Townsend Sterling Silver

[RegDiggins]

I was able to purchase a nice example of the Townsend sterling silver fountain pen from a local cash converter at a good price.

However when I inspected the nib ( nice Broad for me ) I saw that it was a 14k. Can anyonne tell me what the correct nib is for this pen? I think it should be the two colour 18k but the selectip system means one can put anytthing from the Cross Townsend range in the barrel.

[SpecTP]

It's 14k? I thought Cross only had the 23k, 18k (duo color) and steel nibs options for the Townsend.

[RMN]

It's 14k? I thought Cross only had the 23k, 18k (duo color) and steel nibs options for the Townsend.

 

23k??? That must be steel plated...

 

 

D.ick

[TXKat]

Some of the earlier Townsends were issued with 585 nibs; Mine is such. The newer are only available in the previously mentioned configurations, but there are others on this site with FAR more knowledge of Townsend pens than my owning 2.

[Jerome Tarshis]

I don't own a sterling silver Townsend, and I don't know what nibs they came with. Both of the Townsends I own that have gold nibs have 14K nibs, and I think that was rather normal when the Townsend first came out.

 

My third Townsend either has a GP steel nib or my aging eyes are failing to pick out the gold content icon with crossed diagonals and the gold content indicated in karats and parts of a thousand. There's a lot of decoration on those nibs. On the gold nibs I fairly often can't make out the gold-content marking. But all three nibs write very well.

[RegDiggins]

Finally found an old Cross catalogue ( late 90s ) and sure enough the sterling Townsend is shown with the two-tone 18k nib.Why anyone would want to downgrade a nib I fail to

understand. Maybe they could not get a broad nib in 18k. I have an 18k two-tone nib on my Lapis Lazuli Townsend but I would not dream of downgrading.

 

Thanks for everyone's input

 

Reg Diggins

[adamselene]

What color is the ring on the section?

 

Proper was silver color (steel?) I believe.

Edited October 11, 2016 by adamselene

[vinper]

I have a sterling Townsend and it came with the 18k two-tone nib and I realized that of the dozen or so Townsends that I own only one features a 14k nib. None of my pens were bought used, but confusing the issue even further is that the 14k one was bought as NOS. What I'm getting at is that it is probably normal, however unlikely, that some were originally sold with 14k nibs, although based on my sample this configuration is probably rare. I defer to the real experts who might be able to narrow this down for you. vinper

[Russ]

Finally found an old Cross catalogue ( late 90s ) and sure enough the sterling Townsend is shown with the two-tone 18k nib.Why anyone would want to downgrade a nib I fail to

understand. Maybe they could not get a broad nib in 18k. I have an 18k two-tone nib on my Lapis Lazuli Townsend but I would not dream of downgrading.

 

Thanks for everyone's input

 

Reg Diggins

 

Why would you consider 14k a downgrade? All things being equal, 14k nibs are historically preferred. Greater gold content does not necessarily mean greater performance; it just means more gold. 14k tends to perform better, which is why vintage pens such as Pelikan 100's and 140's use 14k.