Stuck Cap On Safety Pen

[chunya]

I have a feeling that this might be a job for a jeweller rather than a pen restorer, but was wondering whether anyone has come across this problem before. This was catalogued at Auction as a pen 'missing it's cap' .... Well it seemed obvious to me from the photos that as it was a safety pen and that the cap was actually sitting on the end of the barrel. I easily won it, maybe because it was incorrectly catalogued, and having received it I was right. However, someone in the past has jammed the cap so hard onto the end of the barrel that it is stuck hard.

 

The pen has a 14ct gold overlay on a BHR body ... and (according to the catalogue when it last appeared at Auction in 1997) is supposed to be a Mabie Todd pen dating to or before 1912 (there is date for 1912 inscribed on the cap), but it doesn't have a MT nib, but an 18ct gold nib .... 'Daniel's Gold Pen 18 Karat 05'

 

I've given the cap an ultrasonic bath ..... gave it some heat. but all to no avail. The BHR of the inner cap is jammed solid against the barrel's gold overlay. Does anyone have any experience of this problem? Any ideas as all?

 

 

[chunya]

Well, patience and persistence paid off. A couple more doses of ultrasonic and several attempts of getting it as hot as possible with a hair drier, then with a pair of pen pliers,..... off it came!

 

I was hoping that it would reveal some imprint on the BHR base, but nothing. I'm wondering how they identified it as a Mabie Todd back in 1997 (I have the catalogue)

 

[CS388]

That's a very attractive overlay.

 

Can't help with the ID, but it looks like you've scored yourself a nice pen.

 

Congratulations.

[chunya]

That's a very attractive overlay.

 

Can't help with the ID, but it looks like you've scored yourself a nice pen.

 

Congratulations.

Thanks, and I've posted it in the Mabie Todd forum hoping that someone there might help ID it, if it is a MT.

[markiv]

Thats a very nice KaWeCo safety pen. Congrats!!

[chunya]

Thats a very nice KaWeCo safety pen. Congrats!!

 

Many thanks for that, and someone on the Mabie Todd forum has a similar one without the overlay and posted a photo, so I not only know what's beneath the overlay, but have learned about the history of Faber Castell, which to be honest their pens have never really interested me before.