Der Füllfederhalter Murex (genauer: MYU-REX1) des japanischen Herstellers Pilot kam 1977 als Nachfolger des 1971 eingeführten MYU 7012 auf den Markt. Ebenso wie dieser hatte der Murex eine in das Griffstück integrierte Feder, d. h. Griff und Feder wurden aus demselben Stück Stahl gefertigt3. Sowohl den MYU als auch den Murex gab es in unterschiedlichen Varianten, und 2008 wurde mit dem M90 eine limitierte und leicht veränderte Neuaflage des MYU herausgebracht.
Das „Space Age“-Design des Pilot Murex spricht mich sehr an, und so bin ich froh, einen zu haben, und obwohl seine F-Feder4 nicht ganz so leicht gleitet wie die vieler anderer Füllfederhalter von Pilot, benutze ich ihn gerne. – Mehr unter „The Legendary Pilot Murex“.
- Modellbezeichnung MR-500SS.↩
- Modellbezeichnung M-350SS.↩
- Der erste Füllfederhalter dieser Art war der Parker T-1 von 1970, doch dessen Produktion wurde nach nur einem Jahr eingestellt.↩
- Er war auch mit M-Feder erhältlich.↩
Even to a non-pen person like myself, they are stunning.
How beautiful! Thank you for showing it to us.
By the way Murex is the sea snail the Romans used for ink. Great find from Pilot.
Sean, I’m happy to hear that! By the way, I don’t consider myself a pen person either – I just enjoy some pens and inks but don’t want to get any deeper (at least for the time being).
Wowter, it was a pleasure! Thank you for that exciting detail. Now I understand how it came to the strange automatic translations of the item descriptions on eBay ;-)
I’m definitely not a fountain pen person, though I do have, and love, a fine-nib Pilot M90 – the 2008 sort-of reissue of the MUREX. It’s a beautiful pen, and a lovely object. In hindsight, I should have asked for the medium nib, but it’s still a pleasure to write with.
Having checked eBay quickly, I find only one for sale, brand new, at an eye-popping £1,000 buy-it-now! I dread to think how much the originals now go for.
£1,000 for a new M90? That’s crazy. I haven’t looked for quite a while but I think the original can be had for much less, and if I remember correctly I have read somewhere that the reissued ones are more in demand (for reasons I don’t know). – By the way, the M90 was a reissue of the MYU 701; the Murex is the long version.
Thanks for letting me know. I didn’t really know there was a difference between the Murex and the MYU.
I agree – absolutely bonkers to expect so much for a pen that cost, I think, about 15% of that new. I find a lot of rarer stationery has now suffered the same kind of mad-pricing that’s made an original Blackwing unobtainable for normal people like me. The internet seems to have sent prices ballooning in a lot of niche hobbies.
The many variants of the MYU/Murex make it quite difficult.
The prices are insane. I have recently heard about some prices for vintage mechanical pencils and could not believe it at first. I wonder what has happened in the last years!
The integrated nib design was first introduced by Parker a year earlier than Pilot on its model T1, which was made entirely out of titanium. For some odd reason, Parker never followed on with this peculiar design until 1978, when they introduced their Falcon 50 model. Although not as good looking as the Pilot versions, it has quite a flair in its Flighter guise.
Not many of these pens were produced as it was already gone by 1981. Yet, you can find many copies for sale at much more affordable prices than the Pilot. Never used a Murex or a MYU, but judging by your description, I bet the Parker pen feels way better writing. Let’s not forget that Parker was for many decades the biggest, one of the most innovative and most recognized brand of fountain pens out there. Nowadays, is just a bad joke.
Thank you for these details! The Parker T1 and Falcon 50 look amazing. – Unfortunately, Parker is not the only brand that has gone down this path. I always see something like this as a great loss!
Corporate gluttony my friend!
Yes, unfortunately …