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Le Boeuf pens, what do you know about them?

Onion

By Onion
in Fountain & Dip Pens - First Stop

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Bill D Vintage

Bill D

Posted
Posted

I have a Le Boeuf "Unbreakable", but I don't know much about it or the company. Mine has a cracked nib, so stays put away carefully in a drawer instead of out with the pens I use. I found it packed away with the things that had belonged to my great uncle.

 

I will be interested to hear what you and your friend learn.

 

Bill

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  • 5 months later...
Richard Antique

Richard

Posted
Posted

I just resurrected a LeBoeuf this week. It's a pen I killed about three years ago; then, I didn't have the ability to fix it after I broke it. Since I do now, I dragged the bag of parts out and did the necessary. Wonderful pens, LeBoeuf, probably best known for their quality and their filling system (the ones that aren't lever fillers, that is). Here's my new baby:

 

http://www.richardspens.com/images/collection/zoomed/leboeuf_ringtop.jpg

sig.jpg.2d63a57b2eed52a0310c0428310c3731.jpg

 

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weepstah Near Mint

weepstah

Posted
Posted

Here's what I know about Le Boeuf -

 

1) Frank Le Boeuf patented (I believe) a process that allowed him to create some very unusual celluoids for his pens.

 

2) Le Boeufs are among the highest valued vintage pens - due to their high quality, unusual plastics, and I'm not sure what else.

 

3) Le Boeufs were only produced from the early 1920's until around 1931.

 

weepstah

"My shoes were reasonably clean, my rent was paid and I had two boxes of cereal and plenty of coffee at home. The world was mine, and I had plenty of time."

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weepstah Near Mint

weepstah

Posted
Posted

Here's what I know about Le Boeuf -

 

1) Frank Le Boeuf patented (I believe) a process that allowed him to create some very unusual celluoids for his pens.

 

2) Le Boeufs are among the highest valued vintage pens - due to their high quality, unusual plastics, and I'm not sure what else.

 

3) Le Boeufs were only produced from the early 1920's until around 1931.

 

weepstah

"My shoes were reasonably clean, my rent was paid and I had two boxes of cereal and plenty of coffee at home. The world was mine, and I had plenty of time."

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Johnny Appleseed Antique

Johnny Appleseed

Posted
Posted

Le Boeuf pens are very desireable pens - it is hard to even touch one on ebay for less than a couple of hundred. They are nice, solid, well made pens. There is a guy in the Seattle pen club with a thumb-filler in Brown marble. If your friend got one from a co-worker he lucked out.

 

I have a thumb filler on my dream list. Richard - that one is to die for!

 

I think there is a lot of hisory when it comes to LeBoeuf. They are possibly the first colored celluloid pens (CS Dinkie's being the other candidate). They were also part, I believe, of some sort of weird stock scam - I seem to recall something about investors being taken past a big empty factory with a "LeBeouf Pen" sign, while the pens were being made out of a garage - but that might be urban legend.

 

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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Richard Antique

Richard

Posted
Posted
Le Boeuf was briefly resurrected and died a few years ago.

Yeah, that resurrection was a wicked shame. Cheap gaudy pens, horribly made.

sig.jpg.2d63a57b2eed52a0310c0428310c3731.jpg

 

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Ruaidhri Antique

Ruaidhri

Posted
Posted

Richard

 

Are you deliberately trying to wind me up showing pictures like that ?

My right hand is clutching spasmodically at the screen.

I need a LeBoeuf like a hole in the head but............... :o

Administrator and Proprietor of Murphy Towers

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andyr7 Vintage

andyr7

Posted
Posted
They are possibly the first colored celluloid pens (CS Dinkie's being the other candidate).

It would be nice to prove it, one way or another!

 

There is firm evidence for coloured Dinkies by 1924 but indirect evidence as far back as possibly 1922. Does anyone have similar dates for the LeBoeuf pens?

 

Andy

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Richard Antique

Richard

Posted
Posted
They are possibly the first colored celluloid pens (CS Dinkie's being the other candidate).

It would be nice to prove it, one way or another!

 

There is firm evidence for coloured Dinkies by 1924 but indirect evidence as far back as possibly 1922. Does anyone have similar dates for the LeBoeuf pens?

 

Andy

In 1919, Frank LeBoeuf received a patent covering his process for making pen bodies from celluloid tubing, and he appears to have been manufacturing celluloid pens in 1920, before he incorporated his company in 1921.

sig.jpg.2d63a57b2eed52a0310c0428310c3731.jpg

 

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andyr7 Vintage

andyr7

Posted
Posted
In 1919, Frank LeBoeuf received a patent covering his process for making pen bodies from celluloid tubing, and he appears to have been manufacturing celluloid pens in 1920, before he incorporated his company in 1921.

Still no firm evidence, though, we really need to see some receipts or advertising indicating that various colours were available. And didn't I read somewhere that the first celluloid tube pens were black anyway?

 

I'm not particularly stating the case for Dinkies being the first to be made in colours (though I think you'd be hard pressed to find an earlier yellow pen), it is just that hard evidence of early coloured pens seems very elusive and I'd really like to know more!

Andy

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  • 2 years later...
Hirsch Mint

Hirsch

Posted
Posted

I just came across an interesting pen that appears to show the end of the story. The clip is marked "Pilgrim". However, the imprint reads "LeBoeuf-Pilgrim Pen Company, Springfield Mass" (or something close to that; I'm not looking at the pen right now). Springfield is the correct location for LeBoeuf manufacture. The filling system is a "thumb filler", but not the usual one from LeBoeuf. The whole barrel (and it's a long pen) pulls back, and there's a glass viewing window below the filler, which shows a breathing tube going up into the sac. So, this pen, which would appear to be the end of the line for vintage LeBoeuf, used an aerometric filler almost identical to that used in the Parker 51...but LeBoeuf had been long gone by the appearance of the 51. I have no idea what the story with LeBoeuf-Pilgrim is. Possible merger or acquisition by another company? I'll add a picture if time permits.

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Juan in Andalucia Vintage

Juan in Andalucia

Posted
Posted
They are possibly the first colored celluloid pens (CS Dinkie's being the other candidate).

It would be nice to prove it, one way or another!

 

There is firm evidence for coloured Dinkies by 1924 but indirect evidence as far back as possibly 1922. Does anyone have similar dates for the LeBoeuf pens?

 

Andy

 

I don't know whether LeB were the first colored celluloid, but they were one of the earliest, and IMHO one of the most beautiful celluloid pens. Too bad I don't have any.

 

Juan

 

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Hirsch Mint

Hirsch

Posted
Posted

Here are pictures of the LeBoeuf-Pilgrim pen. This looks unlike any other LeBoeuf I've seen. Comments are welcome. http://mysite.verizon.net/hirsch9000/lbp1.jpg

 

http://mysite.verizon.net/hirsch9000/lbp2.jpg

http://mysite.verizon.net/hirsch9000/lbp3.jpg

http://mysite.verizon.net/hirsch9000/lbp4.jpg

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skipwilliams Vintage

skipwilliams

Posted
Posted

I guess it depends on whether the pen was new or old. As Richard points out, the new pens were god-awful. The 20's pens were spectacular examples of that golden age. LeBoeuf had some of the prettiest celluloids of the day, many not used on other US makers' pens and highly prized today.

 

Skip

 

 

My friend Paco got a Le Boeuf pen from a co worker, anyone have any info on them.

 

edit: sorry didn't see that he had posted on this already. although he hasn't yet got a response.

 

Skip Williams

www.skipwilliams.com/blog

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