Oooohh, the tease....

[Brian Anderson]

I've been helping a friend with trying to get motivated to clean out his late mothers house. During phase one of the project, which basically allowed him some room to move in, he passed on a couple of nice pens including a 51 vac and a skyline. Since then he has supposedly found others and put them aside for me. Every time I've stopped over, we've both forgotten about them, so for the past six months he's been telling me about them, "One has this really neat design on it" he keeps telling me. Being he has an eye for art and design when he says it's neat, it probably is.

 

So today we're scheduled to start packing up some old dishes and start the inventory process so the auction house can pick up some packages. I call to confirm, but he's decided it's too difficult to start, and he wants to start it himself before I come over. OK, but he hapens to have one of the pens by the phone. The description goes somewhat like this:

 

"It's a black pen, has this neat design on it, all around the barrel"

 

"Oooh, chased hard rubber" I say

 

"No, this is definitely plastic, it has two gold bands on it and is marked 12 1/2 on the end"

 

My interest peaks.

 

"It's marked Waterson, no Waterman on the nib, and look, on the barrel too."

 

 

So there's a 12 1/2 with two gold bands awaiting me the next time I visit. Can't wait to see it. But this suspense is killing me. I guess patience is a virtue.

 

Best-

Brian

[Johnny Appleseed]

Carefull Brian - you know where those Watermans can lead. . .

 

John

[Brian Anderson]

Yeah, I know, I got a 412 yesterday, so all of a sudden I'm going to have a couple of waterman eyedroppers.

 

It's a slippery slope, and I think I'm quickly going down it.

 

Best-

Brian

[Greg]

I think we're all waiting with similar trepidation!

 

Let us know when you get it (with a pic or two if you can)

 

 

 

Greg

[JRodriguez]

What luck! I will also look forward to pictures should you post any.

[Brian Anderson]

Here's a rough pic of the two "keepers" from this weekend's expedition:

 

http://www.esterbrook.net/funpics/BigRed412.jpg

 

Nice engraving on the 412. They're both going off this week for some minor repairs, so I won't see them for 2-3 months.

 

Still no word on the 12 1/2 though.

 

Best-

Brian

[JRodriguez]

Wow. Those both look to be in very nice shape. I can't say I envy the months of waiting. I have a hard time with 2 or 3 days sometimes !

[Brian Anderson]

Yeah, actually that's pretty good turn around time. I just don't care to try to fix these myself, but it will be a long time waiting, that's for sure.

 

Best-

Brian

[Brian Anderson]

Ok, so the wait is over, picked up the 12 1/2 today. Very pretty little pen in excellent condition. Imprints and chasing are clear and even the red is still visible in the imprint on the end of the barrel. Only problem is the New York nib needs to be reset as the feed is pushed out past the end of the nib, but that should be no big deal.

 

http://www.esterbrook.net/funpics/1212.jpg

 

I guess this means I'm a waterman collector now, or at the very least a waterman 12 collector.

 

Best-

Brian

[DrPJM1]

Great find & better memories!

[John54green]

Great pens Brian, and as a history teacher half the fun for me is wondering what stories they have written! Another observation, it is amazing how a wonderful pen can lead to another collection, so many beautiful pens Regards, John

[Brian Anderson]

Ok, so another chapter, I got another word that there are more pens waiting for me at the house. Something in blue with white flecks, another in green marble, but no visible means of filling them (as my mother in law described them). Then there's a possible stylographic pen as well. I'm thinking Parker perhaps, as the blind cap could be missed by a non-fp person as a filling method. A duo in lapis and jade perhaps? A twist filler of some kind (estie )?

 

Apparently there's some dip pens for me, an inkwell, and some bottles for me as well. Saturday is just around the corner...

 

Until then...

Brian

[JRodriguez]

Nice Waterman, and the nib issue sounds like a potentially quick fix. Just so you know, if you run out of room for all these pens at your residence and need someone to look after them, just let me know .

[Brian Anderson]

Nice Waterman, and the nib issue sounds like a potentially quick fix. Just so you know, if you run out of room for all these pens at your residence and need someone to look after them, just let me know laugh.gif .

 

Ok, will do, I only have room for 1500 more pens in my pen chest and then they're all yours.

 

I was able to seat the nib and feed a decent way into the section and get it to sit nice without any play. When I cleaned it up,I discovered a previous owner had actually used string to wrap the nib and feed together tight enough where they would stay in place and still function.

 

It's been a companion with me all this week and performs very well, better than I expected an eyedropper to.

 

Best-

Brian

[JRodriguez]

That's great Brian. That's interesting about the nib and feed being rigged with a string. I've never heard of anyone doing that before, but it makes sense, and if a person wanted to increase the ink flow due to a gap, that would certainly be one way to do it.