Newest Acquisitions (Virtual "Show & Tell") ~ part 562

Many thanks to all who attended our meeting on Thursday at the VPL's Renfrew branch!!Next week, I'll post some photos from the meeting, as well as information about our February meet up. In the meantime, here's another review by Christopher, who sent me this write up about a vintage fountain pen with a very interesting filling mechanism - a pen made for a large U.S. department store chain...

Christopher writes:
"I remember back in the mid 1950s, when I was living in New Jersey, going in on the train with my grandfather to New York and having the city vista take my breath away. And at Christmas, when we went shopping, just being so impressed with the Sears Roebuck department store. They literally had everything... but let's wind the hands of the clock back to the mid 1930s and visit the Sears pen counter. At this grand station of the store, one could buy any number of different fountain pens, including the store's house brand, 'Good Service'. If you were lucky enough to acquire one of these definitely fine pens, you would immediately be impressed with its writing ability, not to mention its good looks, but what I am going to illustrate in this article is a Good Service pen that to my mind is outstanding."

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

He continues:
"Let us start with the finish. The cap, barrel and long blind cap are presented in the most stunning striated Emerald, jet and pearl with black vertical lines breaking up these colours. The barrel has transparency and, although red ambered, I would have to give it a C8 in clarity. Protruding out of the back end of the barrel, is a well-made polished aluminum threaded collar, which marries with the long blind cap when the pen is not being inked. From this collar, an equally long plunger syringe aluminum tube also sticks out, and from its end is a spring loaded (also aluminum) metal button. To fill the pen, one simply pushes this plunger and button unit into the barrel. Then the spring-loaded button action, pops the button out and by grabbing hold of this button, the syringe filler can be pulled smoothly back out of the barrel to draw ink into the pen by capillary action. It is, to my mind, a sheer genius mechanism. 

Moving to the business end of the pen, the barrel sports a most adequate jet-black section that, in turn, secures a most impressive 14K Gold flexible nib that, in turn, writes both consistently and smoothly. The cap is well-designed and mirrors the blind cap in its shape and design. It also has a very attractive triple banding near the open end. Held securely on this cap, is a 14K Gold filled art Deco design clip. This clip has a crest at its peak, running down with chased vertical lines to a ball end. I should mention that to finish this overall make up, both the cap and blind cap have black conical end disks. The one thing that really rings true about this pen is its super quality and precision crafting. It is my understanding that it was, in fact, made by the National Pen Company of Chicago. Needless to say, it has stolen my heart and, in doing so, will be a wonderful addition to my pen collection."

Our thanks to Christopher for sending in this pen review for our club's blog!