Lamy Safari

[rhr]

There are many Lamy pens which use the same nib as the Safari. A few of those, including some versions of the Unic and the modern Studio, came with 14kt options. I have seen threads on FPN about people using the 14kt Studio nib on the Safari but I have not seen any with flex.

Great thread, Woody.

 

Does anyone know whether the nib in the Lamy CP 1 fountain pen, pictured below, is compatible and interchangeable with the nib in the Safari, and the 14kt nibs in the Studio and the Accent? I don't have all these pens for hands-on comparison, but from pictures they all look like they are interchangeable.

 

George Kovalenko.

 

 

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v71/rhrpen/acc8ea8d.jpg

 

.

[Robert Alan]

There are many Lamy pens which use the same nib as the Safari. A few of those, including some versions of the Unic and the modern Studio, came with 14kt options. I have seen threads on FPN about people using the 14kt Studio nib on the Safari but I have not seen any with flex.

Great thread, Woody.

 

Does anyone know whether the nib in the Lamy CP 1 fountain pen, pictured below, is compatible and interchangeable with the nib in the Safari, and the 14kt nibs in the Studio and the Accent? I don't have all these pens for hands-on comparison, but from pictures they all look like they are interchangeable.

 

George Kovalenko.

 

 

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v71/rhrpen/acc8ea8d.jpg

 

.

 

Hello!

 

Yes, indeed, the steel CP1 nib is exactly the same as the Safari/AL-Star nib. CP1, Logo, Safari, Accent and Studio, among a few others, have the same shaped slide-on nib.

That unmarked nib could be from the 1980s.

 

Regards, Robert

[haywoody]

 

Hello Woody,

 

I own both smooth and textured West German versions of the savannah and charcoal Safari ballpoint pens. If you are interested, I may be able to post photos of them. The smooth versions have a glossy shine to them. I only have the textured charcoal and savannah fountain pens with plain black nibs (no Lamy imprint on the early pens). BTW, one of the ballpoints has "W. Germany" farther down on the barrel, rather than just under the click top, at the back. Also, I have two different boxes for the ballpoint. One is the cargo-style box and the other, although it's the same colored cardboard, is a simpler, narrow box.

 

Regards, Robert

 

Thanks for posting the picture link Robert. It is nice to see some evidence of the old colors without texture. Now if I can only find a few examples for myself...

 

Regards,

Woody

[rhr]

Yes, indeed, the steel CP1 nib is exactly the same as the Safari/AL-Star nib. CP1, Logo, Safari, Accent and Studio, among a few others, have the same shaped slide-on nib.

That unmarked nib could be from the 1980s.

Thanks, Robert. That means that the Safari nib is probably also the same as the nib in a Dialog 3.

 

http://www.lamy.com/common/microsites/dialog3/assets/downloads/wallpaper/1920x1200/LAMY_dialog3_2.jpg

http://www.lamy.com/common/microsites/dialog3/assets/downloads/wallpaper/1280x1024/LAMY_dialog3_3.jpg

 

George.

 

[Robert Alan]

Yes, indeed, the steel CP1 nib is exactly the same as the Safari/AL-Star nib. CP1, Logo, Safari, Accent and Studio, among a few others, have the same shaped slide-on nib.

That unmarked nib could be from the 1980s.

Thanks, Robert. That means that the Safari nib is probably also the same as the nib in a Dialog 3.

 

http://www.lamy.com/...Y_dialog3_2.jpg

http://www.lamy.com/...Y_dialog3_3.jpg

 

George.

 

 

Hi George--Yes, indeed. The Dialog 3 has exactly the same nib. This nib concept is consistent with Lamy's Bauhaus design point-of-departure.

/Robert

[Phormula]

I've been using safari's for almost ten years now... and I've never been disappointed with them. Recently I found a light gray safari on an exhibition window in Mexico City, and of course bought it. It was in a publicity stand for the safari's with all the textured color range, it waited for me five years... so the seller told me.

 

Could be. As far as I remember this was a special edition.

 

I have never been disappointed with a Safari as well. I have been using one since middle '80s, when my Paper Mate went MIA.

I think now I am on the third one, which is not bad, considering 30 years of daily use.

[MistyMarie]

Smooth or Textured?

 

I have a charcoal set that I purchased in the mid 80's that looks somewhat textured, but is really very smooth to the touch and has a little sheen to them. I lost the cap to the pencil and ordered a new one from Lamy USA. The replacement cap has an obvious textured feel to it and doesn't really match the body of the pencil. I used to use the felt tip refills with the rollerball, but never really cared for the newer refills, so that one has sat unused for some time. I don't think that the sheen on these came from use.

 

I received a set of Terra Cotta's today that have the same finish as my old charcoals. While they look at little textured, they have a little bit of a sheen to them and feel smooth. I show them in the picture below, with the Griso which is definately a textured finish. What do you think?

 

 

Left to right: Terra Cotta, Charcoal and Griso

[sirksael]

I think all safaris from that generation are textured to some degree. I own severql colours in different generations and the early ones are always the most textured.

[neselena]

Smooth or Textured?

 

I have a charcoal set that I purchased in the mid 80's that looks somewhat textured, but is really very smooth to the touch and has a little sheen to them. I lost the cap to the pencil and ordered a new one from Lamy USA. The replacement cap has an obvious textured feel to it and doesn't really match the body of the pencil. I used to use the felt tip refills with the rollerball, but never really cared for the newer refills, so that one has sat unused for some time. I don't think that the sheen on these came from use.

 

I received a set of Terra Cotta's today that have the same finish as my old charcoals. While they look at little textured, they have a little bit of a sheen to them and feel smooth. I show them in the picture below, with the Griso which is definately a textured finish. What do you think?

 

 

Left to right: Terra Cotta, Charcoal and Griso

 

Wow. Did you said you received a set of Terra Cotta's today? Can I ask where you got it? what a beauty!

 

 

I am not familiar with mild textured-smooth charcoal from 80s and I don't have the terra cotta.

But I do have Savannah green, charcoal, and griso and now that I go back and feel them, you are right.

My Savannah green, although textured, is smoother when I run my finger cross while charcoal and griso are slightly more textured.

But this was really unnoticeable to me until you mentioned it. I would've never guess.

Maybe because you have different top and barrel for charcoal, the difference was more apparent for you?

 

My other guess is that older the safari, the textures fade away and it gets smoother? certainly after 30 years... this might happen after repetitive usage?

and you might want to read haywoody's post about different generations of charcoal in 1st page of this thread if you haven't. I guess modern charcoal safari is really different from the one in 80s according to his post and that's why your new cap doesn't match the barrel anymore: http://www.fountainp...post__p__883164

Edited April 21, 2011 by neselena

[MistyMarie]

I spotted them on ebay and decided to bid high because I was sure they were the elusive early Terra Cotta Safaris. And I got lucky! They are Terra Cotta and are in great shape.

 

I was in Grad School in 1982 when I bought my first one and turned my nose up at the green and orange colors as too flashy; I went with the conservative charcoal. Now, thirty years later, I have a whole collection of Safaris and have been looking for the two early ones. I am only lacking the Savannah Green now!

 

As I read through this thread, I wondered how my early charcoal set fit in as textured or smooth. It looks in between to me as do the Terra Cottas. When I look at the newer cap on the pencil, it is really obvious. Sirksael says that the early ones were the most textured, but I find that my early ones are the LEAST textured. My Griso is the newest and the most textured of the lot. I need to get out the macro lens to get a good photo of it.

[kahhoewan]

when I first saw the lamys I completely thought they were a new company. Thats probably because their designs are so timeless. Their designs were so different from other pens out.

[cikavac]

OK, not Safari, but can anyone tell me what's up with these new cap ends?

 

http://lamyusa.com/rotimages/lamy_lgcov2.jpg

[noodlesinabag]

Hey, that's the cap end I have on my yellow roller ball from years ago. I wonder if that's what they use on the end of all of their roller balls so you can tell what you're picking up without having to open it up.

[cikavac]

Hey, that's the cap end I have on my yellow roller ball from years ago. I wonder if that's what they use on the end of all of their roller balls so you can tell what you're picking up without having to open it up.

Duh.

 

Unrelated: Can anyone point me toward a list of lamy converters? I just got two that I've never seen before.

 

ETA: found it.

Edited January 8, 2012 by cikavac

[gmsantaguida]

I made this post on my blog ! Please let me know what I need to correct. I'm new to collecting Safari's. COOL thing: I actually spoke to Wolfgang Fabian - Designer of the Safari!

 

 

http://gmsantaguida.tumblr.com/post/23566681770/here-is-a-checklist-i-made-i-am-a-huge-fan-of-the

 

http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m4g2je8dhQ1rsfzlko1_1280.jpg

http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m4g2je8dhQ1rsfzlko2_1280.jpg

[pen2paper]

Looks great Gino!!!

 

hmm, didn't realize they slipped in an extra pink. Or was this one for non-USA market?

I understand there was an extra orange this past year for non-USA markets, (Korea), similar to the extra Lime.

"Other Market" makes for some confusion, but filtering the info is what FP forums are all about.

One more, I believe for the Swedish market there was Blue with yellow clip.

 

Also there is the actual Safari demonstrator, which is not the same as Vista.

 

There are now confirmed pieces with mixed colors/parts from Safari-Al-star, which were for Lamy Rep market survey. Recently these have came onto the collector market and into private collections.

[gmsantaguida]

Awesome ! Thanks a lot. Can you explain the difference between the demonstrator and the Vista?

 

 

Also I saw a picture of the blue with yellow clip however I wasnt sure if that was real... :hmm1:

[Uffuffa]

This is a great idea! Surprised it's not been done before - congratulations!

 

For completeness, I would suggest adding in a column for:

1) Pen cap screw: metal or plastic; cross or dot.

2) "Made in ...": Blank, Germany, W. Germany.

3) Finish: smooth, textured.

 

This will expand the requirements for a collection to be "complete".

 

For example, in (1) you will have an extra layer for the red/blue/yellow/white/charcoal fountain pens as these were all released with metal cap screws (ie. prior to your "early" blue/yellow/reds) and black clips before they were released with plastic cap screws and black clips... I believe the demonstrator was also released with a metal screw and then a plastic screw (I am not referring at all to the Vista). The cross or dot will differentiate between some of the other recent reissues such as the lime and the pink.

 

For (2) you will have more of the various Generations that Haywoody has described, classically illustrated by the Charcoal but also, to a lesser extent, by the white (alpin) and Savanna (where the first generation has a blank barrel end and the next generation, which is otherwise unchanged, is stamped with a W. Germany on its barrel end). I have never seen a Terracotta with a stamped barrel end and hence, for the moment at least (and I am bound to be proven incorrect), I believe the Terracotta was phased out before the Savanna.

 

For (3) you will further expand the Alpin, which was released with a textured finish and metal cap screw. This MAY also expand the Charcoal, Savanna and Terracotta because these are believed to have been released as smooth variants (I have never seen one of these and remain to be convinced that they ever existed...). It is also BELIEVED (but again I'm not yet convinced) that there may have been a textured demonstrator.

 

Others that you need are:

- New yellow (the fresher/brighter shade) with a black clip (instead of a chrome clip) - again, I've never seen this but apparently it existed at the time when the yellow-with-chrome-clip was introduced; I would only accept one of these with it's sticker as provenance (as I think it was coded differently to the darker yellow with black clip and the brighter yellow with chrome clip).

- Black with a red clip (limited release in Taiwan)

- White with a red clip (numbered 1 to 1000 and accompanied by a matching numbered leather case; this was released at the same time as the white-with-a-red-clip that you have already listed but the one you refer to was not a numbered edition)

- The Swedish Safari that Pen2Paper has referred to with a yellow clip and a blue body

- Flame re-issue (this was a limited run in about 2008/9, if I remember correctly, and used the recent special edition orange colour that differed from the original 2004/5 Flame that had a slightly darker/richer orange colour)

 

If you want to go even further, you could include: i) the Generations of the convertors that these pens came with; ii) the Generations of the corrugated cardboard boxes that the early pens came with (Savanna, Charcoal, Terracotta and Alpin) as the detailing on these boxes also changed.

 

Personally I would not include the Rep-Only pens that appear to have surfaced because they are simply too easy to create and have no boundaries. I'm not saying they do not exist, but I suspect provenance is difficult to prove with them. You may of course disagree and hence could include them too as a "one-offs", or similar, category.

 

Enjoy

Edited June 3, 2012 by Uffuffa

[Uffuffa]

Awesome ! Thanks a lot. Can you explain the difference between the demonstrator and the Vista?

 

 

Also I saw a picture of the blue with yellow clip however I wasnt sure if that was real... :hmm1:

 

 

Hello - that was absolutely definitely "real".

 

Haywoody has posted on the differences between the various clear Safaris further up this thread - he's also included a photo comparing them. If it's not this thread, just search for Haywoody's entries and it will pop up somewhere. In a nutshell, the original Demonstrator had a metal cap screw, a black cap insert and a black slip; the second Demonstrator (which I have not seen in person) was different only in that it had a plastic cap screw; the Vista comes next and that has a chrome clip and a chrome colour cap insert (as well as a silver Lamy logo). Hope that helps

Edited June 3, 2012 by Uffuffa

[Uffuffa]

"I understand there was an extra orange this past year for non-USA markets, (Korea), similar to the extra Lime."

 

Hi there Pen2Paper - I'm intrigued by your description of a Korea-only release of the orange. I've not heard about this one. Do you have any details on how this differed please?