1 De La Rue Onoto & 1 Mabie Todd Swan

[olivier78860]

http://i.imgur.com/vgzAC.jpg

 

If anyone knows the exact model names

[Uncle Red]

I don't know the names but they are lovely pens, thank you for sharing them.

[kazoolaw]

Many of the Onoto pens didn't have "names", they had numbers. Often those four digit numbers are found on the ends of the pens.

Does your Onoto have an over-feed: a piece that goes over the nib? I can't quite tell from the photo. Your Onoto looks very well preserved for its age, with a nib smooth enough to flex over a wide range of line thicknesses. Care to share who restored the pen.

 

Congratulations on finding, and actually using, these older pens from several design generations ago.

 

gary

[olivier78860]

Aye aye, but actually neither of the two presented pens has any number/name/logo that could help with the identification. Too old maybe ? I couldn't tell.

 

Concerning the nibs, indeed. There is an under-feed and an over-feed. I took pics of the Swan to show you:

 

Under-feed

http://i.imgur.com/m1ciW.jpg

With light adjustment, to differentiate the under-feed from the nib:

http://imgur.com/2KIZ6.jpg

Over-feed

http://i.imgur.com/1y3rW.jpg

With light adjustment, to differentiate the over-feed from the nib:

http://i.imgur.com/Z2VdB.jpg

Those are funny because one can't really read the engravings on the nib. But nice, because they prevent the nib from getting flex abuse, and also enable a perfect ink flow. Usually those were made out of of ebonite.

 

Regarding the restorer, I have absolutely no idea. I bought the Swan some months ago and for the Onoto, I know the former owner didn't have it restored, it was done earlier.

[red52ripple]

The Swan doesn't have a more specific name than "The Swan Pen". It's one of the series of eyedroppers that precede the Swan 1500 and probably dates to around 1910. The twisted silver wire aids ink-flow and makes this version a more useable pen than some of the earlier ones. The nib slides into a slit in the section and is quite easily removed if you wish to read the engraving. It will be a New York nib if it's original.

[Laura N]

I like the first one. It's a great simple design in a form-follows-function way. It also looks like it would be nice in the hand.

[richardandtracy]

The Onoto is the model that later became known as the 'Onoto 3000', and the model number is retrospectively applied to the earlier pens too. The 3000 was the length of pen you have, and the 2000 was a shorter varient which was otherwise identical.

Onoto did use 4 digit numbers to denote the exact model, but from what I have read there was no consistently systematic application of the numbers - the system seems to have been changed several times - and records of what they meant seem to have been destroyed in an air-raid during WW2. So, the Model Onoto 3000 is probably as good as you'll get uless more information comes to light in future years.

 

Regards,

 

Richard.

[olivier78860]

Thanks Richard.

[Azuniga]

Oliver ,

You could look for the books by Stephen Hull about the English pen production 1875-1975, there is good information about those pens... His book on Onoto will be published September next year by the time of the London Pen Show (October 2nd) now known as Writing Instruments show (wesonline.org.uk)

Very nice pens and nice review, thanks

Ariel