(photo courtesy of Christopher ~ please click on image to enlarge)
(Christopher says that the image above shows secretaries from 1889, very appropriate for Labour Day)
He writes:
"I think I fell head over heels with this dainty slim and elegant Waterman vintage pen the second I locked eyes on it. It just seemed to tick off all the boxes, especially when it was posted. What I really found satisfying was the proportions, since as long and thin as it was, all the other elements seem to make it just brilliant!
So, what are we looking at here? Well. it a Waterman with a designation of 412 ½ , but known as the ‘Secretary’ model and extremely slender. The 4 in this designation makes this pen a Sterling silver overlay, while the 1 indicates that it is most certainly an eyedropper. The 2 relates to the size of the nib and, in this case, it is a standard sized Ideal Waterman Gold nib. And finally the ½ refers to the attractive slender size.
But, that to my mind, is just the beginning of the features on this lovely treasure. On the Sterling overlay casing, is the imprinting ‘Mercantile’ indicating that it was the Aikin Lambert jewelers Company of New York that finely crafted this filigree casing and rendered it a wonderful thing of beauty. The filigree on the sterling silver overlay casing is an Art Nouveau, trefoil vine pattern and more or less common from the very beginning of the twentieth century into the teens. The pen has a long straight slip cap, covering an easily gripped, jet black section which, sports an 18K/ 750 gold French made Waterman marked nib. This exquisite nib, sits on a very early Waterman narrow three fissure feed. A feed that in part, made the Waterman company famous for offsetting the early fountain pen leaking problem. This pen is personalized with very attractive scrolled initials ‘M.E.L’ , in a open area on the filigree. The condition of the black vulcanized rubber in the overall makeup of this fine writing instrument is flawless, deep, rich and shiny black to offset the brilliant sterling silver overlay casing to perfection.
Saying that, I could not find any end of barrel Waterman identification numbering. In fact, there was no sign that numbering as such had been applied, which is not unusual on such a very early contender. Actually, the end of the barrel is not completely flat but has somewhat of a rounded smooth convex surface. As for length, this pen measures a tad over 6 ½ inches posted but caps back to a pocketable 5 ¼ inches. Otherwise, this pen is just a joy to write with, laying down the ink evenly and consistently with a impressively flexibility to the nib. Can’t really find much wrong with this old trooper and am happy to report that it has made its merry way into my vintage pen collection."
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