Viceroy Lever Fill

[Maer]

My father (bless his soul) - knows nothing about fountain pens except that I enjoy them and so he bought me a few (cheap - but thoughtful!) pens for my birthday. Included were a Montblanc Carrera, an Esterbrook desk pen and this lever fill from a brand I've never heard of... so down to business.

 

The pen:

http://img43.imageshack.us/img43/4249/img2561w.jpg

 

The pen is a Viceroy level filling pen, which I assume is made out of celluloid. Now, searching the internet has only netted me that this company once existed and beyond that I have no idea. If you do know anything, you're more than welcome to shed some light.

 

 

http://img521.imageshack.us/img521/6964/img2568g.jpg

 

http://img27.imageshack.us/img27/3068/img2562ja.jpg

 

http://img823.imageshack.us/img823/5607/img2564nj.jpg

 

http://img835.imageshack.us/img835/4986/img2565y.jpg

The pen itself is on the light side, and shorter than I'd expect at 5 inches (12.7 cm), but is a respectable 6.25 inches (15.9 mm) when posted. The pattern on the pen is quite nice, what you'd expect from a celluloid, consisting of red, green and white.

 

Now, the nib is fantastic. It's 14k gold plated and has printed on it "Viceroy/Warranted/14k/Gold Plated" (I wonder if that warranty is still valid...). The nib isn't the smoothest I've ever used, but it certainly isn't scratchy. It's got character, and gives me good feedback. It's also fairly flexible, enough to call it springy.

 

For being as old as it is (I have no idea how old - just guessing) and from the looks of how well it was treated (I'm assuming not well - gold plating has worn off, parts are loose and there's a significant bulge in the body) the pen wrote as soon as I cleaned it and inked it. Feed is fairly good.

 

A small writing sample followed by a Pilot 78G (Fine) and a Lamy Vista (fine) for comparison (inks are Private Reserve Chocolat and Noodler's Bulletproof Black):

http://img809.imageshack.us/img809/6633/imag0205xi.jpg

My point is, I really enjoy this pen and I wish I knew more about it. If you find one for sale cheap, I wouldn't hesitate to check it out.

[Uncle Red]

These third tier pens can be a lot of fun and can write pretty well. Thanks for sharing.

[amk]

Yes, the "warranty" is still valid - it refers to the gold content of the nib. Unfortunately it doesn't say anything about whether the nib is actually going to write or not. :-(

 

Sounds like you have a fun pen there, anyway!