[Johnny Appleseed]

Gerry,

Thanks for keeping and updating this list. It is a great source of information and would be great to really build on it. I frequently run the brand name of pens I have never heard of before through this list, just to see if anyone has heard of it.

One point of accuracy - there are several pens here listed as CE Barrett sub-brands (Century Pen Co., Diamond Medal, Good Service, etc). I don't know that these are all sub-brands of CE Barrett - I think some were brands belonging to a seperate company that bought their rubber parts from CE Barrett and assembled them themselves (a very common system in the early pen era).

I don't think Good Service was owned by Barrett, but the information on this is sketchy.

John

[Gerry]

Thank you all for the additional info. Sorry about the time it took to get posted. Computer problems and admin overhead...

I find this a fascinating project, although improving it to anything like a database will be challenging. The idea of links to articles is interesting - I might just give that a try...

Anyway, thanks again for the help, without you it wouldn't be possible.

Warm Regards,

Gerry

PS: And thank you Max, for kicking the whole effort off with the initial set of names.

PPS: I've used a comma as a delimiter in the table. If it is disturbing to everyone, I can remove it. Let me know.

This post has been edited by Gerry: 25 June 2006 - 04:59 AM

[wdyasq]

READYRITE
Made in Japan

Ron

[antoniosz]

Nicholas, and Commonwealth.
Button fillers from England.

[Gerry]

Snort... You guys... Incorrigibles, both of you. Admit it, you wait until I post an update - then hand out a couple new entries...

I'm gonna put them in, just so's you will feel terrible about the extra work you're creating for this poor old retired guy slaving over his reluctant keyboard.

Elder abuse is what it is...

So there!

Gerry

[Gerry]

OK, after a short period of self pity - I updated the table.

I've also added a couple of columns (hard to see the way the table is presented, but in its Excel form, it's easy to find. They are Fill type, and Contributor. I hope that the 'Contributor / Verification col will help address John's sugggestion that the list could be improved if we knew who contributed the item, or would vouch for the knowledge. Simply put, should someone find a similar, but perhaps slightly different name, it should be possible to check with the originator to see if there was a typo or if there really are two pen types / names out there. This won't work unless I get a lot of help from people willing to attest they know of a particular type of pen.

I can go through the submissions made so far (a bit of work) but there will obviously be a huge munber of names not contained in that category. Largely these would be from Max's original list - the source of which is not known at present.

In order not to run afoul of potential concerns of 'ownership' I want to make it patently clear that this attribution if for no other reason than to offer some small degree of validation to the data, so anyone using the table may have some reassurance that at least some recognizable individual has seen reference to the name somewhere. I will also feel much more comfortable correcting what might appear as a potential typo or double entry.

Please let me know if there appears to be any disadvantage to this suggestion.

Lastly, please feel free to submit huge lists of pen names/numbers you are comfortable validating. I will be glad to insert the information, but would prefer it if the lists were sorted alphabetically / numerically first. If using the number reference is easier - by all means do that, but please remember that the numbers do change after every addition of a new name. I'll probably hold off adding new names for a while as we work on this aspect of the table.

Thanks for all the help guys, I really appreciate it.

For those of you out there in computerland working in this area, I find it inconceivable that no one has thought of listing pens in a spreadsheet / DB before this, so I hereby freely acknowledge that I am not the first to do so (particularly since I'm building on Max's kind contribution from some time ago in this forum) and willingly concede the prior art to any and all of those of you who care to claim it, or to whom this aspect of pendom is particularly important.

Best regards,

Gerry

This post has been edited by Gerry: 25 June 2006 - 09:38 PM

[antoniosz]

"HAUTON"

Ebay item: 170001733928
and the corresponding patent

Sorry for the extra abuse Gerry

[Johnny Appleseed]

Update:

M. Ratner and Sons, , USA, 1922,, JA, Incorporated 1922 - Manhatten NY.

Baird-North, Baird-North and Co., 1989-1930s?,, JA, Providence, RI - company continues on till 1950s at least, but last Baird-North branded pens in 1928.

[wdyasq]

#897 Welsh Leaver fill with stainless nib spotted - pencil/pen combo
#482 Majestic LF/PP


Ron

[Gerry]

Thanks AZ, Johnny and Ron. Slowly getting it all into the next revision. Ron has suggested a smaller DB for data entry, and this might be an interesting way to approach the problem of data entry or correction. I have created a small Excel spreadsheet with the same columns that I use in the larger list. If anyone wants to try filling in the smaller sheet with entries (new, additional material or corrections) it would be particularly easy for me to copy that data into the master, re-sort and get it presented here.

If you want the short version - just PM or email and I'll send it out to you.

Regards,

Gerry

This post has been edited by Gerry: 01 July 2006 - 04:24 AM

[RichardS]

Turnstile, Made in England, Patent Applied For.

Does this count?

[Gerry]

Absolutely.

Thanks Richard.

Gerry

[Gerry]

robertaia, on May 12 2006, 11:15 AM, said:

I saw a several pens at the Chicago Pen Show last weekend that I had not seen before with this name:
Yery Tryly Yours. - big celluliod O/S flattop. Not sure if it was someone's sub-brand.

I also saw and have in my collection several Ever-Ready pens. Also flat top celluliod.
I'm told this was a sub-brand of Eclipse.
Robert

Robert,

Was that the spelling you saw?

Gerry

[Gerry]

OK Folks, the big revision. Added the newest names, added the contributors as far as I know them, and although not seen, the date of addition to the database.

Whew.

Gerry

[Oxonian]

Hi there, I posted asking for information on Kendrick& Jefferson pens as I have one, there is a Kendrick listed in the mega list but nothing for K&J does this count as a new brand. the pen I have is a very large lever filler in hard rubber with a K&J nib to match the size of the pen. I didn't notice 'The Dominion Pen' either but that might well have been me suffering from information overload, once again I have one of these and its another very large pen also made in England, it is a button filler in orange, its an early type plastic but whether it is Bakelite of not I wouldn't like to say. the cap and barrel end caps are black hard rubber, the cap end is knurled a la duofold, the nib in it is a large size Waterman Ideal.
I have been compiling a rather more modest list of my own for a few months and will trawl through it for any other brands that don't appear on the mega-list.
As an aside I am not 100% sure about what definition of brand is being used here as I was told many years ago by a well known pen dealer, retailer and repairer in Oxford that all the bird named pens by Mabie Todd, such as Swan, blackbird and the rest of the flock were marketed as brands and not just as models as there were some stores that didn't handle certain of them because Mabie todd didn't think that they were the right sort of place for their expensive brands. Cheers and all the best, keep up the good work. Oxonian