Pilot… king of the elegant and understated executive pen, produced the Stanza series starting in 2005 (according to the Wayback Machine) and was officially discontinued in 2020.
I’d always been curious, at a distance, due to the high prices. It took a long time before I found some for sale at a reasonable price. Anyway, All I can say is: impeccable fit and finish, and I really appreciated the way ‘Stanza’ is engraved into the middle ring instead of being simply screen printed like the S20.
The pen model is simple but robustly made with a twist mechanism for the Acro Ink BRFN-30 cartridge. The mechanical pencil is a no nonsense 0.5mm, again very robustly made.
I picked two limited editions from 2008 with special colors and matte black accents, and a chromed model with Pilot’s deep red wood resin grip. Overall, very pleased with the Stanza series—I think they have a place in any Pilot enthusiast’s collection.
9 Likes
Pilot always has another model that I’ve never seen before. Another one I recently learned about is the palladium plated Grance. I’ve only seen it pop up a few times, but a simple Google search yielded me some listings on some Japanese websites from the 2010s.
It’s really a shame I got into this hobby when I did, because every time I search for these 2000s-2010s models on the Korean web, they always show up for sale on MunguLand’s website, but always as SOLD OUT. There is the off chance that you can find these in stores, but must have been picked over by other collectors at this point.
2 Likes
Gotta admit I didn’t acquire the trio of Stanzas (does that make them a ‘song’?) to pair with each other… that’s not very interesting for me. Instead, I had picked each one because I had a potential match up with a different pen or pencil in mind.
The first is the Stanza MP in glossy carbon grey, whose color appears almost identical to my eyes with my much older Sheaffer Delta Grip, produced circa 1987. The Delta is named as such for its ribbed triangular profile grip. I’m sure it will irk as many users as it intrigues…
5 Likes
I’d previously paired my red-brown FC Ambition pen with my Luddite Everdraw but perhaps it was really meant to go with the Pilot Stanza?
One thing about the Ambition pen? It is back heavy due to the block of metal up top. This is something I have never experienced with Pilot’s executive designs. Different design priorities, I guess.
7 Likes
Finding a pen to match the black / copper accent of the Pro-Use 171 limited edition was a real challenge. I thought there were some possible candidates from Parker in terms of colors but the pens were not that interesting to me. So I decided to invert the theme with the Pilot Stanza instead.
5 Likes
