New Page – Translation of Japanese pen feature

In 2009 I translated a feature for John Mottishaw of Nibs.com — a special report from MONO Magazine. It provides an introduction to Japanese pens, pen manufacturers, individual craftsmen and writeups on select pens from each maker.

The translated text has been available on Mottishaw’s website for a while – http://www.nibs.com/JapaneseMonoArticle.html — together with scans of the original feature.

I’ve added a new page to my blog with the translated text, formatted such that, I hope, it’ll be more conducive to reading. Please look at the top of the screen to see the new page, or you can click here.

Hope you enjoy reading it, and feel free to leave comments and questions 🙂

Old style Sailor Profit, 14K nib

This pen’s seen some use, with wear on the barrel and a little tarnishing on the section trim ring and clip, but there were several things I liked about it:

— it has the older Sailor nib design, which I like more than the current one.

— interestingly, it sports a 14K nib on a Standard-sized Profit (approx 14cm capped). A 21K nib is more common.

— the nib, though not marked, smoothly lays down a line similar to a Pelikan Medium. Must be a Japanese Broad.

— it came with a Sailor squeeze-filler. Never seen that one before.

— lastly the price was attractive 🙂

I can’t seem to find more precise production dates for this version of the Profit though (though I did discover that the gold trim on the pen is nicknamed “Buddhist altar” by at least one Japanese pen collector).

According to Lambrou’s FPOTW, Sailor first launched the Profit with a 14K nib in 1983. But when did they stop offering 14K nibs on these? When did Sailor switch to the current twist filler from the squeeze one? Could someone please enlighten?