A friend gave me a little box full of old pens his great uncle had, and one of the bunch was a neat little Doric. One of you on this forum restored it for me, and I just LOVE the way it writes (my wife stole it from me!).
Anyway, I have a little Christmas money to spend, and am interested in the looks of a Skyline. Can you guys tell my how it writes? Do you recommend it? I get the impression that it may be a little fragile. (Boy, wouldn't it be great to find one of those blue striped Skyline under $150).
Full Version: Skyline
I like Skylines. I have several. The nibs are the heart of how they write and they are available in lots of flavors.
The rigid nibs are. The semi-flex are good nibs that can coaxed into line variation. The full-flex nibs sometimes found are a true delight. The style takes one back to the times when designers and their work had flair.
The fragile reputation (this is my opinion) is due to the barrels being of a hard, non-flexing plastic. They do have a tendency to break when one is attempting to remove the section for replacing the sac. It is not a problem for a working pen, only a problem if one is working on the pen AND they don't know what they are working with.
HTH,
Ron
The rigid nibs are. The semi-flex are good nibs that can coaxed into line variation. The full-flex nibs sometimes found are a true delight. The style takes one back to the times when designers and their work had flair.
The fragile reputation (this is my opinion) is due to the barrels being of a hard, non-flexing plastic. They do have a tendency to break when one is attempting to remove the section for replacing the sac. It is not a problem for a working pen, only a problem if one is working on the pen AND they don't know what they are working with.
HTH,
Ron
Skylines are one of my favorites. I have several flavors, and they are all real nice writers. As mentioned, the nibs can be of any variety; "nail" firm to "noodle" flexi. Most of mine write pretty wet, even the manifold nibs, but they are all smooth as can be.
The bodies and caps can be a problem. Ron talked about the plastic being non forgiving. That is true; I've broken a body or two getting a section out. But my biggest headache is with the caps. The plastic used for the inner cap tends to shrink. A little is OK, but I've had a couple that the inner cap shrank so much that the pen would no longer fit into the cap correctly.
The variety of colors and nibs make Skylines a real fun pen to collect and use. The days of finding good Skylines for $25-$30 may be over, but there are still plenty of good pens at decent prices.
Chris
The bodies and caps can be a problem. Ron talked about the plastic being non forgiving. That is true; I've broken a body or two getting a section out. But my biggest headache is with the caps. The plastic used for the inner cap tends to shrink. A little is OK, but I've had a couple that the inner cap shrank so much that the pen would no longer fit into the cap correctly.
The variety of colors and nibs make Skylines a real fun pen to collect and use. The days of finding good Skylines for $25-$30 may be over, but there are still plenty of good pens at decent prices.
Chris
In my limited experience flexible nibs are quite rare on Skylines but they are generally very smooth, wet writers regardless. I've become "fixated with flex" but while using a non-Wahl pen (gasp!) recently I was reminded that those other features are pleasing and important also.
I'd keep an eye out for damage to the clip, especially the round section between the clip ring and the top of the derby: I have one Skyline clip that has been flattened and it's the only thing I can see when I get that pen out of the drawer. I can overlook brassing, a scratch or two or even an engraved name, but that particulr fault detracts significantly from a bold and strikingly styled pen.
I have a few Skyline pens and the best of my little bunch came from a dealer here in Melbourne; it cost more, but what do you know - it writes beautifully and is round in all the right places!
I won the others on ebay for $30-40. None of them are perfect but I've only had one pen with problem-plastic that cracked when I removed the section. My understading is that the brittleness is an issue only with particular batches of plastic/pens so it's a bit of a "lucky dip".
My other Skylines seem to be quite hard-wearing and I keep one at my office, where it gets a vigorous workout from time to time.
I'd keep an eye out for damage to the clip, especially the round section between the clip ring and the top of the derby: I have one Skyline clip that has been flattened and it's the only thing I can see when I get that pen out of the drawer. I can overlook brassing, a scratch or two or even an engraved name, but that particulr fault detracts significantly from a bold and strikingly styled pen.
I have a few Skyline pens and the best of my little bunch came from a dealer here in Melbourne; it cost more, but what do you know - it writes beautifully and is round in all the right places!
I won the others on ebay for $30-40. None of them are perfect but I've only had one pen with problem-plastic that cracked when I removed the section. My understading is that the brittleness is an issue only with particular batches of plastic/pens so it's a bit of a "lucky dip".
My other Skylines seem to be quite hard-wearing and I keep one at my office, where it gets a vigorous workout from time to time.
I have one, plum flavoured in that it's maroon with a striped cap. Its a medium sized version (ie not the exec, not the small one) and I love it.
I wanted a red coloured pen to use as a reviewing pen with red ink and so it needed a fine nib. It was an ebay find for less than £20 and in splendid condition. The only 'fault' being the celluloid(?) cap is very slightly distorted with age - I quite like this feature!
The nib is, indeed, very fine and very firm, ideal for the purpose, and the pen is in regular use in the office. The nib is smooth and ink flows freely to give a reliable line. It starts immediately every time and only occasionally blobs if I happen to flick the pen around (the thin tube from the feed into the sac has snapped and this may have helped).
A shortcoming in the design is the tapering body which restricts the length of sac that can be used and so capacity is not what it might be. This is not a problem with a pen used for reviewing but might be for one in normal writing use. (My main pen, a Conway Stewart 45, has a massive capacity and is appreciated for it.)
Skylines are freely available at reasonable prices, if you like the way they look they certainly perform as well as any other pen. With the variations available I'm sure there are people who have a collection of these alone. Certainly 3 or 4 with different colours and nibs wouldn't go amiss if you're really enthusiastic. I can only recommend you try this elegant and very attractive pen (I particularly like the domed top). If you really don't want to keep it you'll always get your money back again.
Let us know how you get on.
Greg
I wanted a red coloured pen to use as a reviewing pen with red ink and so it needed a fine nib. It was an ebay find for less than £20 and in splendid condition. The only 'fault' being the celluloid(?) cap is very slightly distorted with age - I quite like this feature!
The nib is, indeed, very fine and very firm, ideal for the purpose, and the pen is in regular use in the office. The nib is smooth and ink flows freely to give a reliable line. It starts immediately every time and only occasionally blobs if I happen to flick the pen around (the thin tube from the feed into the sac has snapped and this may have helped).
A shortcoming in the design is the tapering body which restricts the length of sac that can be used and so capacity is not what it might be. This is not a problem with a pen used for reviewing but might be for one in normal writing use. (My main pen, a Conway Stewart 45, has a massive capacity and is appreciated for it.)
Skylines are freely available at reasonable prices, if you like the way they look they certainly perform as well as any other pen. With the variations available I'm sure there are people who have a collection of these alone. Certainly 3 or 4 with different colours and nibs wouldn't go amiss if you're really enthusiastic. I can only recommend you try this elegant and very attractive pen (I particularly like the domed top). If you really don't want to keep it you'll always get your money back again.
Let us know how you get on.
Greg
Skylines are generally great pens. On the plus side they have some of the best nibs around; quite consistent and readily available in the event you happen to get a bad one. I think Wahl/Eversharp nibs from this period are equal to any in the vintage market. The other obvious advantage is the style, there is nothing quite like a Skyline; people tend to love them or hate them. There are also many versions of the pen, so if you are a serious collector, there are some legs to the exercise.
On the downside: the plastic can be a problem. Some is prone to cracking - I've found the burgundy to be a particular problem. But that can be dealt with by never failing to utilize heat when removing or replacing the section; never work on a Skyline cold. The other major plastic problem is shrinkage, particularly in the inner cap. The inner cap is the threaded section below the cap dome which screws into the cap. When this plastic shrinks you don't get a tight fit; the problem ranges from minor to very difficult to fix. Everyone who owns and works on Skylines has a way to deal with this and some are better than others. The last one I had a big problem with was a grey standard size - it took a couple of tries using Teflon tape and shellac to get the inner cap to engage. It's not a perfect repair, but it's a user pen (and a wonderful one at that) and it could be much worse.
I enjoy Skylines and they've been a good bargain for the last several years - it sounds like the market is heating up a bit.
Have fun.
On the downside: the plastic can be a problem. Some is prone to cracking - I've found the burgundy to be a particular problem. But that can be dealt with by never failing to utilize heat when removing or replacing the section; never work on a Skyline cold. The other major plastic problem is shrinkage, particularly in the inner cap. The inner cap is the threaded section below the cap dome which screws into the cap. When this plastic shrinks you don't get a tight fit; the problem ranges from minor to very difficult to fix. Everyone who owns and works on Skylines has a way to deal with this and some are better than others. The last one I had a big problem with was a grey standard size - it took a couple of tries using Teflon tape and shellac to get the inner cap to engage. It's not a perfect repair, but it's a user pen (and a wonderful one at that) and it could be much worse.
I enjoy Skylines and they've been a good bargain for the last several years - it sounds like the market is heating up a bit.
Have fun.
I have a blue "moire" striped Skyline, one of the first pens I bought from Doc Nib (he of the evil temptations!). I got it for roughly $60. It was a 3-pen purchase at, IIRC, $180 or so. The initial price on it, alone, was probably more like around $75 but he cut me a bulk deal. (Geez. I'm a bulk pen buyer. Now THAT's sad.) Anyway, if my experience is any indication, you should certainly be able to get a working Skyline in your price range. Look around at the websites -- I bet there are some post-Christmas sales out there!
I do see why people FEEL that the Skyline is fragile. Relative to other similar sized pens that I own, it's kind of "rattly" and flimsy feeling. It hasn't broken or anything, not yet, and I carry it around sometimes in my briefcase like an idiot, so I don't think it really IS flimsy, it just FEELS flimsy. There's something to this feel, however. It doesn't quite have the right "heft" in the hand, when you're writing. And I find that the lever doesn't stick down as good as it should. It flippy-flops open ever so slightly when not in use. Not so much that you'd worry about squirting ink, but enough that you kind of wonder, "Should I get that fixed? Nah." When you post the cap onto the back of the pen, it can catch the lever and lever it open (in the direction you definitely do NOT want the lever to go). Bad design, Eversharp should have thought of that. Or maybe they were thinking that the cap would "lock" the lever closed when you're using the pen, I dunno. It's a weird arrangement, different from any other lever-filler that I have.
Mine has a flexy nib. It isn't super flexy, just flexy enough that when people get my correspondence they go, "Ooh, he used a NICE pen didn't he?" I like that. In fact, I like an awful lot about this Skyline. It's a "user" grade (as are all my pens but one; some idiot gave me a nice pen, much too nice to use; so I don't give her Christmas cards any more; just kidding) and that's great. I think what I like most about Skylines is the wide variation that is nevertheless clearly explicable -- three sizes, plus the bargain version (missing the clip-band over the derby); several colors; plain and striped; etc. It's like making an ice cream sundae, you can choose whichever topping you want. And of course it recalls the great post-deco era of industrial design, like those trains that Jack Benny coursed through the country on, or those stub-nosed airplanes that Jimmy Stewart shot at Japs with. Very "vintage era" in look. (PS. We're not supposed to say "Japs" any more, that's not PC. I use the term only advisedly, as a deliberate reference to the argot of bygone days.)
Of course, all of the preceding is just a comment about MY Skyline, not ALL of them. I've only ever held this one. And yes it is a blue striped Skyline. And yes it cost me right smack in the middle of your price range. And no it's not for sale.
I do see why people FEEL that the Skyline is fragile. Relative to other similar sized pens that I own, it's kind of "rattly" and flimsy feeling. It hasn't broken or anything, not yet, and I carry it around sometimes in my briefcase like an idiot, so I don't think it really IS flimsy, it just FEELS flimsy. There's something to this feel, however. It doesn't quite have the right "heft" in the hand, when you're writing. And I find that the lever doesn't stick down as good as it should. It flippy-flops open ever so slightly when not in use. Not so much that you'd worry about squirting ink, but enough that you kind of wonder, "Should I get that fixed? Nah." When you post the cap onto the back of the pen, it can catch the lever and lever it open (in the direction you definitely do NOT want the lever to go). Bad design, Eversharp should have thought of that. Or maybe they were thinking that the cap would "lock" the lever closed when you're using the pen, I dunno. It's a weird arrangement, different from any other lever-filler that I have.
Mine has a flexy nib. It isn't super flexy, just flexy enough that when people get my correspondence they go, "Ooh, he used a NICE pen didn't he?" I like that. In fact, I like an awful lot about this Skyline. It's a "user" grade (as are all my pens but one; some idiot gave me a nice pen, much too nice to use; so I don't give her Christmas cards any more; just kidding) and that's great. I think what I like most about Skylines is the wide variation that is nevertheless clearly explicable -- three sizes, plus the bargain version (missing the clip-band over the derby); several colors; plain and striped; etc. It's like making an ice cream sundae, you can choose whichever topping you want. And of course it recalls the great post-deco era of industrial design, like those trains that Jack Benny coursed through the country on, or those stub-nosed airplanes that Jimmy Stewart shot at Japs with. Very "vintage era" in look. (PS. We're not supposed to say "Japs" any more, that's not PC. I use the term only advisedly, as a deliberate reference to the argot of bygone days.)
Of course, all of the preceding is just a comment about MY Skyline, not ALL of them. I've only ever held this one. And yes it is a blue striped Skyline. And yes it cost me right smack in the middle of your price range. And no it's not for sale.
I have about 10 skylines in various colors; I love the design; one of the coolest-looking pens ever. Maybe I'm just being a coward, but I'm hesitant to try to fix them after breaking a couple. OTOH, my GF has fixed 4 with no problem at all...
What size sac do you use in a standard size Skyline?
#16 tapered was standard, IIRC. I think I use #14 straight.
Ron
Ron
Thanks Ron. I picked up a black Skyline with gold-filled cap from an antiques store over the holidays. It is my first. I paid $5. Once the tarnish was removed, I had myself a looker. The fine nib dip-tests wonderfully, with a hint of flex. All it needs now is the sac. I am looking forward to getting it up and running again.
How do you people find these deals??? $5 for a Skyline? hmmm You know, I shouldn't gripe - I've gotten some dandy free pens: 2 NOS Parker 51s, 2 NOS Parker 61s, a Sheaffer cartridge pen, a Sheaffer Vac fill, a beautiful Doric, not to mention an Esterbrook and a couple of vintage Waterman's that I haven't had restored yet - and I found a Duofold for $10. But it seems like every antique store I go into, if it has any pens, they are fully aware of premium value and try to sell non working pens for restored pen value.
Only happens to me about once every two years. I spend a lot of hours looking at overpriced garbage in between finds. But it sure is fun looking!
You seem to be doing as well as anyone out "in the wild", KDW - I've often wondered whether those old stories about a shoe box full of priceless pens for $2 at a Church fair were only losely based in fact: kind of like the stories my Dad used to tell me about the wild animals and weather encountered on his 1000 mile walk to school.
eBay has something to do with it: people think every little piece of junk is worth something these days and they appear to be right - it was just too hard to reach the right market before but now the market goes browsing on line to find you.
There have been a lot of bargains to be had on eBay though it may be coming "full circle" now. Roger W published pictures of his stunning Boston Safety and Tempoint collection recently and noted that in the [not so] olden days he had eBay largely to himself. Competition is stiff now and I've lately noticed high-end Wahl pens on eBay going for almost as much as you would pay to a specialised restorer/dealer; but coming without the peace of mind, expertise and... well, the love, of course.
eBay has something to do with it: people think every little piece of junk is worth something these days and they appear to be right - it was just too hard to reach the right market before but now the market goes browsing on line to find you.
There have been a lot of bargains to be had on eBay though it may be coming "full circle" now. Roger W published pictures of his stunning Boston Safety and Tempoint collection recently and noted that in the [not so] olden days he had eBay largely to himself. Competition is stiff now and I've lately noticed high-end Wahl pens on eBay going for almost as much as you would pay to a specialised restorer/dealer; but coming without the peace of mind, expertise and... well, the love, of course.
QUOTE(FredTSkunke @ Jan 4 2008, 03:14 PM) [snapback]466953[/snapback]
Only happens to me about once every two years. I spend a lot of hours looking at overpriced garbage in between finds. But it sure is fun looking!
QUOTE
You seem to be doing as well as anyone out "in the wild", KDW - I've often wondered whether those old stories about a shoe box full of priceless pens for $2 at a Church fair were only losely based in fact: kind of like the stories my Dad used to tell me about the wild animals and weather encountered on his 1000 mile walk to school.
Really, all of my free stuff came from two places. One was the box of pens a friend gave me that belonged to his great uncle. Seems his mom had given the box to him and he had been moving it around for 10 years and had no use for the contents. The others came from my grandparents. They owned a drug store, probably from the 30 thru the mid 70s. When I got interested in fps, my grandmother told me she had some left over from the store and that I could have them if she ever found them. We didn't find them until after she died and we were sifting through all the stuff. For once, I was glad they were pack rats. That's were I got the NOS stuff. I still haven't inked one of the 51s and one of the 61s. The Sheaffer Vac fill was the only one actually used by my grandfather.
I am reminded of (what was his name?) Jaggett's perennial admonition to young Pip in Great Expectations: "portable property" ...
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