Jump to content

An Executive Ringtop - Really!


sidthecat

Recommended Posts

I got this little fellow the other day - it came from Lisbon. It looks like an Executive, although the surface seems more like celluloid than lacquer. It's a wonderful bronze-and-green menage. It has the fluted section and recessed rings of this model...BUT IT'S A RINGTOP!

It's a splendid thing, whatever it is, and I love the snap cap - it's what ringtops should have had all along.

Filling it, though...

I have a converter around her somewhere, but does this pen accept a contemporary converter?

And the nib! It's a nail! I may have to pluck it out and swap in an Ideal nib. So it's a bit of a project, but what a pretty thing! Was this a stock design or am I looking at a custom job? I wouldn't have expected Waterman to make a ringtop so late.

Opinions, please. Pictures below.

fpn_1497670372__img_3412.jpg

fpn_1497670459__img_3413.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Replies 20
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

  • sidthecat

    10

  • amk

    5

  • Left FPN

    2

  • Christopher Godfrey

    1

Have a look at the Lady Charlottes and Anastasia's 1990-2000. In that group but yours is a lovely example of that line.

 

regards

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The Suspension Loop if you don't mind :D ahhh those young wordsmiths at Waterman.

 

My catalogues only show it fitted on the ballpoint versions of the Lady Charlotte. The colour is not shown.

 

The nib will be steel plated in gold...proven by the lack of a gold stamp.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

They seem to have turned out a lot of models in the "Greed is Good" days. What I seem to have stumbled across is a "Lady Elsa", a small run of pens which were clad in a casein-based material called Galalith. The nibs are plated, so I'll see if I can't put in a real one in its place.

Here's a picture of a lineup - mine's the one in the middle:

fpn_1497683774__img_3415.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Someone has a very nice set there :)

 

Galalith (Erinoid in the United Kingdom) is a synthetic plastic material manufactured by the interaction of casein and formaldehyde.

 

Yes, you will need one of these...which are not for sale

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yes, that's a Waterman Lady, Elsa I think - which had steel nibs, and the Lady Agathe had gold, usually. I'm not quite sure where the ring-tops fit but they do come up from time to time.I think the story is that Waterman came across stocks of old celluloid and galalith and the decision was taken to use them for sometimes a little different; anyway, they're lovely pens.

Too many pens, too little time!

http://fountainpenlove.blogspot.fr/

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I think I'll ask Mr. Minuskin to jimjick an Ideal nib into the thing. I have some busted pens with nice nibs.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Wow, that's a pretty pen you got yourself there. Of course after seeing the "family portrait" I could really find myself lusting after the grey and pink one (2nd from the left).

And I don't even normally look at Waterman pens because I know so little about the brand (yeah, I know, it's one of the top-tier companies, yadda yadda, but beyond that...).

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

"It's very nice, but frankly, when I signed that list for a P-51, what I had in mind was a fountain pen."

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm astonished to find them making a ringtop so late. The style didn't make it out of the Thirties - but then again neither did the Weimar Republic.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Waterman in the 70s and 80s was going back to its great heritage (as indeed were other brands, Parker with the Big Red and Sheaffer with the No-Nonsense flat top) in search of ideas. While the C/F and Concorde were gloriously modern designs, Waterman also came out with a number of pens that looked back rather than forwards, and I think the ringtop was one of those nods to the past - a quite deliberate archaism. They keep doing it - the Man Patrician recapitulates the decorated bands of the original Patrician, and the Charleston doffs its cap to the Hundred Year Pen.

 

That really is a lovely pen. Get a nice nib in it and enjoy!

Too many pens, too little time!

http://fountainpenlove.blogspot.fr/

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The converter finally arrived, so I've started using the pen. It's more expressive than I expected; faintly flexible and slightly italic.

I'm still going to pop in a gold nib if I can get my hand on one, because I'm a woman of pretentions.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I saw a busted Executive on eBay and got it for twenty bucks and change, so I've got my fingers crossed that the nib's in decent shape. That the pen is already missing the gold ring that separates nib from section, I'll feel like less of a vandal to take out the nib.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

This thread has brought me luck; I've just picked up two of these little Ladies in two days! I'll have to wait a while for one of them to arrive, but I'll post a pic of my mini-collection once I get it.

Too many pens, too little time!

http://fountainpenlove.blogspot.fr/

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Well done, you! Where did you find them, if it's not too personal?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Here you are: sorry for the rather gloomy pic, we've had thunderstorms all day and it's black out there! I'm rather pleased with this little lot. You can't really see the red highlights on the middle one. The box by the way is a Dunhill cigarette box I picked up a while back at a flea market.

http://i.imgur.com/GMQvkmhl.jpg

Too many pens, too little time!

http://fountainpenlove.blogspot.fr/

Link to comment
Share on other sites

That blue merle job is very pretty in the right light. Do let me know if you ever fall out of love with it.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

@Force: <...ahhh those young wordsmiths at Waterman>

 

I know just what you mean, Force; but don't get me started -- been living in this country for too long! How about this word: "jimjick"? Have you <any> idea what that person (above) might have meant? (Oh, ssssh: don't say it out loud: she might still be reading/listening!) :D

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now


  • Most Contributions

    1. amberleadavis
      amberleadavis
      43844
    2. PAKMAN
      PAKMAN
      33494
    3. Ghost Plane
      Ghost Plane
      28220
    4. inkstainedruth
      inkstainedruth
      26624
    5. jar
      jar
      26101
  • Upcoming Events

  • Blog Comments

    • Shanghai Knife Dude
      I have the Sailor Naginata and some fancy blade nibs coming after 2022 by a number of new workshop from China.  With all my respect, IMHO, they are all (bleep) in doing chinese characters.  Go use a bush, or at least a bush pen. 
    • A Smug Dill
      It is the reason why I'm so keen on the idea of a personal library — of pens, nibs, inks, paper products, etc. — and spent so much money, as well as time and effort, to “build” it for myself (because I can't simply remember everything, especially as I'm getting older fast) and my wife, so that we can “know”; and, instead of just disposing of what displeased us, or even just not good enough to be “given the time of day” against competition from >500 other pens and >500 other inks for our at
    • adamselene
      Agreed.  And I think it’s good to be aware of this early on and think about at the point of buying rather than rationalizing a purchase..
    • A Smug Dill
      Alas, one cannot know “good” without some idea of “bad” against which to contrast; and, as one of my former bosses (back when I was in my twenties) used to say, “on the scale of good to bad…”, it's a spectrum, not a dichotomy. Whereas subjectively acceptable (or tolerable) and unacceptable may well be a dichotomy to someone, and finding whether the threshold or cusp between them lies takes experiencing many degrees of less-than-ideal, especially if the decision is somehow influenced by factors o
    • adamselene
      I got my first real fountain pen on my 60th birthday and many hundreds of pens later I’ve often thought of what I should’ve known in the beginning. I have many pens, the majority of which have some objectionable feature. If they are too delicate, or can’t be posted, or they are too precious to face losing , still they are users, but only in very limited environments..  I have a big disliking for pens that have the cap jump into the air and fly off. I object to Pens that dry out, or leave blobs o
  • Chatbox

    You don't have permission to chat.
    Load More
  • Files






×
×
  • Create New...