Please Help Me, I Need Some Details

October 3, 2012

Hello friends!

I just received a very nice pen, an Commando by Waterman's, and I want to know some details about it, details as:

1) when was made (the year);

2) was really an military pen?

3) the quality of that model;

4) an estimated price for it?

Thank you in advance for all the infos.

Edited October 3, 2012 by bobdeville

October 4, 2012

What the . . . ?! Can't explain it, but I want it.

OK, trying to be more articulate. To the original poster: I've never seen a Commando that looks like that in any way. It looks very much like a Champion/501, which is similar in turn to the late 1940s French glass cartridge Watermans. But the "Commando" on the barrel and clip are new to me. And is that a plated nib or is the appearance just a trick of the photograph? On second look, it seems like maybe a replacement (non-Waterman) nib?

Cool. No idea what it's worth, though.

Brett

October 5, 2012

Do we know what Jules Fagard was about during the war? That looks like a glass cartridge, and the point and clip would have had me suggesting it was an attempted knock-off if it weren't for the barrel impression. There is also a question of just how happy the occupation authorities or Vichy regime would have been about that sort of reference on a consumer item. Perhaps an artifact of immediate post-war production? Certainly another mystery from the dark mists of Waterman....

October 5, 2012

What the . . . ?! Can't explain it, but I want it.

OK, trying to be more articulate. To the original poster: I've never seen a Commando that looks like that in any way. It looks very much like a Champion/501, which is similar in turn to the late 1940s French glass cartridge Watermans. But the "Commando" on the barrel and clip are new to me. And is that a plated nib or is the appearance just a trick of the photograph? On second look, it seems like maybe a replacement (non-Waterman) nib?

Cool. No idea what it's worth, though.

Brett

... I didn't tell some details initially to not influence the conclusions , but now I will: that pen I received it for an collector (military arterfacts), after almost one year of "requests and insistences". He (was) have two of them, one unused and that one who was used just one time (untill the original black ink glass cartrige was emptied), and after that was kept in the personal colection in the past 50 years. All infos received from him about the pen was: it is a military pen made in France, all parts original (including the nib which is marked "Commando FRANCE"), and the year of production was 1938. He also told me that model is a extremely rare, and that thing I can confirm because I saw until now only 3 pcs, his one, mine one and another one to an collector from england(?), as I remember, who was sold it on ebay.

That are all infos I have until now, but I want to know more about it, especially why is so rare (the history of that model) and the real value of it.

Thank you again and I hope to find more answers and more details to my questions.

Bob

P.S.: ... yes, the nib is gold plated; I will make today some new detailed pictures.

Edited October 5, 2012 by bobdeville