I was searching on Waterman 100 on eBay and found a couple of snickers.

I mean, I don't know vintage well, but even I know these aren't the purported age:

This one looks to be from, at the earliest, the 40s. Anyone got a more precise date? (I'm not bidding, nor would I recommend it given the description, but morbid curiosity makes me ask these things.)

This one's at least closer in age, but I'm guessing it's more like 80 years old, if only because of the lever filler.

Earlier today I saw a Cross chrome ballpoint pen on ebay, the standard Century, from the 1930's.....

Intriguing. I thought ballpoints only came out in the 1940s...I must do more research...

Honestly, who thinks up (Potty Mouth) like this??...they should be dragged into the street and shot!

Actually the first pen was named the Hundred Year Pen by Waterman because the warranty was that long but it is from the 1940's The name is actually embossed on the pen and the nib.

It's just a pen!

I think, in both cases, the seller only read "Waterman 1884" on the pen, and thought that it is the manufacture date.
Probably it's an estate sale, somebody bought a whole estate and puts up things one by one, and does not know much about fountain pens.

At least I hope so. (I think if the seller had wanted to deceive buyers, he would have started the bid at a higher opening price.)

The second one is a fine looking pen. Not sure of the value put on it though.


Greg

To his credit, the first seller ended the listing early due to "an error in the listing." He gets points from me for that, especially as a newbie (I did PM him and point him to an appropriate reference site).

Ebay sellers often list Waterman 1x and 5x pens as 100 years old, based on the August 4, 1903 patent date that appears on just about every Waterman from 1903 to around 1928. People don't realize that a patent date indicates the earliest possible date the pen could have been made, not the date the pen was made.

The second pen is probably 1918-24 or something along those lines, based on the clip, but it is hard to tell.

What I find amusing is that so many ebay sellers dutifully list all the imprints on the pen, except for the model number on the end - which is the most important information for determining to value. Not that I blame the sellers for not knowing, but it is amusing.

John