On Sunday there's a local antiques-cum-bricabrac market, mostly manned by traders, and usually with very high prices (though some are willing to haggle quite a bit). However, one man - who simply had no idea what he was selling - had an interesting pen and two bottles of ink on his stall.

It's a brown striated Vacumatic with a flawless long black tail! The condition was: uninked. Wow. And what a cool two-tone nib! (XF nib, and the thin plastic plunger). The bottles are big Quink solv-x ones. In one of the photos you should be able to see the perfect transparency (it's filled with Diamine Monaco Red)






Now, I don't know much about Vacs (this is the first one I've held) or Quink, and I'd love some pointers.I can't find a date code on either the ink or the pen, and I'm almost certain the desk base is non-original, though it does have a rather attractive hexagonal trumpet.

Can anyone give me any history, ideas or trivia on the pen, the base, or the ink?

(Oh, and the best bit - I got the whole lot for under $40!)

Wow, fantastic buy.

Antique stores can begin to look like slot machines... there's a jackpot waiting for me in the next one!

Great find. Don't get too used to it, though. You'll expect it every time you head out!

As for the ink, it's probably from the mid-late 1940's. UK bottles and labels are a little different than those in the US, but it's safe to say it's at least 60 years old!

Well, I'm no help on the history, but congrats on the find!

I'm beginning to see why David I likes vacs so much - if nothing else, the filler is just brilliant!
Here's hoping I can get lots more similar finds... perhaps I'll start sharing if I do

The plastic plunger means that it's a wartime or post-war vac. Where was it made? Is there an imprint at all? As for the ink, i don't think ink had a date code. Perhas someone can date the bottles.

I wouldn't put red ink in my vacs unless they were already stained. I'd stick with washable blues.

Oh god, is red ink a problem?


But has no following date code.

Edit: I just flushed it in favour of diamine sepia...