year.

 

H1278=December 1978

A908=September 2008

 

I forgot the various locations on the Pilot factories. Sorry!!

 

Dillon

 

[hari317]

Would this apply to Namiki nibs also? My Grance nib says 14k585. Would this mean it was made in (May) 1985?

 

Petra

 

Hi, 14k585 is the carat value of the gold nib (58.5% by weight of the nib is Gold) . The date code will be visible if the nib is removed from the section.

 

Best,

Hari

 

[petravana]

Would this apply to Namiki nibs also? My Grance nib says 14k585. Would this mean it was made in (May) 1985?

 

Petra

 

Hi, 14k585 is the carat value of the gold nib (58.5% by weight of the nib is Gold) . The date code will be visible if the nib is removed from the section.

 

Best,

Hari

 

 

Thanks for the info. I don't think I'll be taking the nib off to determine the date, I'm sure I'd manage to ruin the pen and it's one I write reasonably well (legibly) with. If memory serves me well I bought it 15-20 years ago.

[Kugelschreiber]

I just got a new Pilot CH 91. The date code on the nib has a P before the first number. Does Pilot have a new factory or does this P mean something else?

[inkstainedruth]

Hmmm. I'm not seeing anything like that on the nib for my Pilot Decimo. It says "Pilot" then underneath that it says "18K/750", then the nib width: "<F>". Underneath that there *is* a number: "918" -- but no letter code that I can see. Is that only for older nibs? Because if the information is correct, the "918" suggests a manufacture date of September [20]18, and I bought the pen new 2 months later from a Japanese seller on eBay.

I will have to look at the nibs for the Metropolitan and the (supposedly Korean-made) pen that I believe is a Pilot Saturn, to see if I can find any codes.

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[Kugelschreiber]

Hmmm. I'm not seeing anything like that on the nib for my Pilot Decimo. It says "Pilot" then underneath that it says "18K/750", then the nib width: "<F>". Underneath that there *is* a number: "918" -- but no letter code that I can see. Is that only for older nibs? Because if the information is correct, the "918" suggests a manufacture date of September [20]18, and I bought the pen new 2 months later from a Japanese seller on eBay.

I will have to look at the nibs for the Metropolitan and the (supposedly Korean-made) pen that I believe is a Pilot Saturn, to see if I can find any codes.

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

 

Thanks for the reply.

 

I should have mentioned the date in my first post. It is 1118 (Nov. 2018), a little after your Decimo. I saw a Custom 743 earlier this year with a 518 date code. It also didn't have the letter. I should think the P doesn't stand for Pilot as the company name is already on the nib and they also have that little PP marking on the other side of the nib across from the date code.

[Kugelschreiber]

From the Japanese vendor I got the CH 91 from:

 

In the past, H data code meant that it was manufactured at the pilot Hiratsuka factory, but "P" stands for control symbol on production.

All Pilot fountain pens are manufactured at the Hiratsuka plant, and the "P" is also manufactured at the Hiratsuka factory.
There was a stamp of "T" more ago. The "T" was manufactured at the Tokyo plant. but currently there is no Tokyo factory.

 

 

 

[SamLowry]

I have about 20 Pilot pens and just checked the nibs. They all seem to agree with the numbering scheme that's been described above. But I did find one oddity. I have a (broad) Vanishing Point nib unit whose date code is "a705." The "a" is lower case, not upper case. I'm curious whether anyone knows if the lower-case "a" has any particular significance. Or is it just a variation on the "A" production line?

 

I also have a V.P. nib with a code of "A0300". Does the first zero have any special significance, or is this simply "Production Line A, March 2000"? None of my other nibs have a leading 0 like this one.

Edited October 9, 2020 by SamLowry

[jde]

I have about 20 Pilot pens and just checked the nibs. They all seem to agree with the numbering scheme that's been described above. But I did find one oddity. I have a (broad) Vanishing Point nib unit whose date code is "a705." The "a" is lower case, not upper case. I'm curious whether anyone knows if the lower-case "a" has any particular significance. Or is it just a variation on the "A" production line?

 

I also have a V.P. nib with a code of "A0300". Does the first zero have any special significance, or is this simply "Production Line A, March 2000"? None of my other nibs have a leading 0 like this one.

 

Little "a" is same as "A," for the Hiratsuka plant. Sometimes you'll see a little "b" which is same plant as "B."

 

The other nib is 03 for March. 00 for 2000. Nothing mysterious! Just as dillo posted.

 

Best.

Edited October 10, 2020 by jde

[SamLowry]

Thanks very much, jde!

[Doc Dan]

This is a very helpful thread. I am sort of bumping it because it is so useful. (We need a Pilot forum)

 

My E95S has a P523, which would be May of 2023. The P will be the Hiratsuka factory, but I am a little unclear on what is meant by "production." Anyone have an answer?

[RGC57]

Teh nib on my Pilot E (E95s in US) is stamped P123 P = what site? 123 = January 2023 i think.

[RGC57]

My vintage Pilot E from Japan with an 18K Medium nib does not have a site and date stamp. Does anyone know when Pilo began using the P 00 00 code (P is factory, next 00 is month, and final 00 is year.

[inkstainedruth]

Had completely forgotten about this thread's existence!  

Now I'm going to have to go back and check my husband's VP, and my other Decimo, and the purple Falcon.

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[Number99]

20 hours ago, RGC57 said:

Teh nib on my Pilot E (E95s in US) is stamped P123 P = what site? 123 = January 2023 i think.

 

19 hours ago, RGC57 said:

My vintage Pilot E from Japan with an 18K Medium nib does not have a site and date stamp. Does anyone know when Pilo began using the P 00 00 code (P is factory, next 00 is month, and final 00 is year.

Hello.

Which variant of the Pilot Elite?

The date code on the nib of the Elite, which has the same type of nib as the Pilot Super, can only be seen by taking it apart. (The same applies to other pens with the same type of nib, such as the Pilot Lady.)

It is my personal experience that there is another Elite that was not engraved, the Pilot Elite Custom of the Silvern type, which was manufactured for a short period of time around 1970. This is confirmed by the black plastic body variant.

There may be more than these.

 

I don't know when pilots started engraving nibs; it can be found on nibs from the 1930s as well as pre-war and post-war nibs.

 

The Hiratsuka and Shimura (Tokyo) factories are known to have manufactured nib and barrel engraving. The Pilot Shimura factory, later the Tokyo factory, was sold in March 1979.

As for the 'P' stamping, it seems to be found on recent nibs, but there is no information on what it stands for.

The only nib production plant is the Hiratsuka plant, which has been in operation since the Tokyo plant was closed as mentioned above.

 

The linked article gives an overview of the history of the Shimura plant with information from Pilot's company history.

From 萬年筆グラフ "Fountain pen graph."

https://ameblo.jp/kamisama-samasama/entry-12069681764.html

 

An image of the pen would be helpful to avoid any confusion.