I have a very modest collection of pens and pencils made by the Eclipse Fountain Pen & Pen Company. I only have about half a dozen examples, but I think it's kind of neat to have something made by what many people consider a "Canadian" pen company (perhaps the only Canadian fountain pen company?) since I myself live in Canada.

I thought that the company originally started up in 1903 in New York City ( specifically on 42 E. Houston St., and later in the Chrysler building in New York City according to this source) but I have also read about its establishment in Toronto, Canada in 1925. Jonathan Steinberg in his book "Identifying Fountain Pens" lists Eclipse pens under "Canada" in his manufacturers' guide..... To make things even a bit more confusing there is a company called Eclipse Pens that makes advertising writing instruments that is currently located in Toronto, but they don't make fountain pens!

Anybody know a little bit more about the old Eclipse company?
Also, did they have any second-tier brands? (I think Marxton is one brand....any others?)

Thanks in advance!

Here's an abbreviated history of the Eclipse Pen Co.

There were actually two companies with shifting-across-the-border ownership. Some of this information was taken from various business directories and other pen history books, but most of it came from an article about the company written by Stephen Overbury. It was published in the British "Journal of the Writing Equipment Society" in 1989, issue No. 24.

USA Co.

Eclipse Fountain Pen Co. (1903-1962), started by Marx Finstone in San Francisco, Calif., 1903, Joseph P. Tully, salesman in Chicago, Ill., 1915-25, bought out Keene Pen Co., ca.1915-20, 161 Grand St., New York, N. Y., 1922, patents received between 1917-27, "Safety" trademark used since 1919 and issued in 1922, gen. office at 42-44 E. Houston St., export department at 200 Fifth Ave., factories in New York and Arlington, N. J. in 1925, also offices at 31 State St., Chicago, 57 Post St., San Francisco, and 21 Dundas Square, Toronto, Ont., Canada, 1925, Marx Finstone dies in 1929, office in the Chrysler Bldg., cor 405 Lexington Avenue at 42nd Street, 1933, Dave Klein & Joseph Tully become co-owners of both the US and Canadian operations in 1933, the US company is bought out by the Canadian company in 1962.

CDN Co.

Eclipse Fountain Pen and Pencil Co. (1925-present), Canadian office opened in 1925, first factory at 21 Dundas Square, Hermant Bldg., Toronto, Ont., Marx Finstone, two-thirds owner, Joseph P. Tully, one-third owner, h Forest Hills, Toronto, Ont., Marx Finstone dies in 1929, Dave Klein & Joseph Tully become co-owners of both the US and Canadian operations in 1933, Wilford Gregory, gen. mngr., Joe Tully, Jr., sales mngr., Joe Jr. leaves Eclipse to be a Bic ballpoint distributor from 1951-54, Mrs. Tully takes over after Joseph Tully’s death in 1956, the US company is bought out by the Canadian company in 1962, Frank Rice Sales, owner of the rights to the "Ever-Ready", purchased Eclipse in the mid-1960s, sold to Stan Sefton in the early 1970s, an investor group headed by Ron Francisco sets up a holding company, Eclipse Holdings, to purchase Eclipse, Wayne Ferderber, pres., runs the pen division, since then it has been a mere maker of advertising, bank, and hotel ballpoints.

George.

I don't know about Marxton, but Eclipse in Canada produced pens with quite an array of names. Tully named some of his company's pens after his daughters, so we have such pens as the "Margie" and the "Mary Jane". But there was also the "Zepher", the "Hooded Knight", the "Monroe", the "Adanac" ("Canada" spelled backwards), and "Tully's Prefer-A-Point". Perhaps this last one was their competitor for the third-tier Esterbrook pens with their interchangeable nibs.

Rob and Keith, in their separate thread, are both right about the term "second-tier". It's not a simple matter. You have to talk about tiered pens, and tiered companies, and a mixture of the two terms.

There are companies, such as Conklin, that started out as first-tier companies, and become second-tier companies merely by loss of market share, but with no loss of production quality, and then ended by making cheap pens and became a third-tier company. Then there are also the first-tier companies that made second-tier, and even third-tier pens for their economy lines. But most fourth-tier companies stayed within their own little niche market of "cheesy", little, fourth-tier pens.

George.

Again with this Esterbrook and the third tier thing... hmmmmf!

It's not a nice thing to say about a company that sold millions upon millions of well designed, extremely attractive, and very functional pens.

You guys are going to make me start an Esterbrook appreciation thread if you keep this up.

Thank you so much, Rob and George! I am going to copy this info and store it in my little computer "Pen History" folder. I have to agree with Rob about Eclipse pen nibs---it's too bad that they were not a little bit better in quality. Some of the gold-plated machined patterns on the older Eclipse pens are quite nice and deserve a better nib

As for this whole first-, second-, third- and fourth-tier pens categorization that pen experts use, I find it interesting, but at the same time may be a tad misleading to newbies in terms of collectibility.....which I realize may have nothing to do with sales figures or craftsmanship....

Keith, just be glad that we didn't call it a cheesey, fourth-tier company.

G.

George, you're lucky you didn't call it a cheezy fourth tier company...

Gerry

Ducking.

G.

OK, I found some more info about my own question
There is an Ebay seller whose "About Me" page says that he is writing the history of "Eclipse (the USA branch only), and its sub-brands: Park Row, Marxton, "Safety", Jackwin, Keene (an aquisition), and Monroe"

I suspected that Marxton was a sub-brand, but I didn't know about the other ones....Thank you to this fellow Ebayer for the info!

Maja,

Was there more info on Eclipse on this fellow's 'about me' page? If so, could you please provide his info so I can follow up with him re the book?

Gerry

Hi Gerry,
I can't for the life of me remember that Ebay member's "user ID"
I do remember that what I quoted above is all that he mentioned about Eclipse pens on his Ebay page (other than that he is writing a book on them). I remembered his name though; it is John Roede, and I believe Daniel Kirchheimer (who posts here on FPN under the name "kirchh") knows him, so perhaps you could PM Daniel and ask.
Sure would be nice to find an article or two on Eclipse pens, wouldn't it?

Hi Maja

I feel exactly the same about Eclipse (Canadian) and i can't believe I found this thread just now with an astounding wealth of information that simply has not been available collectively. We should trade photo's I've three Eclipses to my name.

Mike

hang on I'm going to try to find this link in the UK it'll floor you.

Yes a beautiful Eclipse set with a first tier price. Looks our Canadian pens are finally getting the recognition they deserve and the stcker price that goes with it


http://www.fountainpenemporium.com/items/2...store.html#item

Hi Mike!
Hey, your name sounds familiar...Do you bid on Ebay, by any chance? (if so, you have great taste in pens)

Looking forward to any info you could share with us on this somewhat under-appreciated pen company

Thank you (blushing) I'm afraid I'm a bit of a fountain pen hermit here in sunny Nova Scotia and you may be the first person who has ever complimented me on my foraging. They just don't get it.

As for Ebay.... that opium den, far too much time and shekels I'm afraid... but what's a pen lover to do? It's an endless river that hypnotically flows thru my notebook, never exactly the same and lots of gold nuggets of rarity and history wash up on her banks.

I re- found that link (at last) check it out. It was the most I knew about Eclipse untill tonight.

http://www.fountainpenemporium.com/items/2...store.html#item

That's the same link where I found out that the Eclipse company established itself in Toronto in 1925 (see my first post in this thread)
There sure isn't a lot of info on this company, is there? In looking for more info in the Zoss archives, I came across this post which had me all excited...until I saw that no one had responded to the query

As an off-topic aside, there are a couple of online dealers with some incredible vintage pens who live in Mahone Bay, Nova Scotia called "The Elite Penman"( http://vintage-pens.com/ )
I've never bought anything from them, but it's fun to just browse through their wares....

You don't miss a trick.

That's Richard Vroom and vastly superior other half Agnes, about 25 min away. Great Guy. Anytime I win from him, most recently a Sr. Mottled Eclipse with a Mottishawed stub, we meet at Chapters/Starbucks sometime that week and do the exchange. In CAN $ no less! Saves postage esp. if i don't like it ;-) as if. European pens are his forte but he dirty dances on Ebay.

Soooo when you gonna cough up the 900.00? USD. What's up with that?.

Browsing one of my specialties. Love to add to the scrapbook. Always looking for another Vintage Pen site with wares displayed and description enticing.

A very savvy ebay seller is building one as we speak, penultimate. Ebay name Askm963

http://home.comcast.net/~askm963/penultimate.htm

He deals in high end filigree, overlays, rare variants and solid restorations.
I can't afford any of his stuff; but I crave, oh boy do I Lots of Conklin... my weak spot ... well one of them.


Part II

SOMEONE ELSE"S SYNOPSIS (W.B. BRUCE)

I ripped this from pensandwatches.com site..... they really really like Paul Wirt

http://www.pensandwatches.com/glossary.htm

Eclipse Fountain Pen Co.

42 E. Houston St and later in the Chrysler building in New York City - Made medium quality fountains pens in hard rubber and later in plastic, a good percentage of which were oversize flattops. They had a unique clip that was clasped onto a mount. The mount looked like a staple punched into 2 vertically lined up slots in the cap. These clips are missing on many pens. Keene had used a similar clip on their pens and may have changed their name to Eclipse or sold out to them. Eclipse liked to mark the lever on their pens, but they didn’t like to mark the barrels much. When you encounter pens that are marked on the clip and/or lever only, it may sometimes be because the companies were buying parts and only making the levers and clips for the pens. Some have Eclipse nibs, others just have warranted nibs which I believe are correct in some of these pens. Eclipse also had a Canadian plant which may have only taken over the name after the demise of the US plant.

<I>Yes a beautiful Eclipse set with a first tier price. Looks our Canadian pens are finally getting the recognition they deserve and the stcker price that goes with it</I>

Those guys' prices are just nuts. I can't believe anyone pays them. $80 for a Parker 45? $140 for a Snorkel Saratoga? I'd be more than happy to get half that.

Hmm, well I didn't want to mention that, but I tend to agree with you, John.
Still, it's better than what some European sellers charge online for vintage stuff...Mind you, I've lived in Europe so I know things are generally much more expensive over there (I'm thinking Central & Western Europe) so that probably explains that...When we lived in the UK in the early 90's my husband and I were always surprised to see that something that costs £20 over there would only cost $20 CDN here in Canada. It seemed like you were paying the same numerical amount ("20") but that it was multiplied by the exchange rate! I don't know why pens from Nova Scotia would cost so much....

What I am wondering about is if The Elite Penman restores pens or not; I've come across several advertised on their website which require re-sacking

Hope this doesn't come across as dealer-bashing to anyone; people are free to set their own prices for pens, of course

Richard Vroom AKA the elitepenman does not do repairs. He farms all pens in dire need to professionals. He does however take and post the pictures. ;-)

I concur, Richard's prices are a little on the heavy side; this may be in part due to his preference for, dealings with and knowledge of european pens which could encourage a 'casually" higher price point approach. Then again, when you compare to Penopoly or Vintage Pens perhaps they are not so out of range

Probably explains why I've only bought one directly from him, the rest were dueled for on the level playing field of Ebay. The MRHR Eclipse Sr. was a Sumgai event ... 75.00 (reserve). Just about what he payed Mottishaw for the nib work. This is what he wrote to me after hammer fell...

"You are making me cry!"

Richard Vroom
The Elite Penman

Sadly, Maja, I don't think Richard has any pens from Nova Scotia. ;-)

Ha, ha...
Nice purchase on the mottled RHR Eclipse (and with a Mottishaw'd stub nib) ....That is a great deal

As for prices, yeah, vintage pens in great condition from reputable online dealers will tend to bring premium prices vs. pens from Ebay sellers who may not know what they are selling. It's nice to know that if you really want a great pen in great shape, then there is an alternative to chancing it on the 'Bay (although I got a few quasi-sumgal finds there)

Hi Gerry, and Maya,

The Ebay username is "peneles", without quotation marks, and here's his Ebay "About
Me" page.

http://members.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?V...&userid=peneles

George.

Thanks, George....That him!
Mr. Roede, if you are reading this, good luck with your project; I would definitely buy a copy of your Eclipse article/book!

Me too. Thanks George

Gerry

A great thread of info on Tully and Eclipse! (Thanks..).
Just for fun, here is the info off of my Tully:

TULLY PREFER-A-Point <-- Clip ("TULLY" enclosed in an oval )
and "Point" in script

AN Eclipse PRODUCT <--- Body ("Eclipse" in script with )
MADE IN TORONTO CANADA


TULLY
FINE
IRIDIUM <----Nib ( "TULLY" in the oval)
TIPPED
CANADA

Check the attached pic......Cheers..Pat F.

Thanks for the photo, Pat. It's always good to see some more info added to this thread. Being a Canadian, the history of the Eclipse Pen Co. is something that interests me quite a bit.

I've never seen one of those before, but the clip on your Tully pen is a dead-ringer for the one on my Eclipse "Hooded Knight" model pen (ie. same clip, different imprint)

Cheers,
~Maja

Hi All:
I'm new to the site, today in fact, I also have an interest in the Eclipse Pen Company. I have over a hundred of the pens, all different. Maja, I have been corresponding with John for almoat a year and we trade a few pictures. He is most knowledgable on this subject.
I have enjoyed reading all the posts. Keep them coming!
Robert

Thought I would share this Eclipse I picked up off the bay last week. A beautiful pen with no brassing of the gold-filled overlay that I can see. The black is very black, with a few scratches.

It has a nice, flexi Warrented #4 nib, but needs a j-bar and is a bit of a stingy feeder - definitely doesn't keep up with the flex of the nib. Need to work on it a bit.

Nothing on the imprint clues me in on whether it is the US Eclipse or Canadian, but I am suspecting it's a US one. Great pen, and so glad there are threads like this to fill in a little history of these lesser known pens.

JA

A very nice pen Johnny.
Here are a few Eclipse Pens that I have. I beleive the gold overlays and filigrees as well as teh oversized overlays all were US made.

Here are a few more.

Here a few filigrees in various colors.

Nice collection.

And it looks like they come in Lapis too

JA

BTW - my Eclipse skips much less when it's not on its last drop of ink :doh:

JA
Thank you.
Those photos were taken several months ago and now there are some others to photograph. Yes, there is a blue filgree in the batch as well as a few solid blue ones, both chased and unchased. All of mine work but I don't use them on a day-to-day basis. I have done some of the repairs and have a few repaired.
I have a large black oversized Sheaffer Flattop that I really like to use on a daily basis.
Do you have other Eclipse pens?
Robertaia

Hi Robertaia,

That is, alas, my only Eclipse - but I don't think it will remain that way forever.

Mine has a Warranted nib - how are the Eclipse nibs as writers?

John

John:
Eclipse used Warranted and Eclipse nibs in their pens.
As I mentioned I haven't used my Eclipses very much other a few oversized ones.

The ones that I have used, I can't really tell much difference. I have some without much flex and both with some flex. I think it's like all nibs, you have to find the one you like. I write rather fast so flex nibs don't work well for me most of the time.

I do hope you collect some more. The early pens such as yours and the oversized pens, if in really good condition, will compare rather well with the others of the day.
Robert

Robert,
Sorry I didn't respond earlier; the Internet was down last night

Anyway, THANK YOU so much for posting the photos of your Eclipse collection. There are some beautiful examples there It's always nice to know that someone else out there also appreciates a lesser-known vintage brand. You don't see that many photos of vintage Eclipses on the pen boards, so your photographs are a veritable feast for my eyes Please tell your friend John that if he is still planning on publishing a book on Eclipse pens and their sub-brands, that I would be very interested in getting one!

Johnny, congratulations on the pen! I am sure I saw it when I was surfing Ebay, but I had already bought two pens in the past month so my budget had been exceeded. :doh:

Thanks for the photos, gentlemen!

~Maja

P.S.

Has anyone seen a lot of all-metal Eclipse pens without clips? I have a gold-plated Eclipse lever-filler that is missing a clip (there are two vertical (edit: I meant horizontal!) slots that were meant for clip attachment). I recall someone on another pen board saying that the clips were an option at the time (1920s/30s?). In other words, you had to pay extra $ to have a clip added to your pen. Is this really true?

Maja;
Thank you for the kind words about my collection. There are probably a dozen or so more that I haven't photographed. I recently acquired 8 from a guy who was selling his grandfarther's sets, all in the original boxes. I'll try and get those photographed in a couple of weeks.
I sent John the info on the website. So I'm sure he'll post something that we can all learn something from.
I've never heard of the clips being an option not have I ever seen one with vertical slots. I just had a clip installed on a gold filled pen. It had a single horizontal slot and the clip was 'Z' shaped. When installed it was a single piece of metal that bent back to the top of the cap then bent again to form the clip. Eclipse pens are noterious for having the clips missing. They used the "Klein Clip" which was two horizontal slots through the cap. The ink caused these to corrode so that is why they are missing sometimes. They are hard to find. You have to by parts pens, but then you have to make sure the clip is the right lenght.
But such is the joy of pen collecting.
Please post some photos of your.
The pens with 'Tulley' on the clips are intersting. I don't have any of those.
Robert

Oops! I meant two small horizontal clip slots, as you described! :doh:
I must have been picturing the pen as it was when it was being held in my hand

Yes, that is the one I meant, the "Klein clips". Thanks for answering my question!

My husband got a fancy camera a few weeks ago, but he takes 99.99% of his photos outside (landscapes, etc.) so he is embarassed about the indoor pen photos he has taken for me as he doesn't have proper lighting. Will have to wait for a sunny day here so I can take the pen collection outside for some natural light.

Looking forward to hearing from John about the Eclipse company.

Best wishes,
~Maja

Robert, what an awesome collection this is Wow....
How long did it take you to do this?

maria:
That's what I did, I took the pics outside one sunny morning. If you ever run across some clips please let me know I have a couple of oversized mottled pens that need clips.

antoniosz:
Thank you very much. I have been collecting Eclipse Pens for less than a year and a half. I've been very lucky and I've had a lot of help. Several members of our pen club have been on the "lookout" for me. Every now and then eBay will have a few good ones. I still in search of several that I know exist, such as eyedroppers, sterling overlays, and a stilographic ones. They are like the Inkographs.
So the search goes on. When I got that large diameter (green) filigree it immediately conjured up the thought - "does that size come in other colors". Yes it does, I saw a blue one at the Miami Pen Show this year, not in as good a shape as mine and the guy wanted, now get this! - $600.00. Not for an Eclipse. So he went home with it!!!
Let me know what usual pens you guys have.
Robert

Wow! I've been sitting here thinking what a lovely collection it is and wondering to myself how long does it take someone to do that, particularly with a marque that isn't exactly 'everyday'. Help or no help, in a year and a half? ... I'm stupefied!

Well done, sir.

Wow, a year and a half! That is pretty amazing...especially to find all those overlays. They are not all that commonly found in red and green (especially), from what I have seen on eBay, etc.
I see a lot of Canadian eBay sellers selling Eclipse pens, so I am sure they are to be found in my neck of the woods. I guess I just have to look harder

And before anyone thinks these pens are always available on the cheap, check out this yellow eclipse that closed for $223.50.

HUGE Oversized ECLIPSE Mandarin YELLOW 5"+ Fountain PEN

JA

Thank you very much Roger. Our pen club has a few members who have been collecting for 30+ years so that sell me a few. Like I said I've been lucky!!

Maja and JA:
The overlays I've pretty much found at shows and a few on eBay. I have no idea of the various machined patterns they made. All of mine are different except for one or two.
According to a Kurzon Wholesale Jewelers 1929 Catalog (Chicago), the filigrees came in red, blue, gray, green and black. I do not have a gray filigree. They came as single pens or in sets. The sets wholesaled for $2.75 each. The catalog also shows a black, chased oversized pen and pencil selling for $3.00 a set.

JA, I would imagine the yellow was a little more expensive. I do have a "big red" lookalike that has the original price sticker indicating a $7.00 price, same as the Parker Big Red. Explain that?

A word regarding the gray color. If you run across these they appear to be an grayish olive drab color. Don't be fooled that is the gray pen and I told is quite rare to find.

Eclipse opened the Canada operation sometime after 1925. Joesph Tully started that operation and had some ownership in the comany. Mark Finestone, founder, died in 1929. I would imagine some of these pens would be plentiful up there. Sub brands where the Park Row, Marxton (maybe named after Finestone), park Row, Jackwin, Parkston and Monroe. Tully named pens after his children, I'm told, such as , Margie and Mary Jane. Of course there is the Hooded Knight, Adanac (Canada spelled backwards), Zepher and Trully's Prefer-a-Point.
The pre-1929 pens were much higher quality then those produced later. I think that's why it's hard to find the overlays, filigrees and oversized pens in very good condition.

I would like to know more about the brand names you guys are running across in Canada particularly the sub brands. I would be interested in trying to acquire a few that I don't have.
Robert.

Wow, that sure cost a pretty penny!
But then, large flat-tops always almost always get a good price on eBay. Not so many people like the little pens...

Robert,

Thanks for the info!

I bought a Park Row flat-top pen (in red and black 'woodgrain' pattern) on eBay for a friend last year as part of a pen trade. I have a "Hooded Knight" fountain pen that I found for $11 in a local store. Other than that, all of the other 9 or 10 Eclipse pens/pencils I have are labelled "Eclipse". I have seen lots of Marxtons being sold on eBay by Canadian & U.S. sellers but I am not a fan of them particularly and I don't own any; nothing there has caught my eye yet. I haven't seen any Jackwins, Parkstons or Monroe pens in the wild here that I can recall. Ditto for Tully, Margie, Mary Jane pens, Adanac, or Zepher...

I thought that on John Roede's eBay "About Me" page, he mentioned another Eclipse sub-brand called "Safety" and another called "Keene" (an Eclipse acquisition, apparently)....

maja
Thanks for the feedback. I don't have any of the off brands either. I was kidding John last week when he was giving me some additional names that I wasn't done collecting Eclipse by any means and I'd have to get all the others.
I probably won't go wild with those other brands, but I would like to obtain an example of each.
I did forget about Safety and Keene. John says they bought Keene is 1918. I don't know if they continued to make pens under the Keene name and if so how long they did it. The ones I've seen have been the red mottled, red/orange or woodgrained. I'm sure there are others.
Safety was a mixed bag. It think it would say Safety on the clip and Eclipse on the lever or the other way around. I've seen some.
I just received a desk set today from a seller in Ontario that says Enduro. They were in the original box. The set is yellow and black. It also comes in green, red and white it says. Indicates you have to dip the pen. It has know way of filling, no lever. Nib has "Enduro" in script. There was no base, I guess those sold seperately. It arrived in the original box. On the back it says made by Eclipse Pen and Pencil Co. Ltd., Toronto, Canada. Another name!! And the list goes on!!
I'll take a few pics later in the week and post them.
Robert

Robert,

I have couple of parts (a Safery BHR with broken tip but good cap/barrel) and an GF overlay (barrel is broken - but cap is OK). If you want them (free of course) just send me a message.

AZ

antoniosz
Thanks for the offer. I'll take you up on it.
email me at roberta@aktexas.com and I'll send you my delivery address.
Robert

Ok folks:
Can anyone shed any light on this set. It's made in Canada, says Enduro but has the Eclipse Pen and Pencil Company on the box. It's a "modern" dip pen. I'll have to post several pics on this set. Was Enduro a sepreate company or a brand name of Eclipse, or was it soley made by Enduro and marketed by Eclipse?