Eyedropper Identification ?

[mjjordan]

Hi, I am new here, have been collecting a few pens for a little while. Can anyone help with any info regarding a couple of pens I picked up "for spare nibs" until I realised what they were. Eyedroppers are a new phenomena to me. Pictures are attached of these two - the Gamage one (The "AWG", Gamage, London) I can see the logic of it being supplied by that London department store - perhaps early 1900s?, but no reference can I find to it anywhere. The other one marked London Mail Pen, I can find no reference to at all. Was it supplied in some way connected to Royal Mail? There seems nothing like them for sale anywhere, are they just worthless oblivion, or do they have any value? ! Any definite info greatly appreciated, thanks.

 

[PaulS]

hi - my opinion would be that these are of genuine interest - if only because from what you're saying there do not seem to be examples mentioned anywhere else.

You don't mention any details regarding nib imprints, so assume both are probably just 'Warranted' - but would be interesting to hear if this should be otherwise.

E.ds. not my area really, but you might be slightly unkind date wise - I had a vague idea they continued until c. 1920, but could be wrong on that.

I remember shopping in Gamages (the Holborn area of London) just prior to the mid 1960s - very much a multi-commodity store - the working mans Harrods of its day, and like Gamages, Harrods sell an 'own brand' pen - although I think it's only a ballpen.

 

In case anyone might wonder - neither name is mentioned in Steve Hull's book on the English Fountain Pen Industry. The number of differently named f.ps. made for retail/wholesale outlets must have been vast - many of which have been long forgotten, encouraged perhaps by a low production run at the time.

 

It might be imagined that the larger of the two must hold a substantial quantity of ink, judging by the girth of its barrel. Presume you are missing the caps, and possible reason could be that those early e.ds. may have suffered higher than usual cap damage in view of the then fashion of not using cap bands.

Edited December 11, 2017 by PaulS

[mjjordan]

Hi Paul, thanks for your input. They probably both hold a similar amount of ink due to the wide one being shorter than the narrow one, and yes you are right - no caps to be seen anywhere in the box of junk on the "vintage dealer"'s table that I extracted them from !