Gentle Man 100 With A Story

[Left FPN]

The auction title read Waterman Man 100 Blue plus spare nib. It had a Buy It Now of £150. Any Man 100 around that figure always gets my attention but this one got special attention cos Blue is only available in Patricians and £150 is cheap.

Opening the listing I found what appeared a good condition Blue Gentleman with 2 nib sections, a converter, warranty book & card, boxed and sleeved. Being in good samaritan mood I messaged the seller to advise them of the mistake. The seller replied quickly stating the pen set had been ordered, by the seller, from a jewellers in 1990 after looking at a Black version on display. The assistant referred to them as Man 100. Now here we are unsure which way they were priced, high as in Man 100 or lower as in Gentleman. The seller also told me the set had been used once by the shop assistant to test the pen on collection and once by the lister to finish of the ink cartridge supplied with it. Following that it remained boxed and unused for 27 years.

The seller thanked me for helping and shortly after our messages amended the listing to reflect it was a Gentleman and reset the BIN to £99.

Now that sounded very tempting so I messaged again to confirm all parts were unscratched and as near new as possible. In particular no loss of gold on those section rings. The reply confirmed this fact. So I took the plunge and hit the BIN.

The set arrived yesterday, within 2 days, and was well packaged.

I had not enquired about the nib sizes so that resulted in Medium and Broad.

Here is the set, what do you guys think.

Now what do you think. Absolutely no tipping whatsoever on either nib. I can tell you not only was the pen blue, so was the air around me.

Though we had some amicable messaging before hand I immediately opened a case with good pictures and sample pic attached showing what tipping should look like.

In fairness to the seller and I may be wrong but I do believe the story which she confirmed after reading the case notes. The pen had not left their premises since 1990. The warranty card is fully endorsed by the jeweller stating names and dates which matches the story and Paypal account name. The condition of the other pen parts also confirms it has had little or no use. I suspect this was a shop issue how what why we will never know. Did they come from Waterman like it or did that shop source them elsewhere. The ONLY grey area that eludes me is that 2 Waterman section plastic cases were also enclosed, one for a medium section the other for an extra fine section.

The seller immediately refunded me in full and told me to keep the set as she had had enough of all its problems.

I now have the task of sourcing a tipper. Needless to say the cost may outway their value.

[Inkling13]

I don't know what you are referring to. I do see tipping material. It just looks to be ground to an italic variant. It's certainly there, as evident by a large amount of silver material at the tip of both your sections. The look a hair misaligned, but I'd just have someone smooth them over. Poor seller, I feel like she got taken advantage of unintentionally.

[The Blue Knight]

Poor seller, I feel like she got taken advantage of unintentionally.

 

+1

[Left FPN]

I would normally assume (like to see) tipping to be in the form of a ball of iridium on that silvery, presoldered, surface.

 

example,

 

 

 

Yes she did feel she had been duped twice, name and nibs, by the shop, hence wanting rid of the set.

[senzen]

I don't have as much experience as you have proved in your many posts, my one Waterman Le Man 100 doesn't show a big blob compared to my other pens, my Pelikan m600 almost looks like it has a clown's nose by comparison, but you can tell there's something there... Sounds like there was no deception on the seller's part, but she is still out of pocket, I would have probably sent it back, got the money back and advised her to sell it for much more as "one of a kind, bring your own tipping!", but it's understandable she didn't want to know about it anymore.

 

And this being fountain pen anonymous... How do they write??

[Left FPN]

And this being fountain pen anonymous... How do they write??

Somebody, somewhere removed the tipping from these nibs, but we will never know the answer. As for how they write, I don't know, because both nibs have been removed from their sections pending either retipping or replacing.

 

 

 

[RMN]

To me it looks as if they are italicised by one of the "radical" nib technicians. They leave just a very thin layer of tipping.

 

Personally, I love italic nibs. Looks cursive italic. Nice.

 

 

 

D.ick