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Eclipse Fountain Pen & Pencil Company


Maja

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maria:

That's what I did, I took the pics outside one sunny morning. If you ever run across some clips please let me know I have a couple of oversized mottled pens that need clips.

 

antoniosz:

Thank you very much. I have been collecting Eclipse Pens for less than a year and a half. I've been very lucky and I've had a lot of help. Several members of our pen club have been on the "lookout" for me. Every now and then eBay will have a few good ones. I still in search of several that I know exist, such as eyedroppers, sterling overlays, and a stilographic ones. They are like the Inkographs.

So the search goes on. When I got that large diameter (green) filigree it immediately conjured up the thought - "does that size come in other colors". Yes it does, I saw a blue one at the Miami Pen Show this year, not in as good a shape as mine and the guy wanted, now get this! - $600.00. Not for an Eclipse. So he went home with it!!!

Let me know what usual pens you guys have.

Robert

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I have been collecting Eclipse Pens for less than a year and a half.

Wow! I've been sitting here thinking what a lovely collection it is and wondering to myself how long does it take someone to do that, particularly with a marque that isn't exactly 'everyday'. Help or no help, in a year and a half? :o ... I'm stupefied!

 

Well done, sir. :)

Roger

Southern Arizona, USA

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Wow, a year and a half! That is pretty amazing...especially to find all those overlays. They are not all that commonly found in red and green (especially), from what I have seen on eBay, etc.

I see a lot of Canadian eBay sellers selling Eclipse pens, so I am sure they are to be found in my neck of the woods. I guess I just have to look harder :)

Edited by Maja
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And before anyone thinks these pens are always available on the cheap, check out this yellow eclipse that closed for $223.50.

 

HUGE Oversized ECLIPSE Mandarin YELLOW 5"+ Fountain PEN

 

JA

So if you have a lot of ink,

You should get a Yink, I think.

 

- Dr Suess

 

Always looking for pens by Baird-North, Charles Ingersoll, and nibs marked "CHI"

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Thank you very much Roger. Our pen club has a few members who have been collecting for 30+ years so that sell me a few. Like I said I've been lucky!!

 

Maja and JA:

The overlays I've pretty much found at shows and a few on eBay. I have no idea of the various machined patterns they made. All of mine are different except for one or two.

According to a Kurzon Wholesale Jewelers 1929 Catalog (Chicago), the filigrees came in red, blue, gray, green and black. I do not have a gray filigree. They came as single pens or in sets. The sets wholesaled for $2.75 each. The catalog also shows a black, chased oversized pen and pencil selling for $3.00 a set.

 

JA, I would imagine the yellow was a little more expensive. I do have a "big red" lookalike that has the original price sticker indicating a $7.00 price, same as the Parker Big Red. Explain that?

 

A word regarding the gray color. If you run across these they appear to be an grayish olive drab color. Don't be fooled that is the gray pen and I told is quite rare to find.

 

Eclipse opened the Canada operation sometime after 1925. Joesph Tully started that operation and had some ownership in the comany. Mark Finestone, founder, died in 1929. I would imagine some of these pens would be plentiful up there. Sub brands where the Park Row, Marxton (maybe named after Finestone), park Row, Jackwin, Parkston and Monroe. Tully named pens after his children, I'm told, such as , Margie and Mary Jane. Of course there is the Hooded Knight, Adanac (Canada spelled backwards), Zepher and Trully's Prefer-a-Point.

The pre-1929 pens were much higher quality then those produced later. I think that's why it's hard to find the overlays, filigrees and oversized pens in very good condition.

 

I would like to know more about the brand names you guys are running across in Canada particularly the sub brands. I would be interested in trying to acquire a few that I don't have.

Robert.

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And before anyone thinks these pens are always available on the cheap, check out this yellow eclipse that closed for $223.50.

 

HUGE Oversized ECLIPSE Mandarin YELLOW 5"+ Fountain PEN

 

JA

Wow, that sure cost a pretty penny! :o

But then, large flat-tops always almost always get a good price on eBay. Not so many people like the little pens... :rolleyes:

 

Robert,

 

Thanks for the info!

 

I bought a Park Row flat-top pen (in red and black 'woodgrain' pattern) on eBay for a friend last year as part of a pen trade. I have a "Hooded Knight" fountain pen that I found for $11 in a local store. Other than that, all of the other 9 or 10 Eclipse pens/pencils I have are labelled "Eclipse". I have seen lots of Marxtons being sold on eBay by Canadian & U.S. sellers but I am not a fan of them particularly and I don't own any; nothing there has caught my eye yet. I haven't seen any Jackwins, Parkstons or Monroe pens in the wild here that I can recall. Ditto for Tully, Margie, Mary Jane pens, Adanac, or Zepher...

 

I thought that on John Roede's eBay "About Me" page, he mentioned another Eclipse sub-brand called "Safety" and another called "Keene" (an Eclipse acquisition, apparently)....

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maja

Thanks for the feedback. I don't have any of the off brands either. I was kidding John last week when he was giving me some additional names that I wasn't done collecting Eclipse by any means and I'd have to get all the others.

I probably won't go wild with those other brands, but I would like to obtain an example of each.

I did forget about Safety and Keene. John says they bought Keene is 1918. I don't know if they continued to make pens under the Keene name and if so how long they did it. The ones I've seen have been the red mottled, red/orange or woodgrained. I'm sure there are others.

Safety was a mixed bag. It think it would say Safety on the clip and Eclipse on the lever or the other way around. I've seen some.

I just received a desk set today from a seller in Ontario that says Enduro. They were in the original box. The set is yellow and black. It also comes in green, red and white it says. Indicates you have to dip the pen. It has know way of filling, no lever. Nib has "Enduro" in script. There was no base, I guess those sold seperately. It arrived in the original box. On the back it says made by Eclipse Pen and Pencil Co. Ltd., Toronto, Canada. Another name!! And the list goes on!!

I'll take a few pics later in the week and post them.

Robert

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  • 2 weeks later...

Ok folks:

Can anyone shed any light on this set. It's made in Canada, says Enduro but has the Eclipse Pen and Pencil Company on the box. It's a "modern" dip pen. I'll have to post several pics on this set. Was Enduro a sepreate company or a brand name of Eclipse, or was it soley made by Enduro and marketed by Eclipse?

post-22-1133036548_thumb.jpg

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Hi Robert,

I have a yellow desk pen that looks exactly like yours and it has an Enduro nib as well. I have its twin in light green but the nib on that one says "Bowl Point" with no other markings. I got them on eBay as part of a lot of pens. Sorry, I don't know anything about Enduro nibs.

 

~Maja

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Maja:

Thanks for the response. I would like to see a picture of the pen and the nib you descibe.

 

This question is for rhr (George).

 

I was reading your breif history of the Eclipse Pen Comapny and noticed under the USA heading the following "...1922, patents received between 1917-27,"....

My question is - Was this the number of total patents recieved in those years or was it the year the patents where received??

1922 total patents seems like a lot for a company known for their "look-alikes"

Also, where did you find that information?

Thanks,

Robert

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I think that should be read:

bought out Keene Pen Co., ca.1915-20, 161 Grand St., New York, N. Y., 1922

 

As separate from the Patent information. I think it means that Eclipse bought out Keene, which operated circa 1915-1920, in 1922.

 

John

So if you have a lot of ink,

You should get a Yink, I think.

 

- Dr Suess

 

Always looking for pens by Baird-North, Charles Ingersoll, and nibs marked "CHI"

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And Robert - be sure to share a little about the Stylographic and the Keene when you get them. ;)

 

John

So if you have a lot of ink,

You should get a Yink, I think.

 

- Dr Suess

 

Always looking for pens by Baird-North, Charles Ingersoll, and nibs marked "CHI"

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This question is for rhr (George).

 

I was reading your breif history of the Eclipse Pen Comapny and noticed under the USA heading the following "...1922, patents received between 1917-27,"....

My question is - Was this the number of total patents recieved in those years or was it the year the patents where received??

1922 total patents seems like a lot for a company known for their "look-alikes"

Also, where did you find that information?

Thanks,

Robert

Hi Robert,

 

I'm not George ("rhr") but maybe I can answer your question since George hasn't posted here in a long time (since July). I think he can be found at the Lion & Pen message board, though.

 

As for your question, I am pretty sure that George was separating the info from the dates with a comma, so the "1922" refers to the date, not the # of patents. Oh, and you can search for patent info here:

http://ep.espacenet.com/

http://www.uspto.gov/index.html

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Thanks Maja:

I'll check out the web site for patents.

 

I ran into a guy at the Arkansas Show earlier this year that had done a lot of work on patents of pen companies and had listed those on a CD which he was selling. I took a look at his printed info and saw that Eclipse had been issued 8 patents. 8 is probably more accurate, since they weren't great innovators.

John Roede told me that Finstone had a patent for a piston fill pen.

 

The search continues..............

 

Robert

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John:

I see that your spying on me! (ha).

 

I will let you guys know about the pens when I get them. This is my first Eclipse stylo so I'm anxious to see what their like. I have several Inkographs. As you know it will need a clip. Anyone have any spares???

Probably a chromium one, not sure until it arrives.

Robert

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