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Antique Fountain Pens


Charles Skinner

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Can you name a few great "antique fountain pens?" However, please limit your opinion to fountain pens that are in working condition, ------ or can be made to "work." C. S.

 

"Freedom is just another word for nothing left to lose."

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The oldest pen I own is a 1926 Parker Duofold Lucky Curve ringtop, but I don't know if it's working. It's pretty fragile, so I've been holding off until I can afford to get it looked over.

The oldest *working* pens I have are from the 1930s. One is a 1937 Parker Vacumatic Junior (lockdown filler) Red Shadow Wave. And that pen has been in rotation for over 2-1/2 *years* -- just getting refilled as needed with Waterman Mysterious Blue. The irony is that the Shadow Waves weren't given the same level of warranty as the "top tier" Vacs (the Pearl series colors) because of the celluloid used on the Shadow Waves.

I also have a couple of Morrison ringtops with gold-filled filigree overlays. I was told that the first one I got is from the 1920s or 1930s, and while that pen doesn't leave the house (it has a bad habit of unscrewing itself from the cap when I have it on the lanyard), it's got a lovely juicy nib, which might be a B or a stub. I got a pretty good deal on the second one, but it has a more prosaic F nib.

I just checked my inventory notes -- the Emerald Pearl Vac (which *might* be a "Slender" -- Vac model names make me nuts) is also a 1st Gen (lockdown filler); I can't pinpoint the age of that one precisely because the date code has worn off -- I can only narrow it down to sometime between 1935 and 1938).

Oh, and I have my husband's grandfather's Sheaffer Balance Oversize. I don't have a good feel for how old that pen is (my mother-in-law had this story about how her father lost "part" of the pen while diving off a pier in Baltimore to save some woman from drowning after she accidentally drove off the pier). I don't know if this is *that* pen (which had the cap from HER Wahl Eversharp Skyline jammed onto it when my mother-in-law gave it to me), or the pen that Sheaffer sent her father as a replacement. And that pen? Just used yesterday.... :thumbup: (well at least till it ran out of ink... :rolleyes:).

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."

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You have my sympathies re. your ringtops: they seem fixated on escape. I use a dab of craft adhesive on the cap threads, which cuts down on runaways.

 

Some of the little fellows in my collection are probably pre-1920s, but the oldest items are the mid-to-late 19th-century nibs I've inserted into some of my pens.

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I have a number of pens that are from before 1920. A Weidlich eyedropper filler and a Laughlin eyedropper filler are examples. Both are wonderful pens and there are no filling systems to cause problems and both write wonderfully and have great flex nibs. One of my newest pens is a Swan Mabie Todd lever filler from, as I found out here on FPN, 1926. Most vintage pens if cleaned and have a new ink sac installed have many more years of service in them and often have fantastic nibs. Actually I would most often take a refurbished vintage (antique) pen over most contemporary pens. Most of my pens are vintage pens from the early 1900's to about 1949.

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My 1930's Parker Oversize Vacumatic with lock down filler and a medium nib. Color is Golden Pearl. I came across this pen at a garage sale about fifteen years ago and have used this pen extensively ever since. It was restored by Fred at the Fountain Pen Shop in Monrovia, CA about ten years ago. Still fills and writes perfectly. The Parker "Vacs" are my favorite vintage pens for everyday use.

A consumer and purveyor of words.

 

Co-editor and writer for Faith On Every Corner Magazine

Magazine - http://www.faithoneverycorner.com/magazine.html

 

 

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The good old Waterman 52 is an excellent option for a pen that writes well, is unproblematic to fill and to use (or service if need be), and dates from the 1920s (and variants later). It even looks the part.

 

Any Pelikan from 1929 on, especially a 100N from the late 1930s. That may not meet your unstated criterion for "antique" but they are great pens with piston filling.

 

Needing a bit more learning and care in use, Onoto plunge fillers provide wonderful nibs. From the 1920s, choose a properly restored Streamline variant rather than the 2000 or 3000 models, or for greater reliability choose a later 62xx model with a better feed. They also offered simpler lever fillers, avoiding the learning curve for tuning a plunge filler.

X

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In the hands of a good restorer, or yourself with good training and the right tools/supplies, most vintage pens can be brought to 'working condition'....that is part of their appeal for me! Sustainability, no waste, history, ancestry.....

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I don't have anything pre-WWII. The oldest are probably my 1948 Parker 51 Demi Vac, and my Esterbrook Transitional J, followed by the double jewel Esterbrook's and 51 Special. My Pelikan 140 is from the 52-59 period I am told.

Brad

"Words are, of course, the most powerful drug used by mankind" - Rudyard Kipling
"None of us can have as many virtues as the fountain-pen, or half its cussedness; but we can try." - Mark Twain

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My example would be my Waterman number 7 pink from the late 20's!

PAKMAN

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Any Conklin crescent filler. Most of mine are from the early 1920s but I have a beautiful Model S3 from around 1905. Great nibs and simple filling systems. There is also the history aspect. Mark Twain endorsed and used Conklins, calling them his "anti-profanity" pens because the crescent kept the early clipless models from rolling off his desk.

 

Parker Duofolds from the 1920s. The iconic red Senior Duofold from the mid to late 1920s is as beautiful as it is fun to use.

 

The Sheaffer's Senior Balance from late twenties through 1930s is my perfect pen. They were both iconic product lines and great writers.

 

Waterman's 52 and 55. I prefer the latter but both are magnificent pens with a huge variety of nibs to select from.

 

At least one of the above is in my rotation every day.

 

Moore, Eclipse, Wahl, and Grieshaber all made very good pens but I don't ink them as often as the ones above.

 

And that is just the U.S. manufacturers.

Dave Campbell
Retired Science Teacher and Active Pen Addict
Every day is a chance to reduce my level of ignorance.

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I have 20 pens made between 1923 and 1930, by Conklin, Wahl Eversharp and Parker, plus 6 older hard rubber pens which I cannot date exactly.

 

They all work perfectly !

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