Newest Acquisitions (Virtual "Show & Tell") ~ part 197

About three weeks ago, we got an email from Grant, a customer of the Vancouver Pen Shop who was looking for some assistance in getting a vintage pen up and running again. Grant's email began in familiar fashion: "Many years ago, my father gave me his Sheaffer fountain pen..." He explained that although the pen appeared to be in very good condition, it couldn't take up water or ink. Knowing that a picture is worth a thousand words (or even more, when it comes to identifying a mystery pen :), Grant included the two photos below in his email::

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

(Above: The Sheaffer 'Snorkel' fountain pen in question--which, it turned out, is an "Admiral" model -- and Grant's 2018 Montblanc LeGrand fountain pen in platinum above it)

 

(Above: the Snorkel Admiral's 14K gold nib and metal sac protector tube with snorkel attached)

There were fourteen different 'Snorkel' models made; some came with open nibs like this one, others sported Sheaffer's famous conical Triumph nib. Nib materials included 14K gold (monotone or two-tone) and Palladium Silver.

I wrote back to Grant, identified the make and model, and steered him towards some pen repair resources after he said he'd like to try replacing the Snorkel's ink sac himself. Not long after receiving my reply, Grant asked how to go about joining our pen club; he's now the newest Vancouver Pen Club member :)

Welcome to the club, Grant, and many thanks for sharing your pen photos!

Newest Acquisitions (Virtual "Show & Tell") ~ part 196

 Back to fountain pens we go now....

This one has a long but interesting story, spanning nearly a decade, from Eastern Canada to the West Coast, and it belongs to avid vintage pen collector Christopher. The supporting characters in the tale are Christopher's wife Chris and his father-in-law Alf. But enough of my preamble, let's let Christopher tell the story...

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

Christopher: "In late May of 2012, Chris and I headed East to visit her Dad. Now, I should explain that Alf, her father was also a collector, but of vintage metal button hooks used in the lacing up of 19th century lady’s shoes. So almost as soon as we arrived, he wanted to take us around to his local antique haunts and to a huge Eastern flea market where he was sure Chris could find the vintage commercial perfume bottles she was collecting at that time and for me, of course, vintage fountain pens. I don’t think that it was anything more than a couple of days that we were not browsing those shops and on the weekend heading out to this huge flea market. But as much as Alf felt we could make a day of it, at 87 unfortunately, he just wasn’t getting around that well and tired very quickly. So when we arrived at the market, just the walk from our car to the confectionery inside the gates had him wanting to sit down and rest."

"Chris suggested that I go and see what I could find but be back at the confectionery within 25 minutes. So I put one foot in front of the other in quick order because the flea market was about the size of three football fields, filled with row after row of hundreds of dealers tables. Fortunately, on the third table into the first row, I spotted a Parker Streamlined Duofold Chinese Red Senior pen & pencil Set, which brought me to an abrupt stop. I knew the clock was ticking so I quickly asked for the price. The dealer’s wife told me $175. Now I should mention that although I was rather flush when we first headed out that morning, I had found and bought items at the antique shops Alf had taken us to earlier. So all I had left in my pocket was a C note and that is what I offered her in return. She mulled it over with her husband and came back with a fixed price of $125 for the set. I asked them to hold it and Chris came to my rescue with the difference. I was so excited even though we had to head back to Alf’s apartment. He was admittedly exhausted, but Chris took my pen set and put it in her purse for me to check out when we got back to our hotel later."

"Needless to say, I was up in the wee hours the next morning and discovered to my dismay in checking out the fountain, that it had a very small chip on the open end of the cap. Still a good buy, but very disappointing. Well, when we got home I looked into having the cap fixed but in the end just stowed the pen in my pens case to get sorted out at a later date. So it sat until earlier this week."

"About three weeks ago, I bought a lot of pens, and amongst them was what I was hoping would be a Senior Duofold in the Chinese Red. Twice I had bought lots before, thinking I had scored a Senior, only to find that it was a Junior. The sellers were not pen people and were not able to qualify my interest but for the rest of the vintage pens evolved in these lots, it was in both cases worth taking a chance. Anyway, the package of pens arrived earlier this week and when I opened it, what should roll out but yes, a beautiful streamlined senior Chinese Red Duofold just missing its clip. I was so pleased and able to just move the clip from the chipped cap one to this pen, that had just arrived. My goodness Maja, it was even the same year."

"But there was one concern and that was the nib. It looked at first like a Parker Vac nib and the bad news was that I had cannibalized the chipped cap pen for its nib and feed for a Lapis Duofold Senior I had bought in parts from David. But, as it turned out, I was wrong about the nib. In around 1940/41 with the growing interest from Parker customers to have their pen nibs replaced, the company produced an official factory replacement nib in somewhat of the design of their current Vacumatic one, but with a different shape (narrower) and with the arrow imprinting having a different configuration. Also, on the heel was engraved an R for replacement and a star to honour the Parker Duofold warranty if this factory original Parker nib was applied by either the company repair shop or a Parker authorized dealer. Parker also replaced the old style Spearhead Duofold feed with their more modern Comb feed because they felt it was a better option. My new Duofold had this replacement feed but with an A imprint to signify that it is an Parker Accountant’s nib and feed. And once I had serviced my new addition and inked it, it was definitely a pen for an accountant and perfect for my journal entries."

"This brings me to the last point regarding this lovely pen, its dating. Regarding that gone is the Parker ‘Lucky Curve’ imprinting, and the imprinting in this case is referred to as the small imprinting. But if this imprinting has the word ‘Duofold’ in the center of the top line in a larger font, the pen dates to 1929. But if it has the word Parker repeated twice on that top imprinted line with the second Parker in place of the word Duofold but also in the larger font, the pen (my pen) dates to 1930. There is no imprinting on the pencil, just the Pat. Date reference at the top of its clip. So there you have it and I will be using this brilliant Chinese Red Parker during the week to come!" 

Many thanks to Christopher for sharing his beautiful vintage finds (and pen-hunting story) with us! Christopher told me his write-up could be trimmed down, but I left it intact as I love hearing how people acquired their pens :) 

There's an excellent article written by vintage pen expert David Nishimura on replacement Duofold nibs (such as the one on Christopher's pen) called "Replacement Duofold arrow-imprint nibs" (link to article). For more information on the vintage Duofold (including info on the two barrel imprints referenced in Christopher's write-up), check out this page on Parkerpens.net. 

Best of luck to everyone with their own pen-hunting adventures!
~Maja

Update (Oct 12.2021):

Since this review was posted, Christopher acquired the proper vintage Parker box for this lovely set!

The Parker box was a gift from fellow VPC member Rene, and it replaces the handmade box that Christopher made for the set....

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

Our thanks to Christopher for the update! What a great ending to a great pen-hunting story :)

Newest Acquisitions (Virtual "Show & Tell") ~ part 195

Although we're primarily a fountain pen club, we also welcome fans of other writing instruments. I've been a ballpoint fan all of my life, and this particular model caught my eye after I read about it on Tony Fischier's excellent Parkerpens.net site:

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

 It's the Parker 'Dimonite', and it was only produced for three years (2002-2005) so I don't think it's as well-known as many other Parker models. Because of its relatively short production run, 'Dimonite' pens and pencils seem to be a bit harder to find and/or go for a premium on the secondary market (very late addition to this post---the pens were apparently sold in the United States as the Parker 'Infusion')

I acquired the Violet and Ochre ballpoints (the top two pens in the photo above) on eBay for a reasonable price from German eBay seller Rolf Thiel ("missing-pen" on eBay) a few months ago. I loved the design, the weight & feel of the pens (they remind me of their successor, the original Parker 'Urban' ballpoint) and that lovely dark brushed metal trim, so I kept an eye out for the other colours...

One day while trolling eBay, I saw that Shawn Newton of Newton Pens was running another set of charity auctions for his Newton Pens scholarship fund , and one of the auctions was for a 'Dimonite' ballpoint and mechanical pencil set in Carbon. I put in a low bid and (as the lone bidder) I won it! The set arrived, safe and sound from Hot Springs, Arkansas in the Parker box shown in the top photo (very late edit to this post: I've seen photos of this same Parker box used for this pen set, so I believe it is the original box for the set; initially I thought it wasn't, so I'm correcting my post now :)

The 'Dimonite' lineup of writing instruments consisted of a ballpoint, pencil and gel pen (no fountain pens, unfortunately) and was available in five different finishes--Violet, Ochre, Carbon, Prussian Blue and Blue Mint. I love how the dark metal trim complements the Violet and Ochre pens shown above...

 

 Side note: the model name 'Dimonite' is a reference to Parker's patented gold-plating process of the same name that was introduced in the early 21st century. The plating is an alloy comprised of 50% gold and 50% titanium that was used on some Parker 'Sonnet' and 'Insignia' writing instruments. 

(It's not the patented Parker "Dimonite" finish, but I love that dark, brushed-metal trim...and yes, the metal trim is darker on the Ochre and Violet pens than on the Carbon set...)

At 34 grams, the 'Dimonite' isn't a light ballpoint, but I love its heft and balance. It's solidly made of matte plastic and heavy, brushed stainless steel. According to my measuring tape, it's 13.4 cm/5.25 inches in length -- longer than a Parker 'Jotter' ballpoint, but slightly shorter than the 'Jotter XL'. One little feature of note - it does make a rather loud clicking noise when you click it; you can actually hear the spring inside the barrel compressing and decompressing!

The mechanical pencil has the same weight & length as its ballpoint counterpart and features a retractable nose cone (so it won't accidentally poke you when the lead is withdrawn). It also has a retractable eraser hidden in the clicker (knock), which lessens the chances of losing the clicker cap when you want to use the eraser. The pencil takes 0.5mm leads and the 'Dimonite' pens take Parker (or "Parker-style") ballpoint refills or Parker Gel refills.

Many thanks to Shawn of Newton Pens and Rolf of missing-pen.com for their excellent customer service, and to Tony Fischier for his write-up on the 'Dimonite' model (and other Parkers) on his Parkerpens.net website. Update: Earlier today, I ordered a 'Dimonite' ballpoint in "Blue Mint", so only one more colour (the "Prussian Blue") to go! ;)

~ Photos and review by Maja ~

Newest Acquisitions (Virtual "Show & Tell") ~ part 194

 To paraphrase the Joker, "Where does he get those wonderful pens??"

I'm talking about VPC member Jerred and his amazing collection of  Delta fountain pens, which includes this gorgeous example:

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

Jerred: "This brightly colored fellow is a Delta Galleria (Gallery). The Galleria series shares the same shape and size as the Delta Dolcevita series of pens, but instead of using Delta's signature cracked ice acrylics/celluloids, the Gallery series uses swirled acrylics instead. They are otherwise very comparable with similar caps, body sizes, grips, and nibs."

"The original Galleria series also used Delta's carved, sterling silver cap band instead of the engraved or laser etched cap bands present on later models."

"This particular pen uses a bright, swirled acrylic with yellow as the dominant colour, with elements of black and orange. It also uses Delta's excellent clutchless piston mechanism, and a yellow-tinted ink view window integrated into the body, just above the grip section."

"My particular version comes with a steel nib, though they were also available at various times with solid 14k gold as well as "Fusion" nibs. As is often the case with Delta's later pens, the nib is a lovely, smooth writer."

In January, we featured the newer version of this fountain pen -- Jerred's Delta 'Nuova Galleria' ('New Gallery') -- here on our blog (link). Our thanks to Jerred for sharing these gorgeous Italian fountain pens with us!

Newest Acquisitions (Virtual "Show & Tell") ~ part 193

~ Happy Mother’s Day to all moms, everywhere, for everything you do! ~ 🌷

 
In the previous blog post, we featured Christopher's full-sized Sheaffer 'Balance' Standard fountain pen. It was one of two vintage pens he'd restored and added to his collection. As promised, here is the other one...

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

Christopher: "The other pen leans more to the feminine, as a Sheaffer Short Slender Balance and when I picked it up, both the cap ring and clip had been blackened. I have actually come across this before, especially with Sheaffer pens from the war period and the blackening was always professionally done. I am wondering if this was, in fact, a Sheaffer option for customers or done by the Military? Still, maybe not the best but definitely not my taste and with this particular point removed the blackening and underneath found the 14K Gold fittings were absolutely mint!"

"As for the overall plastic finish, well, Marine Green is one of my favourites and add the striated - Wow. So after giving this pen the once-over plus a good polishing, I inked it with the newly released Sheaffer Peacock blue and have been applying to my journal with great success."

What a lovely pen! Thank you, Christopher, for sharing yet another wonderful vintage find with us :)

Newest Acquisitions (Virtual "Show & Tell") ~ part 192

A fountain pen with a timeless, elegant design - the vintage Sheaffer 'Balance'...

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

 Christopher: "Finally, two more pens I have just restored and added to my collection. The first, a Jet Full Sized Sheaffer Standard Balance, was a pen which I was going to sell. Still, after restoration and serving, the application to paper stock has just sold me personally. There is a noticeable difference between the full sized and the slim Standards. In fact, like the Montblanc 146, it really is a more practical pen for general use."

"I have found that a lot of the bigger vintage Sheaffer points tend to be of the more clerical type with an accounting lean toward the fine and harder nib. I guess that Sheaffer was most interested in the office workers in the 1920s and 30s. This pen has just such a smooth ink laydown and ever so consistent line. The quality is available as well, with 14K Gold Filled fittings to boot. Just love this pen and have including it in my pen round up for this week."

(We'll be featuring the other pen Christopher restored and added to his collection on May 9 :)

Many thanks to Christopher for sharing this classic vintage Sheaffer fountain pen with us!

Newest Acquisitions (Virtual "Show & Tell") ~ part 191

And now, more Delta goodness, courtesy of Jerred! Today's featured new acquisition is this '70s-inspired Delta fountain pen, in a colour which I love....

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

Jerred: "This fountain pen is part of Delta's "Anni Settanta" line. This was a line of pens designed by Delta with the stated goal of bringing to mind the design ethos and colors of the 1970s. 

 This is the second fountain pen I've purchased from this line, the first fountain pen was the "Mini" pen that I've shown pictures of before. I said at the time that I was unsure if there was a "full size" fountain pen in this lineup, as information is very difficult to come by. As it turns out, there definitely was a full sized pen, and this is one such example in a very 70s burnt orange colorway."

"Compared to the mini version, the full sized Anni Settanta is longer and slightly thicker, and has a different finial. The clip is also quite different. The sections between the two pens are identical, as is the #5.5, steel nib." 

"The nib is marked as a medium but writes on the finer side, but is quite smooth and overall a pleasant writer."

Many thanks, as always, to Jerred for his contributions to our ongoing virtual "show & tell":)
(VPC members: if you have any new pens/inks/paper/accessories you wish to share, please email them to me and I'll post them here on our club's blog. Thanks in advance! ~Maja)

Newest Acquisitions (Virtual "Show & Tell") ~ part 190

Our last in-person meeting was held in February 2020 and the meeting theme that night was "Multi-Coloured Fountain Pens". The theme was suggested by Candice who brought some eye-catching pens for the topic, including a couple of shimmery, iridescent ones. She'd said she'd purchased them from AliExpress.com for very little money, so I ordered a Yiren '405' fountain pen in a yellow-green colour. 

It wrote fairly well for a pen that cost $9.99 USD, but I didn't plan on buying any more (even though they came in several different colours) ... until I spotted these three Yiren '405' fountain pens for a great price on eBay a few months ago.

I placed an order and got all three  for $7.89 USD, including free shipping! 

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

The fountain pens look metallic, but they're actually made of a very light plastic and spray-painted (?) to create that cool gradient effect. The pens are feather-light -- 14 grams with an empty converter in place -- and yes, they are Lamy 'Safari' clones (or "tributes", as some pen folks call them)...

 

The pens post easily and are the same size (posted and capped) as "the real thing". They all came with a generic plastic ink converter (with a red turning knob - a nod to Lamy's proprietary converter??) that fits my 'Safari' fountain pens, but not quite as snugly as a Lamy converter. Not surprisingly, the Yirens also take Lamy ink cartridges. There are some notable differences between the Yiren '405' fountain pens and Lamy's 'Safari', though ...

...such as the fact that the Yiren pens are only coloured on the outside. That came as a huge shock to me... but what was I expecting from a pen that cost less than $3 USD ?!?!?

 

 

All three Yiren pens have a plastic finial that is very similar to the Safari's, but it lacks the tiny hole in the center of the cross that the Safari finials have. The '405's barrel bottoms (not shown) are very similar to a Safari's, but the Yiren's have a small circular indentation in them. 

 

Although I referred to them as "clones" earlier, there is no mistaking the pens for a Lamy product, as the Yiren brand name is clearly imprinted on the barrel end.

 

 
                            

The '405's steel nibs are all iridescent (aren't they pretty?) and have "YIREN" and the nib width ("EF", in this case) stamped above the company name...

 

...and yes, the Yiren nib fits perfectly on my Lamy 'Safari' pen! (above)

 (photos of the three Yiren '405' fountain pens and the green-yellow '405' fountain pen I bought in early 2020 from a different seller on AliExpress.com)

Interestingly, the yellow-green '405' pen was a much better writer out of the box- the other three all needed some minor nib-tweaking to increase their ink flow and smoothness. Also, the finial on the yellow-green '405's' cap was completely different-- a slightly-convex black plastic disc with a raised image of  stylized chrysanthemum (?) on it.

In summary: If you're looking for a great writer out of the box, I would not recommend the Yiren '405' fountain pens I bought recently. If you happen to get one that's like my smooth-writing yellow-green '405', well, "Yiren luck"! 😉 

All jokes aside, even if you get a '405' that needs some minor nib adjustments, you likely won't have spent a lot of money acquiring it...and they're great pens on which to practice your nib-tuning skills!

~Photos & write-up by Maja

Local vintage pen repair service ( also buying & selling old pens ! )

Longtime Vancouver Pen Club member Christopher Robertson (whose vintage pen set was featured yesterday :) has been repairing & selling vintage pens and pencils for several years, but recently asked if I could post his new pen restoration, service & sales ad card, so here it is:

If you have any questions for Christopher, please contact him directly at the email address above!

Newest Acquisitions (Virtual "Show & Tell") ~ part 189

It's always nice to be able to help friends identify their pens...

 A few days ago, I got an email that longtime VPC member Christopher sent to me about a mystery vintage fountain pen and pencil set....

Christopher: "Just finished restoring the pen & pencil set for my ever-growing collection. When I got the set, the nib had been pushed almost all the way into the section and I really had my doubts as to whether it had survived. Still, when I took the fountain pen apart and, in doing so, knocked out the nib and feed, both were in mint condition. This set is extremely well made. I would be prepared to bet that the nib is an early replacement, but no complaints in that department 'cause it is smooth as glass to write with and definitely semi flexy."

"So what that leaves is both a pen and matching pencil with absolutely no ID markings. If it was a model with clips, the ID would have probably been available and the same would have been with the original nib. At first glance, I would have said a Wahl set, but all of my Wahls are extremely well marked. My second guess would be Diamond Point or even Diamond Metal re the banding on both pieces. But I am stumped on this one and wondered if you had any ideas? I am still holding out for Wahl."

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

Christopher's quick follow-up email: "I forgot to send you a snap of the Ring-Top fountain Lever Filler configuration. As you will see by the attachment (ie. the photo above), the Lever is not just a simple hinged bar like most, but has a second smaller bar which is also hinged on the Lever and opens up when the lever is extended out of the barrel but folds back into the barrel as the Lever is moved back into its seated position on the top of the barrel. A beautiful fine mechanism, and as with the rest of the pen, extremely well made. You can also see the end of the fountain pen which was covered by the cap in the last photo where I had the pen posted. Hope this helps with the ID."

I didn't get Christopher's photo showing the pen and pencil set, but I replied to him with my guess (just based on the photo above) because the barrel end looked very familiar to me. I said: "I thought I'd take a stab at the brand just based on the lone photo I got. The barrel end reminds me of a Carter 'Pearltex' ringtop."

(Turns out my guess was correct!)

Christopher's reply to me :"I am impressed and grateful. Funny but I have been hoping to score a vintage Carter Pen but in reality I already have one, LOL!"

 

He added: "I have attached a snap of the Lever filler configuration, which I gather is unique to this model."

Many thanks to Christopher for the photos of this charming vintage ringtop set and for giving me a mini pen mystery to solve! :)
~Maja