Wednesday, June 8, 2022

Newest Acquisitions (Virtual "Show & Tell") ~ part 383

Today's featured new acquisition is this lovely vintage pen made by an American manufacturer from Boston, Massachusetts:

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


Its proud owner -Christopher- writes: "I will admit that the Moore Fingertip fountain pen has always been an item that I have been after but, along the way and recently, I ran across its predecessor, a Moore 94-A Life Maniflex. And may I add that in no way is this particular Moore model any less desirable in my estimation. To start off with, the finish on this Life Maniflex is outstanding. Truly a feast for the eyes with a multicolour application of pearl, grey and jet with a transparent overlay of brown. The mix of colours is separated diagonally with thin black lines to create a superb overall appearance on barrel and cap.

The ends of both barrel and pap are flat rounded off and the 14K gold filled arrow style clip has a rivet fastener similar to the Waterman Ideal clip. And to add a finishing touch on this stylish clip, Moore has featured their branding between the feathers at the top end. The cap band, which is also 14K gold filled is similar to the Parker ‘Stacked Coin’ jeweler’s band. This is a lever filler fountain pen with a jet black grip section. But, by far to my mind, the best feature on this vintage writing instrument is the Moore Maniflex nib. Rendered in 14K gold, it stands out with a sharp crisp application of ink on paper. Truly a thing of beauty and a joy to write with. I am so pleased to add this fine vintage pen to my collection."

            

I asked Christopher if the cap's finial was the "bullseye" type (commonly seen on this particular Moore model) as the first photo in this blog post doesn't show the top of the cap. He quickly sent in the photo directly above, and added more information: "Regarding the Moore, there is no Bullseye cap finial. What it is, is a 14K gold filled ‘Conical Disk rivet’ that holds the clip down on the top of the barrel, much like the method used by Waterman with their Ideal clip. I had the disk tested because I was curious and it is 14K gold filled. I think a lot of collectors just take for granted if some of the fittings are identified as 14K gold filled that all of the fittings are as such. Oh sure, on a quality vintage pen like this Moore, I was pretty sure but, hey, it never hurts to check. I have attached a photo in support of my description."

Many thanks to Christopher for sharing this vintage beauty (and his vintage pen knowledge) with us!

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