The Rarest Waterman You Own

[Fof 3]

Ok, How about the rarest Waterman pen you own?

 

I know quite a few of you have a substantial collections the like of which the rest of us are ever likely to see let allow own.

 

How about showing us your rarest or most prized or most complete.

 

I'll get the ball rolling with my rarest, a Christmas Waterman from the 1930's with the box, papers and pen intact.

 

 

Got it about ten years ago, never to be used or fixed, just pull out to be admired once in a while..............

 

 

 

Love to see what you have!

 

 

 

 

[FarmBoy]

Looks like the batrelbis beginning to decompose. I'd recommend keeping the pen in a well ventilated area.

[Barkingpig]

Thank you for sharing this pen; I am happy to have seen a pen I didn't even know existed!

[Fof 3]

Looks like the batrelbis beginning to decompose. I'd recommend keeping the pen in a well ventilated area.

 

Sorry, what is batrelbis?

Thank you for sharing this pen; I am happy to have seen a pen I didn't even know existed!

pleasure ! one of my great joy in coming to the Waterman's Forum is the same, Beautiful pens that we never new existed and the knowledge of some of the people in Identifying them.

Hopefully others will put their up for viewing as well

[Left FPN]

 

Sorry, what is batrelbis?

pleasure ! one of my great joy in coming to the Waterman's Forum is the same, Beautiful pens that we never new existed and the knowledge of some of the people in Identifying them.

Hopefully others will put their up for viewing as well

I think FB means the end of the barrel. From deduction, batrelbis = barrel is. It appears to be crazing but may well just be the materials pattern.

[FarmBoy]

Batrelbis is iSpell for barrel is.

[Left FPN]

To contribute, a BCR 52 I purchased from the daughter of the first owner. It has very little use and remained with its box and papers.

 

 

 

 

[praxim]

A repetition, and not rare as a Waterman, yet the provenance is unusual or at least fortunate.

 

At purchase in 2016, this 0552 / 0521 set can be dated to 1928 when it was gifted to someone who simply never used it; not a trace of ink was found when cleaning although I was looking for it. The pencil appears to have been used to scribble on one of the papers, and unlikely otherwise. The seller presumed everything to be broken, not knowing how to use the pencil nor the reason the lever moved reluctantly with crunching noises.

 

edit:info

Edited June 19, 2017 by praxim

[Tobias from Switzerland]

Well a very difficult question, as I own around 152 Waterman pieces.

MOst of them are from the French period, and in there I truly adore the Man100. In my collection there are 27 different models of Man100 foutain pen.

Since a short time I do have an "ExLibris". Probably ths piece or one of the codex is my (actual) favourite...or is the anyway the Eyedroper No 5 ... I think I can't answer :-)

 

 

 

 

[Fof 3]

Oh my gosh

 

Force I wonder what would be your rarest.

Praxim yours is beautiful thank you for sharing

And Tobias 27 man 100 in a display cabinet is pretty special. Mine are in display folders that I have to pull out to have a look

 

Seeing nice pens makes me happy

[Vintagepens]

The deterioration is well beyond the point where ventilation is sufficient. The barrel end should be cut off, as it will be releasing increasing amounts of nitric acid that will damage everything in proximity. No cure, I'm afraid. If this were an historically important rarity it could be packed in some buffered acid-absorbing compound and kept at low humidity in a freezer, but not really applicable here.

 

Looks like the batrelbis beginning to decompose. I'd recommend keeping the pen in a well ventilated area.

[sidthecat]

It might be my Lady Elsa. I have several subspecies of Waterman ringtops, but they were all plentiful in their time. Probably the rarest is my heavily-modded silver barleycorn pattern that I bought at the LA Pen Show.

[pajaro]

Time to dump the old pens. Postage stamps are safer.

[Fof 3]

The deterioration is well beyond the point where ventilation is sufficient. The barrel end should be cut off, as it will be releasing increasing amounts of nitric acid that will damage everything in proximity. No cure, I'm afraid. If this were an historically important rarity it could be packed in some buffered acid-absorbing compound and kept at low humidity in a freezer, but not really applicable here.

 

I had a good look and you are right the end appears to be breaking down. I guess I have a pretty rare pen for the fact that it will no longer exist in a few years. Enjoy everyone I will have to take a few more photos for memories

 

It might be my Lady Elsa. I have several subspecies of Waterman ringtops, but they were all plentiful in their time. Probably the rarest is my heavily-modded silver barleycorn pattern that I bought at the LA Pen Show.

I like your Lady Elsa, I have a few ladies I collect just because : )

 

Time to dump the old pens. Postage stamps are safer.

Don't know pajaro, stamps can misbehave too!!

[PAKMAN]

My oldest/ rarest is my Waterman #7 red nib.

[pensilly]

Attached are some of my pics (don't have them all on this computer at this moment). These are my best Watermans:

 

https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/topic/213790-my-watermans/

 

 

58 RRHR - image not displaying for some reason :-(

52 Sterling basket weave overlay

Patrician set in Turquoise

No. 20 sterling silver overlay (and I even found a spare nib for it - what are the odds of that?!)

Man 100 Patricians BNIB - in green and turquoise

 

I consider myself very lucky to have these! Each of them has a unique story as to how I found them. If you are interested, here are the short versions:

 

- 58 - found in an antique store out East - she had no idea what she had and sold it to me for $30

- 52 overlay - found in the back of a drawer in an antique hutch that was for sale in a parking lot flea market.

- Patrician - pen was found in an antique store out East, with a cracked section. Brad Torelli machined a new one for me; Pencil was found a year later, in another antique store a mile down the street from where I found the pen. The pencil was just sitting in a mug full of plastic ball point pens at the cash register.

- No. 20 - found at an estate sale in suburban Detroit a couple of years ago. I saw it on the first day of the sale but it was too expensive and I didn't really even know what it was. Came home and called Brad Torelli for his opinion. After he picked up the phone off the floor and recovered his composure, he told me to go back the next day and get it! Believe it or not, when I showed up first thing on that Saturday morning - the pen was still there! Got it as well as a Yard-O-Led Imperial Dragon for less than the original price for the Waterman alone. The Waterman's nib was damaged beyond repair - but through this forum, I was able to purchase a perfect replacement No. 10 nib! Some things are just meant to be, I guess!

- Man 100 Patricians - a local jeweler was discontinuing carrying pens and had these brand new, in boxes, for sale at $150 each. Crazy!

 

My other rarities include:

- a LeBouef with a No. 8 nib and a very unique zebra pattern black and yellow pattern. No one has been able to positively identify the model, but I've been told it may be a prototype

- Parker Duofold Senior in lapis

- Parker Duofold Big Red

- Wahl Eversharp mechanical pencil in solid 18Kt (flea market find)

- Several Sheaffer White Dot pens

- Several unusual colored double jewel 51s

 

That's about the extent of my main 'collection.' Most of these were found in pre-eBay days - the 'good old days!'

Edited June 21, 2017 by pensilly

[FarmBoy]

I had a good look and you are right the end appears to be breaking down. I guess I have a pretty rare pen for the fact that it will no longer exist in a few years. Enjoy everyone I will have to take a few more photos for memories

 

I like your Lady Elsa, I have a few ladies I collect just because : )

 

Don't know pajaro, stamps can misbehave too!!

I like old stamps too. I buy them at estate sales and I use them.

[pensilly]

The deterioration is well beyond the point where ventilation is sufficient. The barrel end should be cut off, as it will be releasing increasing amounts of nitric acid that will damage everything in proximity. No cure, I'm afraid. If this were an historically important rarity it could be packed in some buffered acid-absorbing compound and kept at low humidity in a freezer, but not really applicable here.

 

Hi David - is this nitric acid issue common with older pens in general or Watermans in particular? I keep my better pens in a wooden case with a glass lid in my dark basement....they seem to have held up fine for around 20 years...but then again, I haven't looked that closely....

[FarmBoy]

Hi David - is this nitric acid issue common with older pens in general or Watermans in particular? I keep my better pens in a wooden case with a glass lid in my dark basement....they seem to have held up fine for around 20 years...but then again, I haven't looked that closely....

Most often seen with W-E Equipose pens and green colors seem worse than others.

[Lam1]

I don't have any rare Waterman, since I "discovered" their marvelous vintage nibs less than 6 months ago when I found a capless, but otherwise perfect, BCHR 52 in an antique ($3) in one week and the next week I found a Gold Bond with a keyhole nib ($10), the pen seems to be a "rebranded" Waterman 94. I loved those two nibs and slowly started to acquire a few more vintage Watermans.

 

I suppose my "rarest" are:

- a Black Patrician set in excellent condition (found relatively cheap on eBay. But it was a gamble: I didn't know if it had a nib until it arrived. Not only it had a nib, as it is the most flexible thing I've seen)

- a Gray marbled/red veined #3