Product Description
Type Collectible Japanese maki-e fountain pen. These pens are hand painted with Japanese laquer.
Product Name Pigeon and Persimmon. This pen retails on the internet at $2700 new, so our price reflects some wear as described below.
Manufacturer and Year Namiki, Japan, 1998
Length 5-5/8"
Filling System Fitted with a Con-70 converter. With nib submerged in ink, press the button on the end of the converter and let go. Wait 3 to 4 seconds and repeat about 4 times. The ink capacity is greater than a normal twist converter.
Color Black cap and barrel with gold tree branches and leaves from which hang red persimmons. A blue-grey and gold pigeon sits on one branch. The pen features two makie-e techniques -- the Togidashi-Hira Maki-e technique (burnished-raised maki-e) and and Hira-maki-e (flat Maki-e). The first is a technique in which gilded designs are dried, urushi is re-applied, and finally polished using charcoal, a technique which dates to the 7th century. Hira-maki-e uses colored lacquers combined with raw lacquer which is then dusted with a gold powder.
Nib The 18k nib is marked medium, though Japanese mediums are finer than most western mediums. The nib is in excellent condition.
Condition Excellent + condition with some desk wear. There are a few nicks in the lacquer on the edge of the cap lip (see photo) as well as some deskwear on one side of the cap which is on the black area, not the painted design. The fountain pen comes in a nice softwood presentation box, and includes both a Con-70 converter and a bottle of ink to get you started writing with this gorgeous work of art. There is also a polishing cloth. The artist signature, in Japanese, is crisp.