Lady Patricia - Persian

[pen lady]

Onyx blue Waterman Lady Patricia Fountain Pen Pencil 14k Ideal Canada # 2 Nib 153684770030

 

I was out-bid, but has anyone seen this variant of ''Persian'' before?

 

Sorry, I thought it would come up as a link

Edited October 24, 2019 by pen lady

[Addertooth]

I saw it, but it had some fatal flaws which kept me from bidding terribly high on it.

[pen lady]

Apart from the staining on the cap, what else did I miss Addertooth?

[Addertooth]

It had really bad corrosion and flaking on all of the nickel plated parts. Gold plated parts are easier to restore than Nickel, which requires a lot more work to get a smooth surface before re-plating.

The bent tine was a minor issue, and easy to correct. However, the discoloration is very indicative of the breakdown of the celluloid itself, and not simply staining. Once a pen hits this point it is living on borrowed time. The seller was likely wanting to unload the pen before the breakdown was too obvious, and they could still get some money for it. The discoloration (the loss of color and turning whitish) on this pen was unusual, as normally this kind of failure starts at the ends, rather than other places. The discoloration was also found in one of the usual places.. the end of the pen body as well, but it is in the early stages.

Edited October 25, 2019 by Addertooth

[pen lady]

Hmmm, I wasn't too worried about the plating loss as few of my pens are perfect. But the celluloid break-down is another matter. I'd only looked at the end of the barrel, not in the middle. ''Persian'' pens are such fragile things!

[Addertooth]

Across many brands of pens, the celluloid appears to be most robusts when it is the darker colors... this leads me to believe UV breakdown is part of the problem. The lady Patricia in Onyx has similar issues to the Persian.

[eharriett]

I didn't go for that one, but I did bid and surprisingly win a brown one with the same celluloid degradation problem on the cap. I had never seen celluloid degradation before so I was unaware. I took it to the Ohio Pen show for restoration where I was educated at it. Since it is only the cap, I'm now looking to replace it before the rest of the pen succumbs. This is an issue with these?

[Addertooth]

Don't feel bad EHarriett, I have several pens which were purchased, before I realized what problematic celluloid looked like. To include Persian and Onyx.

[eharriett]

One of my friends at the local club in Columbus was telling me I should get a storage bin for celluloid pens that is not enclosed in case something like this happens again. After learning about this one, I'm giving it serious thought.