October 8, 2024

Sailor Pro Gear direct from Japan

I thought I was done with ordering pens from Amazon after being burned by a pair of Lamy Safari's that both leaked ink and were apparently counterfeit.

But I read that some of the Sailor pens being sold for amazing prices on Amazon by sellers in Japan are entirely legit.
Several factors account for the attractive price:

So, there is an element of risk. You are covered by the Amazon return policy to some extent. If the pen arrives damaged or does not work properly, you just return it. You have 30 days from the date of delivery to make a return. But you won't have the 1 year Sailor warranty.

So I took the gamble. On Wednesday October 2, 2024 I placed the order for a Sailor Pro Gear. The listing said: 

Sailor Professional Gear Gold 21k Fountain Pen, Black, 11-2036-220 Fine Point
Brand: SAILOR Jentle Pnk

I have no idea what the "Jentle Pnk" is about. When the pen arrived, there were no such markings on the box. The brochure inside was entirely in Japanese (kanji) so who knows what it might say.

The photos show a bicolor nib. The pen itself is black with gold trim. Price is $123.08.

The seller is "Amazon Japan", which makes this a "can't loose" scenario. I'm not dealing with some fly by night seller using Amazon as their logistics agent.

What looks like the same pen sells for $312 at Goulet:

The listing says that I will wait almost 3 weeks, but on October 8 (only 6 days later) I see the status marked as "out for delivery", which seems hard to believe.
But it was true!

It arrived!

Shipped from Japan in only 6 days. They didn't lie to me. I just happened to peek online, no expecting it for another 2 weeks, and it said, "out for delivery by 8PM today". I looked on my doorstep at 8:12 and there was the package.

I open it up and there is a Sailor box inside of a interestingly sealed plastic cover. I remove this and have the Sailor presentation box with 2 cartridges. No converter, but I have read that they only supply a converter with pens that are sold in the American market.

The pen is absolutely perfect, black and gold. I ink it up with Pilot iroshizuku "yama-budo", which is a purple ink which I have been waiting to try. It writes perfectly and is without a doubt the smoothest pen I have ever written with. Unless it is holding back with some unlikely surprise, this is just great.

The nib is a bicolor (gold/silver). It is marked with a small "F" on the side. No "1911" on the nib, just a big anchor along with the markings 21K 875 Ste | SPE.

How does it write?

This is absolutely the bottom line for me. A pen that looks nice but doesn't write well is just so much useless junk. Apparently there are collectors that feel otherwise -- they can contact me and buy any crap pens I have.

The fine nib is as they say -- very fine. But I like it. It always writes immediately, it never skips. It never does anything other than what it is supposed to do.

I have it inked up with iroshizuku "yama-budo", which is a purple ink I am growing to like quite well. It is plenty dark, yet not so dark that it simply looks black. They got it right.

I heard a lot about Sailor nibs giving "pencil like feedback". Maybe. If you write with a pencil with the very lightest of a touch (such that you would hardly make a mark) that is what I feel. I absolutely like it. This is my favorite pen, bar none.

A Converter

Goulet sells one for $12 -- but I will have to pay shipping or buy some other stuff with it to get their free shipping. Amazon sells one for $6.76. The branding is in Kanji characters, and Google translates them to "Sailor fountain pen". It certainly looks like the genuine Sailor conveter, so I order it.

Conclusion

I would say the gamble of ordering direct from Japan via Amazon has worked out beautifully. My cost is $135.04 for this pen (which would have cost me $312 at an online retailer in the US). Shipping would have been $18.36 -- but I don't pay that because I am in Amazon Prime. It is honestly a ridiculous good deal.

A sample

Here is something I did today. Just to show, among other things, that a nice fountain pen can be put to work, not just admired or used for diaries and important correspondence. This is on pretty much a full 8.5 by 11 inch sheet of above average copier paper. I am using Iroshizuku yama-budo ink. This pen is a nice tool as well as being enjoyable to use.

Yeah, the color balance is not quite right, but there is a limit to how much I want to fuss around with images. At least tonight there is.

Feedback? Questions? Drop me a line!

Tom's Pen Info / [email protected]