Irrational Exuberance...

[DanDeM]

Right off, I have to say that these pens are not worthy of the usual

detail and thought regularly found here in a review.

 

The nibs are IGP nails, but the plating is long gone. The materials are

meager and the workmanship perfunctory. While you can't feel a seam,

a close look shows where the plastic meets to form the rolled barrel,

the clips and levers show brassing, the imprints coarse and the threads crude.

 

Cheap pens.

 

And yet the maker(s?) made the effort to not just crimp, but to finish the

end-caps with black jewels separated by a (possibly) casien band.

The giddy pattern of the material is what sparked the name of this thread.

 

Probably dating from the mid to late '30s they are, to me, a celebration

and in their context have a naive, ironic charm.

 

Americans knew where they had been.

Variety had told us that WALL STREET LAYS AN EGG in 1929, but by

now a brother could probably spare a dime, or even a dollar...which is

about all these pens sold for.

 

They knew where they were.

These pens were a working man's hurrah to the end of the Volstead Act.

If a tourist with a Mandarin Duofold penned a post-card from the Spanish Steps

while sipping Soave Bolla, these would have been used on a boardwalk

in Atlantic City sloshing beer. St. Valentine's Day was once again a time

for fondness, no longer just the anniversary of a Chicago massacre.

 

But few knew where they were going.

When they were made, The War To End All Wars was nearly a generation

gone and not in their wildest dreams could Americans anticipate what

would start just a few years later with Reichskriatallnacht and how frivolous

that would make these pens seem.

 

With all of that fanciful conjecture, on to the pens. Although the colors differ,

the pattern of both pens is identical, as is the end-cap treatment. The red

pen is 3mm longer than the teal (12.8cm vs. 12.5cm, respectively) I have

to wonder if that much variation is normal in a standard production run.

The diameters are identical.

 

These pens arrived from different sellers two days apart, and frankly took

more time to clean, than to put them in working order. The tattered sac in

the teal pen had the consistency of freshly used chewing gum and didn't

give up its grip on the barrel and JBar easily. Cleaning it out of the feed

took two days.

 

So, for the sheer eye-candy-of-it-all, a red Onward and a teal Wearever.

I've read that Onward was a sub-brand of Wearever, but I know of no solid

supporting documentation; although from the similarity of their appearance,

it would seem likely that they came from the same maker.

 

It would be sweet if I could find one in white.

 

The Onward...

 

 

The Wearever,,,

 

 

The Family...

 

 

Hope they amuse you as much as they amuse me.

[ArchiMark]

Thanks for sharing these fun looking vintage pens....definitely have a unique look...

 

[dannyboy]

Enjoyed your review and the photos--I had never heard of these before so I appreciated your placing them within the context of their times. Many thanks!

[Marlow]

Personally I love a bit of irrational exuberance! Isn't it just great when you love something regardless of what anyone else may or may not think?!

Congrats!

[pen2paper]

Have to agree with your impression these are from the era of The Great Depression..

The material instantly caught my eye.. Shirley Temple, dimpled darling who "put on a show" to help Uncle Sam, has her Official licensed signature on the "Shirley Temple" fountain pen, in This spangled material - also comes in yellow. Edited to include photo of the yellow : )

Edited August 2, 2012 by pen2paper

[melissa59]

Thank you for the photos and the wonderful commentary to go along with them.

You did a fine job cleaning up the pens. They are shiny and beautiful. Very charming and, I think, unusual for their day. Bravo to you for taking the time to clean them up and save them for future generations!

[myn]

Very interesting - great commentary. I'd never heard about the Onward. Thanks for sharing this.

[DanDeM]

Thanks for your comments. Glad you enjoyed seeing the pens.

 

I think I should have added a word about the cost of these little gems.

 

The Onward was $30, and the Wearever was...hold on tight...$8.50.

 

Sure make Esterbrooks look pricey.

[Aslan]

Your context-setting commentary was as delightful as it was insightful. We have a sense of the rationale for the exuberance that spawned these pens. Your restoration and presentation are both worthy of commentary. In sum, you have made cheap pens dear. I enjoyed the trip, even if from afar. Nicely done all around. Thanks.

[lovemy51]

funny, i just finished restoring a wearever just like yours, but black. i did have to fit it with a newer nib, cos' the one that came with it was thinner than paper and the tines went out of wack just by touching the paper. interesting looking pen!

 

thanx for the review.

 

edited: mine does not have the white band. it measures 13cm exactly. same crazy line design -mine is black with neon red lines.

 

here is mine (on the right) with its big brother the Pioneer of the 1930's:

http://i338.photobucket.com/albums/n419/peterpaul_rguez/P8020014-1.jpg

 

 

 

did i mention mine was $7 american shipped?

Edited August 3, 2012 by lovemy51

[DanDeM]

Your context-setting commentary was as delightful as it was insightful. We have a sense of the rationale for the exuberance that spawned these pens. Your restoration and presentation are both worthy of commentary. In sum, you have made cheap pens dear. I enjoyed the trip, even if from afar. Nicely done all around. Thanks.

 

Thank you. It is heartening to know that my tenuous point came through.

[DanDeM]

funny, i just finished restoring a wearever just like yours, but black. i did have to fit it with a newer nib, cos' the one that came with it was thinner than paper and the tines went out of wack just by touching the paper. interesting looking pen!

 

thanx for the review.

 

edited: mine does not have the white band. it measures 13cm exactly. same crazy line design -mine is black with neon red lines.

 

here is mine (on the right) with its big brother the Pioneer of the 1930's:

 

did i mention mine was $7 american shipped?

 

Odd that a stainless nib would be that fragile. I've seen that happen with gold nibs that have been sprung, but stainless...

What did you replace it with?

 

Interesting that your pen, even without the banded end-caps, is longer than the two shown. Makes me wonder about the number

of variations (color, size, treatments) they made on this theme. These "tinsel" pens could be the start of a silly little collection

...and I really don't need that.

[lovemy51]

hello, Blotto. i replaced it with a no-name nib i had laying about. i do have one or two more wearever nibs for spare, but oddly enough they did not fit.

 

i have a "silly" collection of wearever pens -not counting the 2nd tier 100 Deluxe, 30's Pioneer, etc (some with button fill systems and even with gold nibs). in the silly collection i have mostly pennants, new generation pioneer from the 60's, supremes and other no names from the same period.

 

PS. i've seen paper thin steel nibs on all kinds of third tier pens...

[lovemy51]

update: just switched with a "duraplate" vintage nib that came with an "Avon" pen from the 30-40's(?).

[DanDeM]

Look at what's happened now. I have one foot on a banana peel

and the other on a slippery slope.

 

These little guys are becoming more complicated, and much

more interesting

 

A few weeks ago someone had a black combo that had been

purchased by the time I saw it. That suggests that there is more

to this genre than just your basic lever fill. It would have been a

nice add, so now combos are part of the hunt.

 

Then this arrived. I gave it a look and laughed out loud. The cap

was black and the barrel a matte burgundy. Oh, the thrill of an

eBay purchase. Imagine... someone lost the original cap, found

the same pattern in a different color and then put the two of them

together. What's the chance of that.

 

Odder and odder.

 

But then I set out to clean the ink residue from inside the cap

and barrel to find that the pen is completely burgundy. Not only that,

unlike the other two, this plastic is not opaque with a threads of

black scribbles. This is translucent. (What appears to be a black

band on the cap in the area of the clip mount, is actually the inner

cap showing through the plastic.)

 

But wait, there's more. The end caps have a third color band.

 

Odder and better.

 

Five years ago I went down a similar path with Esterbrooks.

It started with a nice grey Dollar, then some J's, some Bandless

Dollars, some more J's, Transitionals, Visumaticas, VClips,

Reliefs. Most of these come in six colors and three sizes; by

now, many Esties have accumulated.

 

The Esterbrooks I've collected are from a prodigious maker's

production over a forty-year period. I'd be surprised if these

were made for more than five years so the chances of compiling

more than a dozen or so aren't likely.

 

But then...

 

Let's say five colors with an Onward badge, five more with

Wearever. Some opaque, others translucent. Some with

two-color cap bands, others with three. I've already noticed

a small disparity in sizes.

 

Then the combos...

 

What if they come as bulb fillers...

 

Don't let this happen to you.

 

 

Edited August 28, 2012 by Blotto

[inkstainedruth]

Those are very nice looking pens. Quite attractive. Not at all what I might have expected for their era -- quite contemporary looking in design (reading the original post I had supposed that they would look very "Art Deco" in style, and they don't).

Of course the $64,000 question (from the point of view of a pen accumulator and not a collector) -- how well do they write?

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[lovemy51]

Those are very nice looking pens. Quite attractive. Not at all what I might have expected for their era -- quite contemporary looking in design (reading the original post I had supposed that they would look very "Art Deco" in style, and they don't).

Of course the $64,000 question (from the point of view of a pen accumulator and not a collector) -- how well do they write?

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

 

http://i338.photobucket.com/albums/n419/peterpaul_rguez/P9050154.jpg

 

i carry mine around with confidence.

Edited September 5, 2012 by lovemy51

[Uncle Red]

I have no trouble remembering "Pack my box with five dozen liquor jugs".

Those are nice looking pens. Good luck with the combos.