Vintage Fountain Pen Advice?

[jd23679]

Hi all,

 

(Not sure if this is the right subforum... )

 

I've been looking into the world of vintage fountain pens recently, and I'm hoping I can get some advice on the kind of things I should be looking for... I'd love a Lamy 2000, but I'm not sure I want to spend that much at the moment.

 

I'm hoping to find a pen that has a gold nib, writes smoothly, and ideally doesn't have a really strange filling system (lever-fillers are at the outer reaches of my experience, for reference. Vac or Piston would be cool, obviously also C/C).

 

I have quite a few Parker pens, so a Parker would make sense, based on my already having cartridges and converters for them...

 

What do you think? Any specific recommendations, other than the ubiquitous '51'? I just don't like the look of that hooded nib *Cowers behind desk to avoid angry throwing of Quink bottles and pen boxes* . Maybe it would grow on me...

 

Ideally, I don't want to spend more than £50, although this is a hobby that never sticks to budgets, so I could probably stretch to about 80

[OCArt]

I don't know what Parkers you already have but a vacumatic would certainly be in your price range. Parker 45's can be had inexpensively and some have gold nibs-- I am quite enamored with the P45 and use at least one daily.

[Notgatherox]

+1 to the Parker 45.

 

Consider also, a Sheaffer pen. Something with a Touchdown system. They were a patented system and great pens. I love my little Touchdown Craftsman. They shouldn't be too expensive.

 

 

 

~Epic

[bsenn]

A Touchdown (TM or Imperial) or an Esterbrook. Both relatively inexpensive and good pens. A Vacumatic is little more expensive, also a good pen.

[sandy101]

Parker 45, or a Parker Slimfold.

 

The Slimfold has a nice, full gold nib, but make sure you have an idea about the condition of the sac. If intact, it'll be OK, if not - it's not worth much. You'll get one for less than £20 if you are patient, or a reconditioned one for around £50.

 

The P45 can be found for less than £20 - you might get lucky and get the matching biro or mechanical pencil for around the same price.. The P45 is a student pen, so the nib is not the best out there - but it writes well enough. Not all P45s come with a gold nib though. They are robust, easy to clean and it takes modern Parker convertors and cartridges.

 

You can get a new Lamy 2000 for less than £100 on WHSmith's website. They only sell the medium nib, but it is a substantial saving on what most folk sell them for. It is a nice pen, and writes well - so it might be worthwhile holding off and getting the pen you want.

[jd23679]

Thanks for the recommendations - I'll look out for them. Keep the pens coming!

 

That's interesting about 'Smiths, sandy101 - They're out of stock at the moment, but that's a great price for a pen whose RRP is a lot higher. I'll check back in a week or so.

[praxim]

You are in Britain, so I suggest looking for an Onoto. Some are branded Chatsworth or just De La Rue. The Nos 2, 3 & 5 nibs are especially good. Lever fillers usually cheaper than serviced plunge fillers and not finicky to use.

 

You will also then have something different from the usual.

[Schadenfreude]

Parker 45!

 

Other option: Osmia has 14k gold nib. Semi-flex. Piston filler. And it's not expensive. Online at ebay i saw the price was about 30-40 dollars. Depends on the seller of course.

Edited September 25, 2016 by Schadenfreude

[peterg]

The best value vintage pens have to be the Newhaven Duofolds and later Victories (button & aerometric); most of the Lang pens (Summit; Stephens & National Security) (mostly lever fill) and Wyvern for UK based people. All apart from the later Wyverns all have proper nibs!

[Sandy1]

 

Hi,

 

There are many places to start the Vintage Voyage.

 

Should you be UK-based, I will suggest taking a wee shufti at the Parker Newhaven aerometric filler Duofold series.

 

While premium prices are commanded for the larger Senior/Maxima series, the smaller Junior series offers good value. As these thins go, I found the open nib Slimfolds offer the greatest variation of nib characteristics - perhaps as they were not intended as work horse pens, rather for the lady who tucked it in her garter and had a bit of jotting to do. (Billets doux???)

 

With the aerometric fill system, one avoids the dreadful button fill system. And as the ink reservoir is robust, avoiding disassembly for re-sac'ing, most of those pens need only a thorough cleaning, so the nib+feed alignment is still as it came from the hand of a Newhaven craftsman.

 

As always, watch for bent nibs of mishandled pens.

 

See also : http://parkerpens.net/ukduofold.html

 

Bye,

S1

Edited September 26, 2016 by Sandy1

[Jerome Tarshis]

Should you be UK-based, I will suggest taking a wee shufti at the Parker Newhaven aerometric filler Duofold series.

 

While premium prices are commanded for the larger Senior/Maxima series, the smaller Junior series offers good value.

 

Even though I am not UK-based, I very much endorse this suggestion. The Slimfolds are a bit too small for me (others will disagree), but the Juniors are actually a bit longer than the regular Aero Duofold, they look good in a classic way, and they can be excellent writers.

 

I own only two, one of them wettish and voluptuous to write with, the other stately and more reserved in its ink flow. Yes, have a shufti. If you become interested in the Duofold line and have the odd discretionary penny there are many variations to be hunted and collected.

[Buzz_130]

The Parker 45 has a semi-hooded nib. This pen is a workhorse, and you could build a collection around this excellent pen. You can put a squeeze filler on it, use a cartridge, and even a converter can work. The nib unscrews with ease to allow for changing to different sizes and even easy cleaning.

 

Just as versatile and economical is the Esterbrook series of pens. The nibs are easy to unscrew, and the range of nibs for this body of pens is unmatched. The lever filler is about as easy as it gets, and the pen is balanced and rugged. People make collections on this amazing pen.

 

You will do well with either type of pen, and they are a great gateway into other pens by Parker and Sheaffer.

 

Buzz

[estie1948]

The Parker 45 has a semi-hooded nib. This pen is a workhorse, and you could build a collection around this excellent pen. You can put a squeeze filler on it, use a cartridge, and even a converter can work. The nib unscrews with ease to allow for changing to different sizes and even easy cleaning.

 

Just as versatile and economical is the Esterbrook series of pens. The nibs are easy to unscrew, and the range of nibs for this body of pens is unmatched. The lever filler is about as easy as it gets, and the pen is balanced and rugged. People make collections on this amazing pen.

 

You will do well with either type of pen, and they are a great gateway into other pens by Parker and Sheaffer.

 

Buzz

+1. It could not be better said.

 

-David (Estie).

[PDW]

+1 more for P45.

 

And if you're in the London area maybe come to the London Pen Show (2nd October 2016 10.30 am – 4.30 pm; Holiday Inn London Bloomsbury, Coram Street, London WC1N 1HT), handle a few models, check prices (and haggle!), and see how they feel before you buy?

[Ernst Bitterman]

If you can find one that's had a going-over, a 65 is an excellent Parker C/C, although the price difference between that and a Lamy 2000 might not be so great.

 

Which is not to say that the 45 is a bad idea.

[ac12]

I think the Lamy 2000 looks and feels like an oversize Parker 45.

 

Esterbrooks are a good start into the vintage field. Not expensive, nice looking, and writes well (mine does). And if you don't like the nib, unscrew the nib assembly and replace it with a different one. Though it is a lever fill pen.

[Sasha Royale]

Welcome ! Welcome ! Welcome !

 

Parker fountain pens are very collectible. They dominated the market and innovation for the mid-twentieth century. Parker 45's are excellent cartridge pens, for which converters are still being made.

Parker models 15, 17, and 25 are also within your reach. Have a look here --

http://parkerpens.net/apis.html

 

One of the earliest "cartridge" pens is the Sheaffer (c. 1960 - 1970). Many have survived in good condition. The ones that have survived are very good writers. (I have several.)

 

The lever-fill system proved to be simple, reliable, inexpensive, and easily repaired. Your price range includes all the Esterbrook J-series pens. There are many, many lesser-name brands that produced lever-fill pens in the 1950's. I love 'em. Venus, Wearever, Dominion, Everfeed, Eversharpe, Elgin, American, Tuckersharpe, Superior, Arnold, and on and on. Definitely pick-up a piston-fill Reform 1745.

[jar]

If you are going to start out in the world of Vintage fountain pens buy one from one of the better restorers. It will cost more initially but in the long run be a wise investment. Talk with the dealer first and let the dealer make suggestions based on that conversation.

[Bo Bo Olson]

I have an English made Parker Jr. Duofold, with a semi-flex nib. Both English and Australian made Parkers and Sheaffers had to offer semi-flex nibbed pens in the '50's that Parker did not else ware in they had to compete with the major English maker Swan/Mabie Todd, that had nibs from 'true' regular flex to superflex.

I had a very nice Wyvern with a great semi-flex nib.

 

There is the bent tipped Waverly nib MacNiven & Cameron....Richard Binder a now retired great nibmaster use to grind a Waverly nib tip that was very well liked indeed.

 

The vintage English Conway Stewart will be nail to true regular flex. It was a common pen...there are some pretty ones....the new Conway Stewart....now bankrupt, made a real high class pen.....$$$$ out of my reach, but pretty.

 

If you do look for a Swan pen, there were two very good seller/restorers that tell what flex the nib is. Theirs are very professional sites, somewhat similar. Just put in Swan on English Ebay until you run into a couple of professional sites. Yes, you pay more, but you get a working pen, with the nib flex you want.

 

Be aware there was once some one with a site similar to theirs selling 'normally' bit end, brassed, bent nibbed pens for the same amount.

 

I once spent six slow weeks chasing Swan pens while I learned about them....chasing so slowly, in I expected to buy my first superflex pen and wanted to know about the many filling systems.

I suggest the late 40's Torpedo shaped ones or the early '50's sac pens. They are simpler than the complicated filling systems Swan had to develop to get around other's patents. After 1955 Swan's quality went down as they tried to match cheap ball points and Swan failed in 1960.

 

Sac pens back then were considered passe, to keep up with the Jones one needed a button filler of some kind. A sac pen fills easy, fast and is uncomplicated if one needs a new rubber sac, to have that done. So in the end even if I didn't get a Swan, I'd decided on one of their sac pens, instead of a button filler of some type.

 

Swan, Blackbird, and Jackdaw are Mabie Todd pens....and one of the prettiest pens I ever saw here on the com, was a second tier Blackbird....so don't ignore the Blackbird.

Jackdaw is the third tier pen. Most of the Backbirds I saw were 'normal', but you could get lucky. Lots of pretty Swan's too.

Edited October 3, 2016 by Bo Bo Olson