Restored pens that aren't really

[Ringtop]

In another area of my collecting, I learned that it was wise to ask ebay sellers a host of questions, and not to simply trust that a thing was in "excellent condition" or whatnot. I've bought a few acceptable pens on ebay, and some really cool ones, but most of them had something wrong with them not disclosed by the seller.

 

"The pen has been re-sacced" means "I have resacced the pen, but I used the wrong size sac, so good luck getting it to fill"

 

"Totally restored" means "I have resacced the pen, but the lever mechanism is broken, so it's kind of a moot point"

 

"Ready to write" means "You could use this as a dip pen, but seeing as the lever is no longer connected to the pressure bar, and the sac is too big for the pen....well"

 

One seller tried to tell me that a Lady Duofold probably only holds enough ink to write for a page or two...because it's so tiny, you know. Um. Gee. My other one must be magic then! It can write for 20 pages before it runs dry.

 

I am not really bitter as I may sound. None of the "totally restored" pens in question were expensive, and they all have some quality that makes me want to keep them around and get them fixed eventually (like a really smooth nib)

 

Ringtop

Edited September 8, 2006 by Ringtop

[Richard]

So far I'm batting 1.000 on "restored" pens I've bought from eBay. Every one of them has needed work. But since I make my bids with the expectation that what I'll get is not what I see, I'm never disappointed.

[RichardS]

"The pen has been re-sacced" means "I have resacced the pen, but I used the wrong size sac, so good luck getting it to fill" 

:roflmho:

 

This is SO accurate. I got an old Swan from Ebay describe exactly like this the other day. The sac was indeed newly fitted, but sadly was about 1/4 inch longer than the barrel. It had therefore twisted itself into a sort of free-form barley-sugar shape, reminiscent of the baldechino pillars in St Peter's. No wonder it wouldn't fill ...

[Ringtop]

Well, that certainly is the right way to look at it. I'm just surprised that so many people who've resacced pens to sell them haven't bothered to use the right size sac. (Or, you know, that's what I think the problem is, like I would know)

 

I do try to pay what I would if the pen needed work, since it so often does.

 

I have gotten a handful of perfectly lovely, working pens over the past few months, but the best one came from a reputable vintage pen dealer--Surprise, surprise.

 

The upside of so many persnickety yet lovable old fountain pens is that I'm very close to having 10 pens to ship off to a certain very busy and most excellent pen restorer. Oh, what is his name again?

 

Ringtop (Vida)

[Dr.Grace]

LOL!

 

I've had better luck with the pens that have no description at all and a fuzzy picture. At least then the bids are low and expectations even lower. Sometimes there can be a pleasant surprise.

[BMWRT]

I agree.

I have given up on ebay and usually will wait until one pops up on this board for sale.

The down side I may have to wait a long time

[HesNot]

LOL!

 

I've had better luck with the pens that have no description at all and a fuzzy picture. At least then the bids are low and expectations even lower. Sometimes there can be a pleasant surprise.

I had a very satisfactory trade with Dr. Grace - the pen he sent me he confided had been poorly described on ebay with a lousy picture. When it arrived I opened a box containing a nearly mint carmine red striped Sheaffer Craftsman lever filler. Crisp imprints, almost no brassing, very clear visulated section, filled and wrote quite nicely. A terrific pen and one that has found its way quickly into my regular rotation. I wish I could find some pens like this on ebay!

[JimStrutton]

LOL!

 

I've had better luck with the pens that have no description at all and a fuzzy picture. At least then the bids are low and expectations even lower. Sometimes there can be a pleasant surprise.

I had a very satisfactory trade with Dr. Grace - the pen he sent me he confided had been poorly described on ebay with a lousy picture. When it arrived I opened a box containing a nearly mint carmine red striped Sheaffer Craftsman lever filler. Crisp imprints, almost no brassing, very clear visulated section, filled and wrote quite nicely. A terrific pen and one that has found its way quickly into my regular rotation. I wish I could find some pens like this on ebay!

I used to be able to find these until a certain SEAL came along a stole the whole lot from eBay Worldwide.

 

It may be my imagination, Old Griz not withstanding, but the bargains on eBay are getting tougher to find. Something about a market maturing I suppose. Even the charity shops are getting wise to it and putting the good stuff up on eBay and as it is for charity, folks tend to bid more that they would for just any old item.

 

But getting back to the original topic as posted by Vida, the old advice of 'caveat emptor' applies. I think that some eBay descriptions should be worthy of some awards for the pure inventiveness of some descriptions. I only bid on eBay about 50% of what I would pay for a pen from a reputable dealer. I either get nice surprise or I spend about as much as I would have done buying it from a 'proper pen person' in the first place. I never expect that a pen from eBay will write 'out of the box' I always assume that I am going to have to clean and adjust as a minimum. That way, no surprises.

 

Just my .02 worth,

 

Jim

[OldGriz]

Now wait a bloody minute here.... The Griz has not stolen everything off eBay... there are items I had no interest in and they were not bid on.

 

I have to agree with Jim's statement that eBay prices seem to be going through the roof lately. About a month ago you could find a nice user 51 Aero for maybe $25-30US... lately they are in the $50+ range... it seems to be getting even worse with 51 Vacs and Vacumatics. And those pens generally are going to need some work to be users. Even the Sheaffer market, which had been seriously depressed the last year or so, is getting higher... non working Snorkels are bringing over $30 on eBay... and forget older lever fillers.

 

To get back to the subject at hand however, as Jim stated the description of some of the pens on eBay really deserve creative writing awards. I may take a chance on a pen with a bad picture on occasion, but for the most part, I want real good pictures from the seller. If the seller gives me some line of garbage about how he is not able to do that I rarely bid on the item.

Also, like Jim, I rarely if ever expect a pen from eBay to be a writer. I expect to have to work on it. Learning to do most of my own repairs has allowed me the ability to get some decent pens at good prices because they did not have to be sent out to a professional. But you need to be real careful of what is out there if you don't do your own work. I think in the realm of pens on eBay, Caveat Emptor, means a lot more than in most other areas.

[Johnny Appleseed]

There has been a great string of posts on the Stylophiles board that parody a lot of Ebay descriptions (tiny crack in nib, barely noticable, etc.). They are fun reading, if nothing else.

 

John

[parkercrazy]

Hey Tom,

Glad you are sticking to the 51's. I have enough competition trying to find good 75's and early Jotters.

My average is somewhat better than Richards, been running about 50/50 between good and acceptible with a piece of junk every once and awhile that always goes back to the seller if possible. Days like today make up for the bad days, received 2 almost perfect 75's today.

I was thinking like Ebay had reached it's peak for price of pens, not so sure any more with some of the latest bidding going on.

 

Parkercrazy

[Maja]

LOL!

 

I've had better luck with the pens that have no description at all and a fuzzy picture. At least then the bids are low and expectations even lower. Sometimes there can be a pleasant surprise.

I had a very satisfactory trade with Dr. Grace - the pen he sent me he confided had been poorly described on ebay with a lousy picture. When it arrived I opened a box containing a nearly mint carmine red striped Sheaffer Craftsman lever filler. Crisp imprints, almost no brassing, very clear visulated section, filled and wrote quite nicely. A terrific pen and one that has found its way quickly into my regular rotation. I wish I could find some pens like this on ebay!

Me too! Well, specifically the kind of pen you got, HesNot.

I have been looking for a carmine-striped Craftsman for a long time....I even posted on the Pentrace Green Board

Guess I'll have to keep looking....Part of the fun is the "hunt", though, isn't it?

[RichardS]

My average is somewhat better than Richards, been running about 50/50 between good and acceptible with a piece of junk every once and awhile that always goes back to the seller if possible.

To be fair, I generally do OK. And after a proper resac the old Swan is now a delight. Griz's point about doing your own work is important - real newbies should steer clear of Ebay's murky waters, generally speaking. Personally, I enjoy fixing up old pens as it gives me the best of both worlds: a pen with some history, plus the feeling that I've made it my own through the work I've done. So I generally go for pens with lousy photographs, poor descriptions and therefore low bids. Unless the nib has been destroyed, I find they usually work out more or less acceptably.

 

Here's the Swan, which for £16, plus a new sac, has scrubbed up into a nice user. The Vac was a little more, and looked in a truly appalling state, but really only needed plenty of elbow grease and a new diaphragm.

 

Of course, none of it looks such a good deal if you were to cost your time ...

 

http://img102.imageshack.us/img102/9664/dsc0660apshalfdc6.jpg

[OldGriz]

Hey Tom,

Glad you are sticking to the 51's. I have enough competition trying to find good 75's and early Jotters.

My average is somewhat better than Richards, been running about 50/50 between good and acceptible with a piece of junk every once and awhile that always goes back to the seller if possible. Days like today make up for the bad days, received 2 almost perfect 75's today.

I was thinking like Ebay had reached it's peak for price of pens, not so sure any more with some of the latest bidding going on.

 

Parkercrazy

You better make all your purchase real fast... you realize it is just a matter of time until I get a nice 75 and start looking seriously...

[HesNot]

I've come to realize that doing my own basic repairs (cleaning and resaccing to begin with) and basic nib smoothing is a key element to taking this hobby to the next level. I have almost exclusively bought and traded here and on PT - almost always with positive results I might add. When I factor in the cost and time to send something off for repair I've found that ebay prices on the things I'm interested in - "51"s, 61s, triumph Sheaffers, balances, craftsman, etc... end up going over what I'd pay on the GB or marketplace - particulalry with shipping. If I'm going to really get in on some reasonable deals I'm going to have to start fixing!

[Dr.Grace]

LOL!

 

I've had better luck with the pens that have no description at all and a fuzzy picture. At least then the bids are low and expectations even lower. Sometimes there can be a pleasant surprise.

I had a very satisfactory trade with Dr. Grace - the pen he sent me he confided had been poorly described on ebay with a lousy picture. When it arrived I opened a box containing a nearly mint carmine red striped Sheaffer Craftsman lever filler. Crisp imprints, almost no brassing, very clear visulated section, filled and wrote quite nicely. A terrific pen and one that has found its way quickly into my regular rotation. I wish I could find some pens like this on ebay!

I have to say it gives me much more joy to see that HesNot is enjoying this pen than it was for me to find it in the first place. So OldGriz, remember "It's better to give than receive"!