.. this isn't an original clip, is it?



Its corroded too I really should have been more careful which auction I was bidding on

If I keep it I'm going to need a sac, the old one is dried up in the end of the barrel. If I can't soak it (I've read Conway Stewarts used to be made of something that shouldn't be soaked?) how do I get it out? Thin sharp thing?

Hi,

No not the original clip (I think I may have seen one like this or was it this on ebay in the last week or so), the material is casein, this looks the right vintage for it and soaking will make it swell and will usually do permanent damage.

I won't comment on how to remove the sac, probably someone that knows far more than I do can make suggestions.

Andy

Yeah... it was probly this one. For some reason at the time of night the auction finished, I thoght I could become a restorer
Thanks for the info

Hi Delancey

Don't panic! Depending on what you wanted the pen for at least.

It certainlyisn't the original clip but these slip-on clips were sold in stationers etc many years ago for pens that either didn't have a clip or had one but had lost it. It would appear that an owner in the past had broken the clip of the pen you now have and needed to buy an accessory clip to continue to use the pen. Your pen has been a valuable an useful tool as opposed to having spent its life forgotten in the back of a drawer. If you wanted the pen as an example of how they left the factory then you bought the wrong one. If you want to use it, or even have the pen as an example of the pens used in yesteryear then you have a great example. The slip-on clip will work as well (better?) as the original and is a period modification. It just isn't original.

Options open to you include leaving as is; carefull slipping off (without scratching the cap) cleaning and replacing the clip back on, or unscrew the peaked cap and find a CS clip to revert back to original. Personally I'd keep the slip on.

With regard to soaking the body, you've already guessed, don't. If your pen is casein soaking it will completely ruin it and I'm not sure whether soaking perished rubber will soften it. By all means carefully fish out the old, hard sac with something sharp. You'll probably find that once you've loosened it it'll come out with some gentle taps. The only thing to break up there is the lever and pressure bar mechanism, so long as you're aware of this you'll be fine.

Otherwise, how is the pen? Is the nib a good'n? Let us know how you get on.


Greg

Hi Greg

To be honest I've been in two minds about emailing the seller to ask if they will have it back and refund me, but you have a very good point about its "working life".

The lever seems fine, the bit I can see when I lift it a little looks grubby but I dont think anything is broken on the inside. I managed to loosen some bits that fell out, but there seems to be other debris in there, I'll have a careful poke around with some tweezers when I find them (and in daylight!)

Nib - well... I know next to nothing.. but it is very flexible, so much so that I wonder if it is supposed to bend that much! Out of curiosity I took the nib out so now it is at least cleaner, and the tips are actually together where before they were one higher than the other, I could see it was because the nib wasn't in straight.

I just dipped it in ink to see how it behaved, and it writes just great, I'm not going for a refund I think it might have lost a bit of its point, it "sings" a fair bit, but I can't see it well enough to tell! Next purchase - loupe!