Rivera Fountain Pens: Pilot Capless/Namiki Vanishing Point Fountain Pen History

Introduction
	I have been a fan of the Pilot Capless/Namiki Vanishing Point fountain pen since I bought my first Vanishing Point 10 years ago. Eight years ago I started collecting the early Vanishing Point and Pilot Capless (the predecessor to the Vanishing Point) pens, and I started to keep a file of all the information I found on these great writing instruments.

At the history page you will find historical information on the Capless/Vanishing Point fountain pens gleaned from my files and collection, and from the many VP fans that have shared their information with me. This is a work in progress, and I don’t claim to be an expert in this line of fountain pens. I am just a fan who has an interest in its history, would like to acquire more information about these fountain pens, and share this information with those who are interested.

One of my hopes in making this information available on the Internet is to find other fans of these fountain pens who would be willing to contribute pictures, scans or photocopies of pens, catalogs, ads, pamphlets, documents, etc, to this Capless/Vanishing Point compendium.

Please email me if you have any questions or information to share at

(In an effort to limit spam my e-mail address is an image and is not linked.)

ORANGE CRUSH
Pilot released its first numbered limited edition Vanishing Point pen in September 2007. Only 2007

pens were made in the orange, 900 for the U.S. market and 300 for Japan (I am still looking for other market info). I love the orange color and the orange case it came in. Most retailers are already sold out. If you find one for sale, grab it before somebody else does!!! For those of you who are interested in the smallest minutia of this model ... this was not the first time Pilot released the VP in orange. Back in March 2005 Pilot issued a very limited release in the orange, along with the turquoise, to Tokyo-area stores. These pens were NOT numbered and did not come with the fancy orange case. So some of you folks might run into orange Capless pens that are not numbered.

SESENTA
Another limited edition is released by Pilot Japan, but not numbered. The new (June 2007) Pilot Sesenta Capless comes in red marble (100 pens), blue/green marble (100), and brown (400). At first I was not too impressed with the brown marble, but it has now grown on me. I believe the blue/green is officially listed as blue, but the pen has enough green in it to make it more of an aquamarineish, tealish, cyanish-kinda color. Also, the trim is made of chromium, not rhodium like the more recent models.

Click below for Pilot Capless/Namiki Vanishing Point/ Pen ink filling instructions.

Ink Cartridge -
(Large Document - English & Japanese)

Press-Plate (Squeeze) Converter and Twist Converter

Twist Converter with Ink Bottle