I bought this 2+1 multipen 6 years ago. It was one of those random chance things. The seller photos looked good and I was really intrigued. It reminded me of rOtring and also PILOT. But there was no brand name on it. No markings at all, in fact.
In the photo above, you can see a rOtring 600 Trio included, for size comparison purposes. This unknown multipen is a little shorter. It has a brass core but some kind of outer plastic shell. Gravity selector control. It’s nicely precise. It’s very minimalist. There is a very tiny dot for the red D1, and a shiny black dot for the black D1. For the pencil, there’s a shiny black dash. The refills that were included are very fine, needlepoint tips. No branding on them either.
I think it’s a Muji. I know Muji did a semi-limited run of stationery with black finishes (their “normal” colors are silver and white), as this included the Muji Pocket, aka Ohto Tasche.
I’ve never seen your multi-pen before, but it’s giving off similar vibes to other Muji pieces.
I had thought it might be MUJI at first, but I’d checked their catalog and never found this listed anywhere, or older images. Also, it seems that most of what MUJI makes is lightweight, relying mostly on plastics and aluminum.
Is that Muji catalog available here in the forums? (I didn’t even know such a thing existed, and I would be flabbergasted if they actually catalogued everything they sold.)
Sorry, I was using that word figuratively… going by what they have available on their website. I don’t believe they make a printed catalog of any kind.
There were many MUJI pens and pencils that are generally ‘unknown’ from before their international expansion. I wouldn’t be surprised that it is a MUJI that was OEM’ed by OHTO… although the usual giveaway is a needlepoint BP component.
It’s very odd that there’s no markings on the ink refills. Almost all brands that I know of mark them somehow.
The button on the clip does remind me to one of the Pilot 1+1, but Pilot would have written its brand name somewhere.
Have you tried comparing the MP mechanism to other famous ones? For example, Pilot’s 2+1, Zebra sharbo, rotring etc? If its shape matches another pencil, then you can guess which brand OEM’d it.
That, or it is some random Chinese clone…
Both PILOT and rOtring used that kind of release button on some of their 1+1 and 2+1 multipens. And there might have been other brands as well.
It doesn’t feel like a Chinese clone. It’s very nicely made. However… it does rattle rather prominently. I don’t normally wiggle my pens, but I tried it and it was like a clatter box.
I’m guessing that this might be an example for a kind of generic 2+1 that would be branded for marketing purposes. And maybe some were sold as blank? I’ve just never seen any more of them. I’d bought it off of YAJ 6 years ago, and while I’ve not kept an eagle eye out, I have browsed the multipen category numerous times–never came across one of these again, even branded.
I have a palm size booklet from MUJI Hong Kong printed in Aug, 2013.
On one of the fold out pages, the first one from the left is hexagonal and minimalistic.
(Sorry for the poor resolution, the multipen is only 3cm on page)
