What Is This? I Have No Idea...

[tmenyc]

This came to me, the way these things do...

it's 6" long; the business end is 2 1/4" of the 6. It appears to be brass, but I'm guessing the shaft is hollow. The intricate pattern appears to be stamped, appears to be Victorian, possibly as late as WWI. There is no apparent purpose for the little knob at the end. I thought maybe it was a retaining pin, like those found in old drafting set cases. The business end appears to be steel, and its ends open as if it's a tweezers, but there is no mechanism to open them. The ends do have beveled edges, but it's not apparent whether the beveling was meant so they met cleanly or for cutting. Forgive the funny lighting here in my office; the business end is shiny steel. What is it?

 

 

Thanks!

 

Tim

[FP.MD]

Is the outside of the business end rough? If so, maybe a fancy nail file, I don't know

Edited April 14, 2015 by FP.MD

[Mari1013]

I'm not sure what it is but, given its resemblance to the little doohickey one uses to thread a needle, I'm guessing it was used to loop string, leather strips, or something like that through some kind of surface. (It looks a little too fancy for mending fishing nets.)

[tmenyc]

FP, No, the outsides are not rough. Clearly not a nail file. Not sure there were nail files when this was probably made.

 

Mari, The idea is a good one, but the two sides do separate enough to lose anything in it, if under stress.

 

Help please?

 

Many thanks,

 

Tim

[tmenyc]

SOLVED!!

 

It's a fountain pen! It is a Chinese dip pen, age not yet determined but clearly pre-Cultural Revolution -- it holds ink beautifully and writes an incredible range of lines from a single B to BBBB+ . How did the mystery get solved? The pen is on my office desk. I have a lot of meetings in my office, and one of my colleagues, who is from China, said "my father has a couple of those, it's a pen!"

 

Tim

Edited April 15, 2015 by tmenyc

[LeonW]

Wow!

[Sasha Royale]

Super !

 

Is it too valuable to use ? I would love to see a sample of your writing with this

instrument, in comparison to your favorite fp. (Please-please-please-please-please)

[inkypete]

Of course a mystery object on the Fountain Pen Network would not possibly be a......wait for it......fountain pen! It looks so interesting and the irony of the outcome has me chuckling. I love 'what is it' threads.

[tmenyc]

Sasha,

I'll put something up in the Don't Just Tell Us thread today. I can't imagine that it's terribly valuable, although it might be for the one person who collects these things!

 

Pete, right... it's a hoot.

 

Tim

[Barkingpig]

Don't let "Ghost Plane" see it! She does like a good BROAD nib.

 

When people have said "why not use a SHOVEL?" I think this may have been "in their mind." I LOVE it.

 

We should send a picture of it to Pelikan & explain THIS is what were are planning to use since they discontinued their broadest nib choices!

[scully012]

Reminds me of the old ruling pens.

 

http://www.comic-tools.com/2009/03/this-week-what-is-this-thing-and-what.html

[tmenyc]

Scully -- my first thought when I was told it was actually a pen. I use a ruling pen all the time for spreading solvents in my other hobby of scale modeling. This is a LOT broader, though, and the gap is not adjustable.

 

Barking -- do you think 5m wide is wide enough for Pelikan?

 

Tim

[scully012]

Since it's so broad, I wonder if I would work well with correcting fluid?

[Barkingpig]

Scully -- my first thought when I was told it was actually a pen. I use a ruling pen all the time for spreading solvents in my other hobby of scale modeling. This is a LOT broader, though, and the gap is not adjustable.

 

Barking -- do you think 5m wide is wide enough for Pelikan?

 

Tim

ONLY if it is indeed a "WET" writer. Really like to "see & BE SEEN!" Nothing worse than line ya gotta squint to read.

[sah]

Forcep holder for objects like stamps?