It’s been a hot minute since I’ve talked about my fountain pen obsession. During my Japan trip in March and April I purchased a Pilot Elite 95S pocket pen, also known as the E95S. This is the classiest pen that I own besides the brass Kaweco Sport Emee got me for Christmas. It’s also the first pen I own with a gold nib. This pen retails for about $144 in the US (via Jet Pens), though I got it for way cheaper in Japan. (If you ever find yourself in Japan, buy some stationery!) Still, while the general trend for fountain pen heads is to keep on going up and up into more refined, more rarified, and more expensive pens, I’m good on that for now. I’m not saying it will never happen, but I don’t feel the urge to scratch that itch anytime soon.
Instead, I’ve obtained a few more mid-level pens and one cheapie. The “mid-level” category is a tough one. It’s generally above the starter/inexpensive pens and below the “nice” pens, about $40 to $100 USD in price. Spend enough time around the Fountain Pen Internet, and you’ll sense a general disdain for this category. The refrain is “If you just spent a little bit more for a $100-plus pen, you’d get so much more out of it.” On one level I can understand where these folks are coming from, yet it still reeks a bit of snobbery. It’s easy to come to this opinion when buying multiple $100-200-300 pens isn’t that big of a deal to you. But I am in no way there yet. I want some nice-ish pens, I want some variety, especially since variety of pens means being able to use a bunch of different colored inks. So I’ve been doing a bit of exploration in this “no man’s land” category, and this is what I’ve found:
Platinum Procyon
After a few years of owning Platinum Preppies, I can safely say that I like this brand. And I love Platinum’s Carbon Ink, one of the few truly waterproof fountain pen inks. (It’s the ink I use in my Kuretake No. 50 brush pen.) But the Preppy is a very cheap pen-$5-and looks it. It works great, mind you, but it’s the definition of bang-around cheap fountain pen. I did have a Plaisir, basically an aluminum-bodied Preppy. It’s nicer, but not really my thing. When I was planning on buying “My First Fancy Fountain Pen” in Japan, the Platinum 3776 was on my radar, which start at $200 in the US. While it looks like a nice pen, it’s a resin body. I like metal bodied pens, and if I’m going to spend a bunch of cash on one, I’d like some metal in the body. So maybe I’ll get one in the future.
In the meantime, I got a Platinum Procyon, which retails for about $60 in the US. I actually purchased this before the Japan trip, but didn’t get receive it until I got home. There’s one anecdote about the Japan trip I haven’t really mentioned before: I did not receive my renewed passport until the very morning of my departure for Japan! The weeks leading up to departure were very stressful because of this, and there was a very real possibility I wasn’t going to be able to go. I thought I was going to have to placate myself by shopping at our local MUJI and Kinokuniya stores and maybe actually go to the Japanese Garden for the first time, while Emee was gallivanting around Tokyo. That was not an outcome I wanted, but when I saw that St. Louis Art Supply was having a sale on the Procyon, and the price would be within what I’d get it for in Japan, I bought it. I’d at least have something.
Thankfully I did get to go to Japan, but getting the Procyon was still nice. Out of the three “mid” pens I talk about here, it seems like the Procyon gets the most friction with the pen community, a “why are they even bothering?” shrug? Check out the two different reviews on Well-Appointed Desk: mid and bad. Here’s my take: I really like this pen. I like the feel and weight. I like the matte salmon/coral color. It’s not a flashy pen by any means, and I dig that. I really like how it writes. I don’t mind the “screw top” cap–I guess I’m used to this after using Kawecos a bunch. My only real complaint is that it posts, but the “bond” is pretty weak–you have to make sure the cap is on good, otherwise it will fall off.
While I love exploring different color inks, I always want one pen loaded with black ink sitting on my desk. And that black ink better be Carbon Ink! The Procyon will be a constant companion for quite some time, reviews be damned.
Sailor “Bridgestone” pocket pen
This is the other pen I bought before I left for Japan. This was more on a whim, an actual representation when ye olde algorithm works. I opened up my Etsy account one day before leaving, and in the “recommended for you” section this pen came up, a vintage Sailor pocket pen. It’s pretty similar to my Pilot Elite 95S, but this is an actual 60’s-70’s vintage pen, whereas the Pilot is a modern version. Pocket fountain pens were pretty big in Japan during the 60’s, and Sailor was an innovator in this department. But the reason why I decided to buy this pen is because it’s got Bridgestone branding on it! Of course I’d be interested in Bridgestone, as they made bicycles too. Bridgestone Japan is still very much a thing (I saw several when I went into the bicycle departments of Japanese department stores), but Bridgestone USA was a short-lived endeavor, only existing from the early 80’s to mid 90’s, and un-led by Mr. Rivendell Bicycle Works Grant Petersen. And yes, I owned one Bridgestone USA bike, the X0-3. So of course I had to get a Bridgestone fountain pen!
Operationally this Sailor pen is not that much different than my Pilot Elite 95s, though the body is a bit shorter. The nib is gold as well, probably 14K, and fully hooded. I’ve been using Sailor’s cartridges for ink, as the modern Sailor converters do not work: the short has a metal hood that won’t fit into the section (and it’s not just me not figuring it out, as evidenced by this blog post), and the regular will fit, but is too long. That’s okay, this is a pen designed around cartridges. I like it a lot. The only negative is that because it’s a 50-60 year old pen, it’s a bit leakier than my modern instruments–it definitely “burped” ink due to pressure changes in a flight to the East Coast. I’ll still use it as an around-town pen, but won’t fly with it again.
Another Sailor Pen (unknown model, probably a Compass)
This one came as part of the Tsubame Note ✕ Sailor Limited Edition Gift Set at St. Louis Art Supply. I was intrigued by it for awhile, as I also like Tsubame (Swallow) paper. St. Louis Art Supply could not confirm exactly what pen it is, but I have a hunch that it’s some version of their Compass 1911 pen, a pen that also gets some meh reviews. I like the Sailor pens that I’ve used so far, and they are the most expensive of the “big three” Japanese fountain pen companies. (Pilot and Platinum are the other two.) After the Compass line, the pens start at $200 and go up from there. So I was happy to try another Sailor for a much lower price. And I like this pen quite a bit. Yeah, the body is plastic (meh) but it’s solid, not translucent like the other Compass pens I’ve seen. It also has a screw-on cap, but it posts better than the Procyon. I’ve used the included converter, first with the grey ink provided in the gift set (okay), but now it’s filled with a lovely sky blue from Teranishi.
Pilot Kakuno
And to finish out my new pen acquisition, a cheapie! The Pilot Kakuno is very much an entry level pen, designed to be someone’s first go at a fountain pen. And it is definitely marketed to kids, as the smiley face on the nib attests. But it’s a fun pen, and works great. I like the orange cap/charcoal body color scheme on mine. It’s a great hack around pen to live on my desk. And you can find these pens for around $10.
*****
With these latest acquisitions, my fountain pen collection has stabilized. I’m not saying that I won’t get any more, but it probably won’t be any time soon. I’m sure another pen will catch my fancy at some point. At this time, my collection has twelve pens:
- Four Platinums (Procyon, Preppy in 02, 03, and 05 size)
- Two Pilots (Elite 95S and Kakuno)
- Two Sailors (Bridgestone pocket pen and maybe Compass)
- Three Kaweco Sports (one brass, one green, one orange)
- Teranishi “guitar”
I’ve currently got half of them inked up. Two live in my bag, to carry with me to work and the like, the four remaining sit on the desk. Each pen also has a different ink color. It’s been fun so far!
Urban Adventure League 