Christopher writes:
"I think most collectors of both vintage and modern fountain pens are familiar with the pens produced by the Pilot company of Japan. But I truly wonder how many actually are familiar with the fountain pens still being produced by the Pilot company of Korea? In 1954, a Pilot branded company started to mass produce commercial fountain pens in South Korea. Department Store pens at the time were extremely expensive but in Asia, with the Pilot company in Korea flooding the market with (for the most part) well made pens, writing instruments as such became more cost effective. The company went on to be quite successful and still is manufacturing pens to this day."
(photo courtesy of Christopher ~ please click on image to enlarge)
"Up until very recently, I had no idea that there was, and still is, a Pilot pen company in Korea. So you can imagine my surprise when I picked up what I thought was a Japanese Pilot fountain pen only to find that on its beautiful 14K sold Gold inlaid nib was inscribed, ‘Made in Korea’. This pen has all the earmarks of the Japanese Custom 500 RS 1970s fountain pen model. But the difference --other then the marked country of origin--- is both in the background colour of light brown in the cap top logo insert (black, in the Pilot Japanese model) and the cap band being wider and plastic gold plated. Also, the filler under the barrel of this Korean beauty is definitely aerometric over the Japanese twist filler.
It is my educated guess that the Pilot Japanese Custom 500 RS came first and the Korean Custom 14K followed suit. Regardless, though, both manufacturers pen are of impressive quality and well worth having in any vintage pen collection."
Our thanks to Christopher for this interesting (and informative) review! We'll be featuring my review of another Asian-made pen on Friday or Saturday...
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