I Almost Had An Executive Skyline

[Larry Barrieau]

Recently I was in an antique store on the north shore of Mass. and I saw what I knew was a Skyline in the back of the case. I could see that it didn't have a clip. The lady got it out for me and there was no price tag on it. The pen was filthy and the nib was black but I could make out the "14K" with my loupe. She looked up the number of the booth's owner and called asking the price. She turned and said to me "She wants to know if you will pay $5 for it". Controlling my excitement I said coolly that I would. I was already thinking about asking the FPN folks where to go for a clip. At the car I fumbled for my keys and dropped the pen. The barrel broke into pieces! I cursed myself, more than once, and learned a hard lesson. When I got home I put the broken pieces in order and laid my Standard Skyline next to it. As I had expected, it was an executive .

 

So now I have a metal cap, a rusty pressure bar/lever, a section, and a beautiful nib. Holding the section I dipped it in water and wrote with the old ink and it is smooth and quite flexible, will it fit into my Standard which has a stiff manifold?

 

Thanks in advance for your condolences.

 

Larry

[Redbarchettayyz]

That is plain painful. I hope you can get some use out of what sounds like a fantastic nib, but I would still be pretty choked.

[Sandy1]

 

I hope you can also salvage the feed+collector, so when the nib does find a new home, it will have an old friend to keep it company, and should perform as originally intended.

 

Bye,

S1

[Larry Barrieau]

I did that Sandy.

 

 

[LamyOne]

Hello LB,

 

Well, look on the bright side - you got a fantastic writing solid gold nib for $5 - and try your best to forget about the rest.

 

Best regards,

 

Chris

Edited October 20, 2014 by LamyOne

[Larry Barrieau]

True, I did get a nice nib and should anyone need a gold filled executive cap they may remember this post.

 

Larry

 

ps Why did Eversharp make pens out of eggshells?

[LamyOne]

ps Why did Eversharp make pens out of eggshells?

 

Hello LB,

 

 

Well, they were "price leader" pens to begin with, so even when they were new, they were built to economy grade standards - plus, you have to take into account, you have no idea how that pen was stored or treated for the last 70 years. Sitting in a hot attic for decades - or sitting in a hot store-front window for months can have dreadful effects on plastics, (making them quite brittle), especially the early ones.

 

Best regards,

 

Chris

Edited October 20, 2014 by LamyOne

[Sandy1]

<snip>

I did that Sandy.

 

 

[zchen]

Sorry to hear that. Maybe you can commission a new body from Acrylic, Celluloid, or Ebonite for it?

Edited October 20, 2014 by zchen

[Black Spot]

All you have to do now is find the parts and build a new barrel, lean the craft of gold smithing make a new clip...

[Larry Barrieau]

Ok, I have a couple of hours free this afternoon.

[balson]

its always a bummer when a pen breaks but the good news is even for just the parts you got a good deal

[Larry Barrieau]

Zchen, Yes, if I can do that for $5 I think I will.

 

Yes balson but I had it in my ineffectual, clumsy, lobster claw-like hands! I didn't know they had pens in Whittier's day but he evidently wrote about breaking an Executive Skyline when he said,

"Of all sad words of tongue or pen, the saddest are these, 'It might have been.”

[Larry Barrieau]

Let me repeat my question, Will the nib and/or section fit into a Standard size Skyline?