Friday, July 31, 2020

Newest Acquisitions (Virtual "Show & Tell") ~ part 52

Today's featured newest acquisition is Stuart's 1930s Sheaffer desk set with 'Lifetime' desk pen:

(all photos courtesy of Stuart ~ click on images to enlarge)

Stuart: "The set from San Marcos, California, is here! It’s beautiful, the brown onyx or marble base has rich, varied colouring, and the metal rim is elegant."
"The pen has what I think is a Medium-Fine point, and is super-smooth. I filled it with Sheaffer Brown, an appropriate choice!"
"Another winner, I’m really happy with this one."

I'd be happy with this great vintage desk set, too! Congrats on another nice find, Stuart :)

Wednesday, July 29, 2020

Newest Acquisitions (Virtual "Show & Tell") ~ part 51

Next up in our virtual "show & tell"--Lina's beautiful Benu 'Minima' fountain pen in the aptly-named "Blazing Gold" pattern"...

(all photos courtesy of Lina ~ please click on images to enlarge)

Lina: "This pen is slightly small, compact, with a streamlined, faceted body. It's small and lightweight, great for carrying. It has a screw cap but it is not postable, and its sleek design can roll off the desk so you have to be careful with that."

"This pen is handmade of a high-quality transparent resin with golden leaf and glitter inserts. It has a #5 Schmidt stainless steel nib F and writes very smooth and reliable, just as you would expect a Schmidt nib."

"The body is actually quite small and came with a Kaweco cartridge (I bought it second hand), not sure if anything bigger fits. I tried fitting a Kaweco Sport converter and it fit just right."

"A small bit about the company: The Benu Pen company is a small Russian company, based in Moscow, which makes handmade writing instruments in streamlined shapes and vibrant color combinations. The name Benu comes from the ancient Egyptian deity linked with the sun, creation, and rebirth. Benu is a symbol of constant changes, recurrence, and renovations."

As a side note, the "Blazing Gold" material used for Lina's Benu "Minima" was also used for another Benu fountain pen model called the "Essence". The "Essence" is slightly larger than the "Minima", has a clip, and is postable.

Lina - thank you so much for sharing your lovely new acquisition with all of us!

Monday, July 27, 2020

Newest Acquisitions (Virtual "Show & Tell") ~ part 50

And now for a couple of nice vintage fountain pens recently acquired by René - his Sheaffer 'Craftsman and 'Admiral' Thin-Model Touchdown-filling fountain pens...

(all photos courtesy of René ~ please click on images to enlarge)

René:"Sheaffer was always an innovator in terms of filling mechanisms and was the first to introduce the lever-filling system that was very common among vintage pens into the 60s, and one of the first to re-introduce the cartridge pen later on."

"The "Touchdown" filler first appeared in 1949, and was a new take on the pneumatic filler system that usually only takes one or two pumpings (pull the plunger out, put the tip into the ink, push the plunger back in, wait for half a minute, and you're done) to fill."

"In the early 1950s they used the Touchdown system in a new line of pens, made of mold-injected plastics, that they called the Thin Models (TM). These are two from this line."

"The green ("evergreen green") pen is the Craftsman, the lowest end of the TM series, but by no means a poor model. It is a simple, but elegant cigar-shaped design with a subtly beautiful gold-tone metal ring at the rim of the cap. Like the other TM models it has a spiral-cut no-slip grip section with a visulated part. The nib is 14-karat gold, marked with a "33" on it, which is a mark of the Craftsman model. This one has a medium nib and is, like most Sheaffer nibs, a wonderful, smooth writer."

"The burgundy pen is an Admiral, the next step up from the Craftsman in the TM tree. Appropriately, it has a bit more "bling" to it, with a wider gold band and a fine, elegant two-tone nib, with the markings, "Feathertouch" and "5" - the latter is a mark of the TM Admiral model. I haven't inked this one yet, but I expect that it would be an excellent writer as well. There is a barely-noticeable hairline crack in the cap, but it's quite stable, thanks to the cap ring."


Many thanks to René for the photos and historical background on these two classic vintage Sheaffers!

Saturday, July 25, 2020

Newest Acquisitions (Virtual "Show & Tell") ~ part 49

The Laban Pen Corporation was founded in Taipei, Taiwan in 1981 by John Hu and his brother Charles. Almost exactly a year ago (July 29, 2019), the company released their Laban '325' "Sun" fountain pen, which I purchased in May 2020 as a self-gift for my birthday :)

(all photos by Maja ~ please click on images to enlarge)

I ordered the pen from Goldspot Pens in the U.S.A, and it came in simple-but-elegant packaging-- a nice blue cardboard box with a pullout drawer and a satiny "pillow". Goldspot's regular retail price for the '325' was $111.95 USD (not including shipping) but I got it for 15% off during their "Laban Week" (which essentially paid for the shipping to Canada).

The '325' is available in a variety of colours, including orange, green, blue, red and purple (the "Sun", "Forest", "Ocean","Flame" and "Wisteria models, respectively). I chose the "Sun" model because I love the colour orange and thought it went beautifully with the pen's ivory material and gold-plated accents. The orange material has a lovely glow with shimmering flecks of different shades, and although it's made of acrylic, the ivory resin has a very "natural" look due to its subtle striations.

If there's one thing I could change in terms of the 325's design, it's the shape of the barrel/cap end. Most (?) fountain pens have cap tops and barrel ends that match. I find this symmetry aesthetically-pleasing, so I was disappointed that the '325' didn't have this feature. In fact, I held off on buying the pen for quite a while, just for that reason. I finally relented, though, because the pen was just too pretty to pass up...

Aside from that, I love the look of the pen and was very pleased that Laban used the ivory-coloured acrylic for the section. One small caveat: because of the section's light colour, it may be more prone to staining from fountain pen inks, so I would strongly recommend wiping the section thoroughly after each fill.

Another design feature I really like -- the double rings on the section. Double trim rings are also found near the top of the pen's cap. Also on the cap is a finial in the form of a small medallion with the Laban logo on it. With all this ornamentation, some might say the pen borders on gaudy, but I think it's tastefully done.

My 325's nib is a German-made JoWo #6 size single-tone gold-plated stainless steel Medium nib with the Laban name in cursive script, "GERMANY", and the number 3952 (the height of Mt. Yushan, Taiwan's highest mountain) laser-engraved on it. The steel nib on mine performs well and lays down a nice, smooth line. The '325' is also available with a 14K gold nib option, but costs substantially more.

The Laban '325' feels good in the hand - solid, sturdy (thanks to the thick acrylic material used in its manufacture + the metal section and barrel threads) and substantial. It's 5.9 inches capped and 5.16 inches uncapped, so it's long enough to be used uncapped comfortably. When posted, however, the pen extends to 6.81 inches and (due to the weight of the cap) becomes top-heavy. And it's not a light fountain pen either--at 34 grams capped, the '325' is heavier than a Pilot Vanishing Point (30 grams) or a Pelikan M1000 fountain pen (32.6 grams).

Overall, I think the Laban '325' is a good value for the money if you're looking for an attractive cartridge/converter-filling fountain pen that is a smooth, reliable writer.
~Review and photos by Maja

Thursday, July 23, 2020

Newest Acquisitions (Virtual "Show & Tell") ~ part 48

Performance and price don't always go hand in hand, as you'll see in these reviews of two modern fountain pens recently acquired by Jerred...

(all photos courtesy of Jerred ~ please click on images to enlarge)

Jerred:"This is a Hongdian 1850, also called the Black Forest. Hongdian is a Chinese maker, one I'd never really heard of before the beginning of this year. They seem to be very influenced by the severe, almost industrial designs that are the hallmark of certain German makers, such as Staedtler, Faber-Castell or Lamy."

"This pen comes in three finishes; black (seen here), blue and what looks like a raw, brushed aluminum. Fit and finish is excellent, the coating is evenly applied and seems reasonably tough, and while the pen is all metal and slightly on the heavy side, it's well balanced in the hand."

"One thing that definitely bears highlighting is the nib: The nib on this pen is absolutely excellent. Out of the box it was smooth, well adjusted, and wrote very reliably. It's also black-coated, and (apparently) it's a PVD coating instead of paint or epoxy, which should help with wear. All-in-all, for a $25 pen, I'm very impressed."

"This is a Parker Duofold International, in Ivory. This is part of Parker's modern Duofold lineup, and International is the smallest size in the lineup. It's similar in size to a Pelikan M600, though with a slightly shorter section. Fit and finish are merely okay, however. While the body is well enough put together, the nib slit is quite badly off-center and the masking isn't great either. While I normally wouldn't complain about such things, this is quite an expensive pen, and I would expect perfect, or close to perfect attention to detail."

"Worse than the aesthetic issues, however, are the functional issues with this pen. To put it bluntly, the nib was pathetic. The tipping was so uneven that it would not write unless I applied pressure, the inner tines weren't smoothed properly, and the tines were out of alignment. It was so bad, in fact, that I ended up having to completely re-grind the nib to make the pen functional. It writes well enough now, but overall I was quite disappointed."

Many thanks to Jerred for sending in his photos and reviews for our virtual "show & tell"!

Tuesday, July 21, 2020

Newest Acquisitions (Virtual "Show & Tell") ~ part 47

About a year and a half ago, Stuart acquired a really nice handmade leather zippered pen case/wallet made by the Galen Leather Company in Turkey, so he was very excited to acquire a special edition fountain pen made for them...

(all photos courtesy of Stuart ~ please click on images to enlarge)

Stuart: "The Mystery Parcel has arrived! It actually came before 10 A. M. It is a special edition Kaweco Sport made for Galen Leather in Istanbul!"

"I’m very pleased; the pen’s a lovely writer and the colour is very warm and rich - I have to say it reminds me of whiskey, LOL! The CDN price of the pen was $44.00, and with shipping the total came to $61.80 CDN, which I consider very reasonable for a quality SE pen. And fast turnaround - 12 days from order to delivery."


"The colour is Cognac, in transparent acrylic, with a gold-plated nib in a 1.1 mm stub, and a gold finial on the end of the cap, and Galen Leather in gold on one side of the barrel."

"I filled it with Monteverde Fireopal, which is a good pairing for the colour of the pen."

"As you can see from the pics, the packaging is lovely..."

"... and look at the extras - a charm against the Evil Eye; a postcard of an historic site in Istanbul; an Earl Grey teabag; a packet of instant Turkish coffee; and a lavender-scented hand wipe! The people at Galen are always lovely to deal with, and their own products are excellent. If you want one of these pens I wouldn’t wait too long. I think they will sell fast."

Wow - all that and a great pocket fountain pen for less than $62 CDN shipped?!? What a deal!
Congratulations on your newest acquisitions, Stuart, and thanks for sharing your photos with us :)

Sunday, July 19, 2020

Newest Acquisitions (Virtual "Show & Tell") ~ part 46

And now a fountain pen designed by Italian fashion designer Beatrice Fontana (who also designed the Parker 'Premier') and described as a "reinterpretation of the 1907 Waterman ‘Safety’ pen" ~ Lawrence's gorgeous Waterman 'Elegance' fountain pen...

(all photos courtesy of Lawrence ~ please click on images to enlarge)

Lawrence: "This was the pen that more or less started the point of no return for me. It was the one that went over 100 bucks (that was my "high end" limit at the time). As this pen was expensive for me at that time (now I've sinned enough that it does not hurt as much), I was a bit embarrassed to show it. So the only pen I ended up bringing to the club was the Faber-Castell Basic."

"This pen was worth it but it was also a lot of trouble - it took 3 tries (from Amazon as it was the cheapest at that time). I got two medium nibs and both had "baby's bottoms".....so Amazon finally got me a fine point and this wrote very well. If this pen worked out the first time, then I may not have ventured further with the hobby, but because I was waiting for the shipment of the replacements, I decided to shop at Perks...then Richard told me about the pen club and the rest is history..."

"This pen was not what I intend to buy in the beginning. It has three variants the gold/black, silver/ black, and gold / ivory. I was going for the gold/black, but this ivory one was special the more I look at it. It gives off a very Art Nouveau / Belle Époque vibe. Something that can work visually with a Rennie Mackintosh painting."

"It has a good weight to it. I never post my pen but I imagine it is "postable". The cap is one of those pull off caps. It gives a nice clicking sound when capped. It is okay to pull off (not as difficult as the FC Basic)."

Thank you, Lawrence, for your photos and review of this beautiful modern fountain pen!

Friday, July 17, 2020

Newest Acquisitions (Virtual "Show & Tell") ~ part 45

If you've been reading our pen club blog regularly, you might have noticed that VPCer Jerred has been quietly amassing a nice collection of some lesser-known modern Italian fountain pens.
This newest acquisition of his is no exception....

(photos courtesy of Jerred ~ please click on images to enlarge)

Jerred's thoughts: "This is a Martemodena Chronicle, in the lovely "Country" acetate finish. This is one of the first Martemodena pens that was sold under their own brand (along with the "Freedom to Be" and "Naturals"). With a warranty date of early 2017, it was almost certainly made by Delta for Martemodena. It is very similar to the "The Journal" model from Delta, with slightly elongated ends."

Jerred continues: "The gold-plated, Bock steel nib is very smooth and a lovely writer. While I'm sad that Delta went out of business, they were still making lovely pens right up until the end."

Many thanks to Jerred for sending us photos of his beautiful new pen for our virtual "show & tell". Delta Pens will be certainly be missed :(

Wednesday, July 15, 2020

Newest Acquisitions (Virtual "Show & Tell") ~ part 44

Brand-new VPC member Kevin W. recently sent some photos of a couple of his new acquisitions. One of them is a familiar vintage fountain pen (one with a very long production run) and the other is a lesser-known brand that was supposedly among King George VI's favourites...

(photos courtesy of Kevin ~ please click on images to enlarge)

Kevin: "My very first fountain pen was a plastic bodied Parker 45. 11 year old me thought it was soooo fancy because it had a gold M nib and a shiny steel cap. To this day, it writes with a sublime smoothness, though it has suffered from the slight collapse in the barrel that stalks the Parker 45 due to the cap's clutch being a little too aggressive for the plastic barrel's softness. Unfortunately my handwriting could never do it justice, but I love that pen. My contemporaries at school often had the more modern (late 70's – all things are relative) Parker 25 with it's all metal flighter design. Over the years I've come to realise that there were in fact many variations on my basic black Parker 45, and amongst them was indeed an all-metal flighter. There's also a flighter with a black plastic end, but my preference had always been for "the full metal jacket".

"Today, The Pen Workshop near Aylesbury, UK delivered my dream pen. Paul Baker there kindly listened to my preferences and found the perfect match. He even located a pen with a barrel that shows minimal caving, and managed to find me one with an F nib. The cap has the all important "Made in England" and a lack of letter stamps puts it as likely pre-1980. I think I'll just gaze a bit longer before inking it up."

Kevin: "Pen number two started out as just an "oh, that looks nice" moment whilst perusing for the Parker. It has a gorgeous green marbling which I ultimately found irresistible. Never having heard of the Wyvern brand previously, I did a bit of research and discovered that my parents actually used these Wyvern Perfect Pen No 81's back at high school, and so with little more than that connection and a desire to own a small bit of British pen history, I added it to the shopping cart at www.penworkshop.co.uk."

"Wyvern is long gone now, closing its factory in 1955. Founded in Leicester, the Wyvern Pen Company was named after the mythical creature that appears in the coat-of-arms of the city. Production of pens began back in the 1890s and they made several models as well as manufactured nibs for other pen companies and promotional pens for a variety of campaigns."

"The barrel still has the faint imprint of "WYVERN Perfect Pen No 81" despite its ~70 year age. I hope I look this good when I'm that old!"

Welcome to our pen club, Kevin, and thank you for sharing your lovely British pen finds with us!

Monday, July 13, 2020

Newest Acquisitions (Virtual "Show & Tell") ~ part 43

In late April, René emailed me about a new vintage fountain pen he'd recently acquired. His email began with "E-bay and self-isolation is a bad combination!" (something I think many of us can relate to!) and went on to describe the condition of the pen, as well as the restoration it required. A few weeks later, René's fountain pen came back in fully-restored condition, so he emailed some photos of it for our virtual "show & tell". Without further ado, here it is...

(all photos courtesy of René ~ please click on images to enlarge)

In René's words: "This is a "wood grain" flat top Eclipse from the later 20s. Unlike most "wood grain" pens of the era, which are usually hard rubber, this one is plastic, but they did a magnificent job of simulating the pattern with it, and this is a gorgeous pen."

"It was made in the USA (as it says on the clip) and has the Klein-style clip of post-1923, as well as the iconic Eclipse laurel wreath at the end of the lever. The lack of a cap ring makes it look like it's a single piece of wood when capped or posted."

"It came to me with the body in excellent shape, but it needed a new sac (of course), the feed was cracked, and the nib was a poor-quality Warranted 14kt gold one with minor damage. Christopher Robertson restored it and fitted it with a Canadian 14kt Eclipse nib, and it's now a beautiful, wonderful writer."

Nice restoration job, Christopher! Congratulations on another great vintage pen, René, and thanks for sharing your find with us :)

Saturday, July 11, 2020

Newest Acquisitions (Virtual "Show & Tell") ~ part 42

Back to fountain pens we go with today's "show & tell" item---Armando's handsome new Sailor 'Pro Gear Realo' fountain pen!

(all photos courtesy of Armando ~ please click on images to enlarge)

Description:
Body Material: Resin with Gold Trim
Color: Maroon
Nib: 21 kt yellow gold and rhodium plating
Filling Mechanism: Piston filler

Armando: "The Realo is the only model in the Sailor fountain pen family with a piston-filler ink mechanism. This gives an advantage of having a higher ink capacity than the conventional cartridge converter used in the the other Sailor pens."

"The Sailor pens evoke an emotional effect in me because of the "Anchor" logo that I associate with my college days when we had the Naval ROTC (Reserve Officers Training Corps). Our logo was also an anchor, and we wore a Pershing cap with an anchor in front. It gets me thinking about those good old days whenever I see and use the pen."

"The color of this Pro Gear pen is maroon and the shape differs from the other Sailor pens because it has a flat top and barrel end, as opposed to the cigar shape. When writing with this pen, the smoothness is awesome, albeit having a medium hard nib. The ink flow is consistent, does not skip, and writes immediately when you put the nib on the paper. Tactile pleasure is good, both posted and unposted."

"Overall, I think this pen offers good value for money."

Note: Sailor's 'Realo' line is comprised of two models---the 'Pro Gear Realo' (Armando's pen above, which has a flat cap top and barrel end) and the '1911 Realo' (which has a rounded cap top and barrel end). There's a short-but-informative blog post on Anderson Pens here on all the different models in Sailor's 'Pro Gear' and '1911' lines.

Armando - thank you, as always, for sharing your wonderful new acquisitions with us!

Thursday, July 9, 2020

Newest Acquisitions (Virtual "Show & Tell") ~ part 41

It's not a fountain pen, but it's so stylish...

(photos courtesy of Stuart ~ please click on images to enlarge)

Stuart: "I got an Alexander Girard edition Caran d’Ache 849 at Van Pen! I like it, and the graphic on the case is so cool!"

He continues: "I got the black and white one, very cool geometric pattern, something like houndstooth check. They are a very smooth BP, nice writers."



A little background on the inspiration behind this pen from Caran d'Ache's official webpage:

The 849 Alexander Girard Limited Edition was born of the desire of Caran d’Ache, Vitra and Studio Girard to decorate the 849 with the joyous cult patterns dreamt up by Alexander Girard. This multi-talented creator revolutionised the history of 20th century design by leaving his colourful, graphic mark on everyday objects. With a keen interest in textures, patterns and folk art, Alexander Girard collected the writing instruments which enabled him to express his creativity.

The two 849s call on patterns chosen from the collections of the Vitra Design Museum which houses the designer’s archives. The pink and white 849 boasts the “check stripes” pattern, developed by Alexander Girard to bring a touch of colour to decorative panels and textiles in everyday life. The black and white 849 presents the “double triangle" pattern created for use on textiles and wallpaper.


Congratulations on your new acquisition, Stuart, and thanks for the photos!

Tuesday, July 7, 2020

Newest Acquisitions (Virtual "Show & Tell") ~ part 40

Today's virtual "show & tell" features another Italian fountain pen recently acquired by Jerred - his new Filcao 'Atlantica'!

(photo courtesy of Jerred ~ please click on image to enlarge)

Jerred:"This is my third Filcao, the Filcao Atlantica. This particular version of the Atlantica is based on an earlier Filcao design, the Columbia. The Columbia was designed by Richard Binder in concert with Filcao, and it was a deliberate homage to the classic 1920s Parker Duofold. The features of the Columbia that are taken from the Duofold include the general shape, a custom-developed dark blue and yellow celluloid, as well as a button-filling mechanism."

"The Atlantica version is slightly larger than the Columbia, but otherwise uses the same design, material, and button-filling mechanism. The two models can be distinguished by the branding: The Columbia has a blind engraving on the barrel, while the Atlantica has a sterling silver inscribed cap band instead, visible in the picture here. There are also other models of the Atlantica that use Chilton-type pneumatic fillers. The nib is a Schmidt-branded, stainless steel nib. It works, though it's pretty boring."

Love that speckled resin material! (there's a nice article on the story behind the design of the 'Atlantica's' cousin, the Filcao 'Columbia' here) Thanks for sharing your new purchase with us, Jerred :)

Sunday, July 5, 2020

Newest Acquisitions (Virtual "Show & Tell") ~ part 39

In the spotlight today---Melodie's lovely Nakaya 'Decapod Twist Writer' "Heki-Tamenuri" fountain pen:

(all photos courtesy of Melodie ~ please click on images to enlarge)

They say a picture is worth a thousand words, so I was just going to let the photos Melodie sent in for the "show & tell" do all the talking... but after doing some research on her new pen, I thought I'd share some interesting facts about it...

The Nakaya 'Decapod Twist Writer' is a Japanese handcrafted ten-sided fountain pen made of hand-turned ebonite (hard rubber) covered with multiple layers of urushi*, each carefully applied to create the beautiful effect you see. It takes over one year to make this particular fountain pen, due to the complexities of its twisted-faceted design. As well as being aesthetically-pleasing, the design is exceedingly practical - the flat facets reduce the chances of the pen rolling off of a desk.

* Urushi is the sap of the urushi or lacquer tree that is native to Japan, China, Korea and the eastern Himalayas. The sap contains a resin called urushiol that polymerizes to become a very hard, durable, plastic-like substance when it is exposed to moisture and air.

The finish on Melodie's pen is called "Heki-Tamenuri", and is one of a variety of different finishes that Nakaya uses on their writing instruments. From Nakaya's official website:
"Tame" means "pool" and "nuri" refers to the lacquer coating process. You can actually see through the layers of clear urushi lacquer as if you were looking into a pool. "Heki" is the color between blue and green. It is one of the Japanese traditional colors...This shape of barrel has 10 angles, so that we can see this light color."

From Nibs.com (the the exclusive retailer of Nakaya products in North America):"As with all hand-painted Tame-nuri pens, the colors will vary slightly from pen to pen - no two will ever be exactly the same. With time, the outer dark layer will grow more transparent, allowing the Heki under-layer to show through."

Nakaya pens are available in a wide variety of gold nib widths (from Ultra Extra-Fine to Music, and seven other nib widths in between) and nib platings (pink gold colour, rhodium colour, ruthenium colour (plated), two tone and single tone).

According to their official website, all of Nakaya's craftsmen worked for the Platinum Pen Company for more than 40 years before retiring to work for the Nakaya Fountain Pen Company. To assist their craftsmen in creating nibs that best fit their customers' writing needs, Nakaya created an eight-part questionnaire on handwriting style that customers can fill out and submit with their online pen orders. They take nib-making so seriously, in fact, that they even have a Fountain Pen Writing Science analysis section on their website! It should come as no surprise, then, that their company's homepage proudly states "Our mission is to design a perfect pen for your hand and for your hand only."

Many thanks to Melodie for sharing her lovely new acquisition with us. After reading this blog post, I wonder if some folks will be adding a Nakaya to their "Pen Wish List"...I know I will :)

Stay well, everyone!
~Maja

Friday, July 3, 2020

Newest Acquisitions (Virtual "Show & Tell") ~ part 38

René recently acquired two vintage fountain pens made by the same pen company, but in different countries. Can you guess the two countries? (Hint: one is the United States)

(all photos courtesy René ~ click on images to enlarge)

"The Two Eagles: I present to you, two pens made by the Eagle Pen Company. Specifically, they were made by a (sort of?) subsidiary of the Eagle Pen Company, Epenco (which stands for, well, Eagle Pen Company).

Eagle started in New York in 1856 and eventually had branches all over the world, including England and Canada. They made several very early innovations in design and pen engineering, including the first cartridge pen (the cartridges were made of glass), which didn't quite take off at the time. Eventually it was taken in by the Koh-i-noor company, and was later transformed into the company we know now as Berol."


"The Epenco branch was created for the the Depression era market, just as Parker's Safford Fifth Avenue and Sheaffer's WASP lines were, and were made in many beautiful materials. The nibs were often (always?) steel, but are good performers."

"These two are two of my newest Epenco acquisitions, and, in the spirit of the Canada Day and the American Independence Day, one was made in New York, and the other in Canada, both from the 30s. The grey one is the American, in a lovely swirly pattern with an elegant cap ring. The blue one is the Canadian, also with a similar swirly material, but with gold-coloured trimming. The gold trimming against the blue swirl makes a very attractive combination in the hand I can't stop looking at, while the American grey pen makes for a sleek, elegant writer."

"So, in the interest of international relations, Happy Independence/Canada Days to you all!"

Our thanks to René for sharing more of his newest purchases with us! VPC members---please keep those photos of your new acquisitions coming!!

Wednesday, July 1, 2020

Newest Acquisitions (Virtual "Show & Tell") ~ part 37

Hope this Canada Day finds you doing well and staying safe. Today's show & tell features a special vintage writing instrument recently acquired by René...

René: "In tribute to [Canada Day and] our Canadian front-line workers in this difficult time, I present here a Canadian Waterman nurse pen."

(all photos courtesy of René ~ please click on images to enlarge)


"Several companies made nurse's and doctor's fountain pens through the early and mid twentieth century, which are generally of white or pearl material, and often come in a set with a pencil and/or a thermometer holder."

"Waterman made at least four versions of the nurse's pen, from the 1920s until the WWII era, this one being the last of them, originating from about the early 40s to about 1948. It has similarities to some of Waterman's other models, but not marked or known to be a version of any specific model itself."


"It is made of a beautiful shimmery pearl material, and comes with a half-length military clip (the clip begins at the top of the cap and shows no extra material above the pocket lip - perhaps so it can be used by field medics) and a firm 14kt gold nib."


"The nib doesn't reveal its origin, but the marking on the barrel indicates that it was made in Canada."


"This particular pen came from Thunder Bay, Ontario and is in fantastic shape, other than some minor brassing on the clip. A bit of plastic polish and the body shone gorgeously. Though I haven't tested it, I was surprised to find that the sac seems to be intact, which means that it had probably been restored some time recently. This wasn't advertised on the E-bay listing! All in all, a great purchase for $20 plus modest shipping."


This is the second nurse's fountain pen we've featured recently on this blog, the first being Christopher's new vintage Sheaffer 'Admiral' Touchdown-Filler (in this post). Many thanks to René and everyone else who has contributed to our little online "show & tell" and kept the spirit of our pen club alive during this challenging time.

~ Our heartfelt gratitude and thanks to front-line and essential workers everywhere for their tireless dedication and service during this global pandemic ~