Swan Lever Fillers - What Do I Have Here?

[Wet-Noodle]

May your tines never rust Cob.

[Cob]

May your tines never rust Cob.

I should hope not! If they do then I have been sold a dud!

 

Cob

[Wet-Noodle]

Amen to that IT'S not fair!

 

P.S. 40 bob (£2) in say 1952 would be perhaps £85 today, not much compared with today's prices I suppose. Mind you in that year my father paid 65 guineas (£68.25) for his 12 inch Ecko television set... Fool! He could have had 34 Swans and a gallon or two of ink.

,

Cob

You could buy Greece and France for £85 today, and if you asked nicely, with the sterling/ Euro exchange rate this week, Bruxelles would probably throw in the Açores too.

[Wet-Noodle]

I should hope not! If they do then I have been sold a dud!

 

Cob

Ah well Cob, "Tine and Tide Wait For No Man"

 

What do we make of these?

[Wet-Noodle]

The S.F.3 with the New York nib in action:

[Cob]

Ah well Cob, "Tine and Tide Wait For No Man"

 

What do we make of these?

Are you planning to buy this one too??

 

It looks very nice but might be a trifle pricey I fear - and there's customs to factor in I think. Ends at a horrible hour too!

 

Cob

[Wet-Noodle]

My thoughts exactly Cob, I was intreagued by the stub nib, but I've already had a lot of luck in the past few days and have plenty to get to grips with. I think that my 3261 was misidentified with its three cap rings and brass cap screw. What do you think? It may be here tomorrow, even though it seems unused I suspect that at that age it will need a new sac.

[Cob]

If it is unused it will certainly need a new sac! I cannot remember if there were 3261s with the brass threads; possible I suppose, but at thta date I would have thought unlikely. We shall of course see won't we!

 

Meanwhile, a rather rare bird flew in here today; she's a beauty and I have never seen anything quite like her. Effectively I thought I was buying a post-war pressure-bar leverless 1060. Instead I received something strange: yes in all respects it's like a post war 1060, but look at the cap bands and amazingly the colour - dark burgundy. It is un-numbered and if it did not have the wartime imprint with the central Swan, I would have christened it a 4450... The No 4 nib is glorious and the whole pen is in beautiful condition:

 

 

Cob

[Wet-Noodle]

Ooooo COB! That looks and sounds positively edible.... A #4 nib! You BEAST!

 

It doesn't have "Made in Hong Kong" imprinted just inside the cap edge does it? So small that you can hardly see it, they were cheeky like that.

 

No, I'm not sulking..... I'm very happy for you Cob ... Congratulations ....

 

Unless it has "Made in Hong Kong" imprinted just inside the cap edge of course.

[Cob]

Ooooo COB! That looks and sounds positively edible.... A #4 nib! You BEAST!

 

It doesn't have "Made in Hong Kong" imprinted just inside the cap edge does it? So small that you can hardly see it, they were cheeky like that.

 

No, I'm not sulking..... I'm very happy for you Cob ... Congratulations ....

 

Unless it has "Made in Hong Kong" imprinted just inside the cap edge of course.

I just double checked: it says "Made in England" and more interestingly it also says "patent applied for" which suggests to me that it is a very early one.

 

Jolly interesting I think...

 

C.

[Wet-Noodle]

Ha! It's a beauty Cob, a real out-of-the-blue find and I'm just discovering what fun that is. Just to be sure you need to check down the inside face of the clip for the old scam "replica hand crafted in Taiwan". The only way to do this is to gently bend the clip up and back to a vertical position and carefully examine the inner surface of the clip. If it is clear of the Taiwanese stamp you are ok, it's genuine. Unfortunately the clip is likely to snap if you bend it back and will severely diminish the value of your lovely Mabie Todd, so you are best to leave the clip sticking up in the vertical position.

 

Did you see that after a frantic, endless $1 at a time bidding war, the Swiss Mabie Todd stub pen was snapped up by a pro for just over $70. As you say a bit too much for a mud coloured job. What was interesting was where the seller was based, in one of those barmy bits of Switzerland that are enclaves just yards wide in places and surrounded by Southern Germany. They must have lived in perminent high stress during WWII. The Americans managed to bomb Schaffhausen by mistake... Opps wrong country.

 

My own lovely find is a three cap banded #3 medium brass cap threaded 3261. It's basically brand new old stock with the 40/- price lable! I've fitted its new sac - I did the 3.S.F. at the same time. I've now filled the 3.S.F. With R&K you know what and she sings! The great dilemma... Do I fill and use the price tagged 3261, or is that mad? I have dip tested the beautiful #3 nib and yes, it is loaded with potential.

 

What to do? What do you all advise? I shall put it away for the moment, which is very frustrating. Maybe I should try to find it a spare cap, store the original, and use the pen gently?

[Cob]

Well Mr Noodle, sometimes it pays to take a couple of paces back...

 

If you are buying as an investor then by all means lock it away in your safe deposit box for a rainy day.

 

Otherwise after all, it's only a fountain pen - even if it is a Mabie Todd, so you must weigh up the cost/benefit aspects, In the great schemo of things (horribe cliché!) it's not really very much money is it?

 

I say enjoy it and be grateful for your good luck in finding it.

 

Cob

[Wet-Noodle]

I was hoping you would say that!

[Cob]

I was hoping you would say that!

Fair enough, but you know it is your decision!

 

C.

[Effin1]

I've seen quite a few of these stickered pens in fact I sold a green 1 last year but although it was stickered it had been used.

[Cob]

Here's a couple of recent arrivals, now overhauled and writing nicely. A delicate early SF1 and the burgundy No 4 leverless. As one expects from Mabie Todd, they are both very nice. (Note the heading was written wit my "Morning Dress Blackbird/L'Aigle Blanc Frankenpen).

Cob

 

[Wet-Noodle]

Here's a couple of recent arrivals, now overhauled and writing nicely. A delicate early SF1 and the burgundy No 4 leverless. As one expects from Mabie Todd, they are both very nice. (Note the heading was written wit my "Morning Dress Blackbird/L'Aigle Blanc Frankenpen).

Cob

 

 

Oh joy! There's nothing better than achieving a resurrection or two Cob!

Have you noticed eBay getting late bids wrong in the last we days? I've been clobbered by two completely fictitious bids, eBay just made up a number... I bid 12,60 Euro eBay promptly turned that into a bid of 6,00 Euro

[Cob]

Here a couple of snaps of a most unusual (to me at least) Swan lever-filler; it doesn't belong to me, I am repairing it for a client..

 

With a sort of 1930s shape but with 1950s brass thread, plastics material and number (3330) has anyone seen a Swan like this pen?

 

For the record, despite its number it is fitted with a No 2 nib - and the most unbelievably flexible nib I have ever found on a Swan; truly "boiled spaghetti" It must be treated like a fine quill.

 

 

Cob

Edited March 7, 2015 by Cob

[Wet-Noodle]

Umm! I'm too new to this to know anything much Cob, but I know how to drool! I'd love to see an example of it's output, if the owner didn't mind. I have seen a Mabie Todd being demonstrated on You Tube that looked really alarming, like a spider doing the splits. I must try to find that clip again.

[Cob]

Here's a small sample:

 

 

the important thing to note is that the flexibility displayed here was attained with virtually zero pressure - as with all extremely flexible nibs, physics prevent ink flow beyond a certain point; after all, one doesn't want a garden hose as a feed does one?

 

Cob