Vintage Lamy Pens?

[doggle2]

I want to eventually get hold of a few old and or discontinued Lamy fountain pens. I have heard of the 27, but want to know if there are any other vintage Lamys that I should collect.

[sentience]

I've been gathering a whole bunch over the past several months! There are definitely many worth collecting:

 

If you like slim pens like the CP1, then its precursor the CP50 is even slimmer. I have it in brushed stainless and black. There is also the Unic, which has a cool retro hinged clip, and can be found in black and stainless steel. These are all cartridge/converter pens.

 

The Profil 80, 81, 86 Black and 86 Brown are all super cool piston filters with chunky, unique nib shape and nice matte plastic finish. There is a great thread on this forum showing the subtle differences between these models.

 

Going further back, there are a variety of piston and c/c models (many of the piston fillers with neat ink windows). The Ratio seems to have many numbered variants (I have 5 of them, all different), then there are the 25P and 26P (both cartridge/converters), and finally the 27 and its slightly cheaper cousin the 99.

 

If you want to trace the line back any further, you're going pre-LAMY into the Artus models from the 1960s and earlier: Favorit, Ballit, Perfect, and others. I've got a number of these now and they are generally quite nice, even featuring some impressively flexy nibs!

 

I'm happy to post photos of any/all of these that might be of interest, but I found out about most of these myself by reading old threads on this forum.

[doggle2]

I'd love to see some photos of these Artus pens!

[sentience]

I'd love to see some photos of these Artus pens!

 

My pleasure! Here are my 8 Artus pens, with a brief description of each. There's a link to my Flickr album at the bottom if you want to see higher quality images:

 

An unknown Artus model, the only marking anywhere on the pen apart from ‘Artus’ on the clip is EF, which I assume refers to the nib size. The spiralling pattern on the ink window is dazzling, though! The piston knob is hidden under a blind cap. I have yet to ink this up, but it was serviced by the seller so I'm looking forward to trying it, especially given how flexy the nib seems to be!

 

Another unknown Artus model, this one completely unmarked except for ‘Artus’. Not as fancy as the first, but you can't argue with the practicality of that ink window! Also a piston knob under a blind cap. I haven't tried inking this one yet either. Although the nib is quite flexible, the tines don't quite touch and so I fear this one may need adjustment.

 

An Artus Ballit, supposedly a pretty well-known Pre-LAMY model. This one has a whole bunch of markings in German on the barrel, seeming to indicate it was awarded for completion of a certification. It says “skilled worker exam” (“FACHARBEITERPRUFUNG”), what looks like a company name (“CHROBOK G.M.B.H.”), a place well-known to LAMY fans (“HEIDELBERG”), and a year: “1957”. Yet another piston knob under a blind cap, and the cap says “42 M”.

 

Another unknown model, this one says “Artus” on the barrel and clip, and “28 14kt B” on the blind cap that covers the piston knob. The ink windows are especially distinctive, as there are only two pill-shaped ones on opposite sides of the barrel – just like a modern Safari or AL-star! The semi-hooded nib is also very distinctive, coming out of the grip section parallel to the axis of the pen, rather than angling down toward the paper. A fairly flexy nib, still waiting for me to try inking it.

 

An Artus Favorit (according to the engraving on the barrel), with ‘F’ engraved on the blind cap. Very flexy nib, although one of the tines is bent. I'm planning on getting this one repaired, because the flex in the nib is fantastic. Another big, clear ink window, this one tinted slightly green.

 

An Artus Perfect (according to the barrel), with ‘70 FK’ engraved on the piston knob (no blind cap on this one!). A slim pen, with 4 neat ink windows and a semi-hooded nib. The ‘FK’ signals a ball-tipped (beginner-friendly) nib, though, and there's no significant flex to it at all. It writes reliably and smoothly, but with such a uniform line that it's really kind of boring.

 

A cartridge filler, and what looks like a steel nib. This has no markings except for “Artus” on the clip, but it was sold to me as a “10P”. Nice blue colour, with a white dot on the end of the barrel. A very stiff nib, I'm not expecting exciting things when I get around to inking this up.

 

A beauty! The retro ridged finish of the metal cap on this pen dazzles me, and check out that crown logo on the cap finial! And the shape of the plastic semi-hood! The barrel says (in metallic-engraved script!) “Artus Prinz 15P”. This is a cartridge filler too, with the same white dot on the barrel end, and the same stiff nib that I expect will be nowhere near as fun to write with as this pen is to look at.

 

Let me know if you have any questions!

 

Flickr album: https://www.flickr.com/photos/sentience/albums/72157673021749408

Edited September 3, 2018 by sentience

[doggle2]

I really love that twisty ink window! How much would you say one of the "better" piston fill pens should cost?

[sentience]

How much would you say one of the "better" piston fill pens should cost?

 

 

Hard to say! If it helps, these are the prices I paid for the above pens on eBay over the past few months:

 

Unknown (twisty ink window): US$49.00

Unknown (large ink window): US$61.00

Ballit: $69.90

28: $50.00

Favorit: $39.00

Perfect: $45.00

10P (blue): $55.00

Prinz 15P (red): $55.00

 

…so I'd say anywhere from $40 to $70 depending on rarity and condition. There are flashier looking Artus pens around with sterling silver caps and the like selling for hundreds of dollars, but I've steered clear of them.

 

Speaking of condition, be very careful of auctions that instruct you to look at the photos to judge the condition, and conveniently forget to mention hard-to-see cracks or bent nibs (I've had one of each of these now, and they're no fun). Also be wary of piston-filers that claim to be “untested”, as this usually means the piston seal has failed and needs to be replaced. Some of the really old pens from the 1940s and 1950s used cork for their pistons, and those are quite hard to replace cheaply nowadays. What you really want is a seller who advertises the pen as freshly serviced and guarantees that it's in working order.

Edited September 4, 2018 by sentience

[mh_soo]

I've been gathering a whole bunch over the past several months! There are definitely many worth collecting:

 

If you like slim pens like the CP1, then its precursor the CP50 is even slimmer. I have it in brushed stainless and black. There is also the Unic, which has a cool retro hinged clip, and can be found in black and stainless steel. These are all cartridge/converter pens.

 

The Profil 80, 81, 86 Black and 86 Brown are all super cool piston filters with chunky, unique nib shape and nice matte plastic finish. There is a great thread on this forum showing the subtle differences between these models.

 

Going further back, there are a variety of piston and c/c models (many of the piston fillers with neat ink windows). The Ratio seems to have many numbered variants (I have 5 of them, all different), then there are the 25P and 26P (both cartridge/converters), and finally the 27 and its slightly cheaper cousin the 99.

 

If you want to trace the line back any further, you're going pre-LAMY into the Artus models from the 1960s and earlier: Favorit, Ballit, Perfect, and others. I've got a number of these now and they are generally quite nice, even featuring some impressively flexy nibs!

 

I'm happy to post photos of any/all of these that might be of interest, but I found out about most of these myself by reading old threads on this forum.

 

Really appreciated the sharing from Sentience. Very useful info & guideline for me to start my vintage Lamy fountain pen collecting journal...

[austollie]

Hi Sentience,

 

These older Artus/ Lamy pens look terrific. Thanks for posting the pics. In fact, I better stop looking at them, before my fountain pen obsession takes another twist (pardon the pun). I have a real thing for older 'office' and student pens.

 

Cheers,

 

Ollie

[Chandon]

I can definitely recommend the Profil pens (Lamy 80, 81and 86). All are piston fill pens, with a wide selection of great nibs (14k for the 80 and 81) from the late 1970s. Great writers and were designed in- house by Lamy, unlike the other pens of this era ( mostly designed by Gerd Muller).