King Profit

Written By Kurashi no Bungu - くらしの文具

In 2003, Sailor introduced an oversized fountain pen in the King Profit.

When it launched, it occupied a territory no other Japanese maker had yet claimed. Platinum’s Izumo would not arrive until 2010. Pilot’s top of the line model was the Custom 845; the oversized Custom Urushi followed only in 2016.

In 2003, if you wanted an oversized fountain pen, you looked to Germany.

At 154mm and 20mm across, with the largest nib the company has ever produced, the King Profit is Sailor’s statement of intent to a certain maker in Hamburg. Its silhouette, a large rounded cigar with gold trims, does not discourage comparison. Perhaps not incidentally, the Realo—Sailor’s piston-filler mechanism—was also first introduced in the King Profit as a limited edition of 500 units in 2006.

The King Profit is an excellent fountain pen. It delivers that sensory feedback Sailor fountain pens are famous for, and the soft nib does so with a spring in its step. The ink flow is plentiful. For many people, these qualities are what make the King Profit great. For me, it is a pen that haunted my collection.

I was at Ginza Itoya's third floor, a budding enthusiast seeking my first gold nib, when I first encountered the King Profit.

I recall being astonished at the prices a fountain pen could fetch. I also recall not caring for Sailor’s famous feedback. At the time, I preferred nibs that glided across the page; Sailor’s deliberate resistance felt perverse. The thought of spending ~JPY 30,000 (the price at the time) on the Pro Gear I was trying was out of the question. Much less so for the King Profit, which stood apart from the sea of black pens displayed beneath the glass. I walked out that day without a pen. Yet as I settled into my seat on the Odakyu Line to Hon-Atsugi, the silhouette of the King Profit I hadn't touched lingered in my mind without invitation.

Nagasawa Sailor King of Pen

Sailor’s King Profit

My second encounter came in Singapore. I was sharing my disappointment with Sailor fountain pens at the stationery store THINK, and T-san, the proprietor, was listening. He swiftly pulled his personal King Profit from his jacket and gestured for me to try it. His face was covered by a mask, but from his eyes and voice, I could tell he was smiling. That evening, I left with a Pro Gear Slim in tow. T-san’s King Profit had obliterated my stance against Sailor, and in the process, planted a seed.

From speaking to his patrons, I later learned that he is regarded as a mythical figure in Singapore's community for exactly this kind of thing. Alessa of Inky Rocks once mentioned that T-san managed to sell her a Japanese ink during a visit while she was living in Japan at the time.

As months turned into years, my fixation on fountain pens grew in directions I had anticipated until it didn't. Modern fountain pens gave way to vintages discovered in antique stores. I became fixated on lever-filler Sheaffers for a time. I acquired top-of-the-line models other than the King Profit. I found my way into artisanal workshops. I became engrossed in nib softness. Throughout all this, the seed T-san had planted had taken root: I wanted the King Profit.

Yet the more aware I became of the breadth of what was out there, the less the King Profit made sense. On cost, it eclipses many pens I find equally capable. On collectability, it is eclipsed by many I find far more interesting. I already owned a Pro Gear Slim, a full-sized Pro Gear, and a Profit Large ground by Yukio Nagahara himself, not to mention several artisanal pens on Sailor OEM nibs. What, precisely, was the point of adding another Sailor?

Nagasawa King of Pen

The answer to that question never changed, and so I passed: a new iro-miyabi at 40% off, a second-hand King Profit for JPY 35,000, a luminous shadow KOP at half price.

Each time, it acknowledged the rejection, and returned to its corner at the back of my mind.

The King Profit took its place in my collection earlier this year. I cracked, eventually. Between my first encounter with it and my acquisition lie a Montblanc 149, a Pilot Custom Urushi, and small-maker pens I regard considerably higher. Yet, I feel an immense amount of joy every time the King Profit makes its way back into rotation.

Nagasawa PenStyle Den Nib

If I had been more honest with myself earlier, I might have saved considerable time and money. Or perhaps I would have stopped at the King Profit, and this blog wouldn't exist.

It didn't make sense then. Next to everything else I own from Sailor, it still doesn't.

Yet, in a hobby that doesn't make sense, maybe it does.

—TWSBI Eco, Diamine Sherwood Green

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