New Sailors Come Aboard at Pen Boutique!
Hello all you pen friends out there, this is Kyle and I'm writing this blog about something that inspired me today. As some of you may now by now, I'm back at my apartment in Japan and am writing our blogs remotely but today was a holiday in Japan which meant I had off from uni. With my whole move back to Japan I wasn't able to take any of my ink with me so I decided to venture out and get myself some new ink, I purchased Sailor's ink studio 141, 730, 653, 473 all of which can be purchased at Pen Boutique, but while I was out on this ink buying adventure I saw a couple pens up close that caught my eye. It just so happens that we carry these pretty limited Sailor models at Pen Boutique! Due to the nature of our relationship with the brand we are very fortunate to get a couple rarer options to stock and those are what I'll be showing you and talking a little bit about in this blog so let's just get straight into it!
1911 Large Bespoke Nibs
If you are familiar with Sailor you'll know that the 1911 model is an homage to the brands beginnings and bears the founding year of the brand in the name. Don't let these black and gold cigar shaped pens fool you, they are not your average cigar shaped pen and the nibs are what really set them apart. Sailor manufactures all of their own nibs in house which means they can control the manufacturing process completely and that gives them freedom to do the unique grinds you can see in this dealer exclusive line of pens. This line has fude, concord, Naginata Togi, and cross point nibs which is really unique to have brands actually offer these directly from themselves as opposed to having a third party do work on the nib which is the only way to get these nibs from other brands usually. As you can see from the above picture, some of these nibs look as if they've been dropped or that they wouldn't write but that is the result of meticulous and precise alignment that gives the writing from the nib a very unique character. For Example, the middle nib in the picture is called a "Fude" and this nib will have an extremely wide line due to the increased surface area that is caused by bending the nib up however reverse writing with this type of nib is not recommended, the bottom nib is called a concord nib and is essentially the opposite of the fude, the nib is bent down instead of up and the benefit of this is that you are getting the best of both worlds with a narrow line initially but when reverse writing you get the same result as a fude!
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| Cross Music Nib |
This wonderful and unique line of pens is available between $660-$900 depending on the complexity of the nib and construction, drop by and see them in person if you are nearby!
Iro Miyabi King of Pen
This pen is another unique version of one of Sailor's most noteworthy models, the "King of Pen" which is of course, their own oversized flagship pen akin to the 149 or M1000. This new addition to the K.O.P has an ebonite body as the base of multiple layers of Urushi lacquer that is applied in the "Ishime Nuri" technique which gives the pen the unique look and texture. The thing I found really interesting about this model is that the section also has the Urushi work applied to it and if you are familiar with the regular ebonite K.O.P you know that the section is plastic instead of ebonite.
This is just an interesting little detail that sets it apart from the ebonite version and also begs the question of whether the section on this pen is still plastic or if they made it in ebonite specially for this model. Iro means color and Miyabi means elegant which means the direct translation of this model is "Elegant color" and each of the four colors represent elegance and gracefulness in the eyes of Sailor. You have the usual M or B 21k oversized nib option that is standard on most K.O.P models and they are available at Pen Boutique for $1,600 regardless of color.
Sailor Luminous Shadow
These pens sport a couple similarities to the previously mentioned "Iro-Miyabi" line in that they are also using the 21k oversized nibs and they are also available in four distinct colors however these aren't exactly King of Pen sized. When I originally saw these I did think they were K.O.Ps but on closer inspection you can see both ends are flattened similar to the pro gear but it is more severe on these models. Another thing that sticks out is the interesting single cap band design that sports a somewhat modern font and definitely breaks from the normal K.O.P cap band design. Another unique part of this pen is that all the trim including the nib is "shadow" colored which is similar to what is seen on the "Wicked Witch" 1911 models but this is the first time they are doing it on an oversized pen to my knowledge.
I also like that they made the section from the same material the whole pen is made out of which, as I previously mentioned, is not a feature on the standard ebonite models and I just feel it gives a better sense of overall coherence. These pens are still Cartridge/Converter which is standard with the K.O.P models and while it would be wonderful to someday get a "Realo" or piston filling K.O.P I am fine with the converter. The pens are made from a marbled turned acrylic that make each pen unique much like how shadows are ever changing. These are extremely limited and only 300 pieces per color are available world wide so be sure to act fast! The Sailor Luminous Shadow models in all colors are available at Pen Boutique for $1,100 each.
I hoped you enjoyed this quick look at some of the most unique Sailor models we have currently available at Pen Boutique and while I'm not currently in Maryland, I did have the opportunity to go to some of my local shops here in Tokyo to take a hands-on look at all the models listed above which inspired the idea for this blog! Remember to stay safe in regards to covid as well as enjoy & keep writing!
さようなら、Kyle
