Radical Surgery On A Precious Pen

[sidthecat]

I bought a little silver ringtop on eBay: a Tiffany pen with a William Hicks nib. It's not especially different from other pens of this type, just subtly xbetter, more carefully made.

Except for one thing: it leaked. When I uncapped the pen, the section would be covered with ink.

I wore it to the L. A. Pen Show anyway, because it's such a splendid writer.

Mr. Minuskin had replaced the bulb on the reservoir (it's that old) so I asked him what he thought the problem might be. He observed that there were no holes in the cap. This means that a sufficiently strong vacuum is set up to pull ink out of the section.

For some reason, possibly because the pen's so early that they didn't know the breather holes were necessary; possibly because they couldn't talk the client into having them. In any case, the solution to the problem would be a jeweler who won't laugh at me when I ask him to do something weird.

Luckily, there's a guy in Sherman Oaks who's been rebuilding jewelry for my sister for years.

Also luckily, I had two other silver pens to use as examples (one of which I left with him because the bottom end was cracked). The operation took moments, and it worked like a charm. So instead of feeling like I'd vandalized the pen (which you could argue) I've made it more useful.

Lesson: they're made to be used, and it's more useful now.

 

Update: it still leaks a bit, but I think that has to do with gripping the pen too closely to the section. It's dry when I uncap it. Still a fantastic writer.

Edited February 20, 2017 by sidthecat

[amberleadavis]

Please show us the pictures.

 

Did we get to meet at the show?

[sidthecat]

Here's a picture: you can see the little hole in the cap.

[white_lotus]

Very nice!