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Hello all! I've heard a lot about this place, and have finally been pushed to actually sign up. And the challenge I have is in trying to identify the model of a beautiful, but very well-used Onoto plunger fill, which I picked up cheaply off a market in its home town, when I was visiting a friend in the Big Smoke! The model number is poorly imprinted, and given the wear, it seems to change depending on what I have for breakfast. Online research, suggests this is a 5000 series/streamline version from the early 1920's - so a real antique. However, when I was looking to buy the parts to fix it up, the numbers don't match. The model ID from Custom Pen Parts (https://www.custompenparts.co.uk/gb/content/7-onoto-model-identification). On my pen, the diameter matches the medium slim, however, the barrel length matches the short. So I appear to have a 'medium slim short', which doesn't appear on the list! As it was, I managed to pick up another Onoto 5601, with a wrecked nib, which helped me with proper disassembly, and the internals were the same, so both pens take a 7.65 mm seal, though this one has a shorter rod. The imprint. From what I can see, the first digit has something that could be the end of the top part of a '2', and I suspect the second digit is a 3. The final two digits are either 0/6/8 - but that's dependent on the font. Honestly, I could be seeing scratches and dings, this pen has had a hard life, and I suspect the imprint was never good. Whatever the pen model is, it's far from my typical pens I like, but I've fallen for this hard. The nib is a beautiful smallish italic, with reasonable flex. I can't fault it, and I'm certainly sold on vintage Onoto's now! The ink is Diamine Ancient Copper, and don't worry about the nibless 5601 - I had a spare TDLR nib from a later pen, I was fixing up for a friend, which I found had a cracked nib. It was a special pen she was given by her dad, back in the 50's for her "plus 9's" exams, and she has so few things to remember her father with, she didn't want the nib swapped, so I sadly had to hand it back to her still not working, but did mount it in a frame for her to still enjoy. Yeah, so the 5601 is just waiting to be inked up.

Recently, I came upon some photos of Onotos formerly owned by Ernest Shackleton. It seems they have not been shared on FPN before, so here they are: The first one is from a Christie's auction in 2012 (picture can be magnified by clicking on it) : https://www.christies.com/en/lot/lot-5605380 The second one, which looks so similar to the one above that it may be the same pen, is pictured in an online exhibit made by the Osher Map Library of the University of Southern Maine. Scroll down to item no. 67 on this page and you'll see it (picture can be magnified by clicking it) : https://oshermaps.org/exhibitions/to-the-ends-of-the-earth/section-7 If the pens above are one and the same, I wonder if it is currently in the collection of the Osher Library. (Any FPN folks work there, perchance?) In any case, here is a third one, obviously not the same pen as the above, with much more barrel wear but less discolouration. This photo is from an earlier Christie's auction in 2001. Unfortunately, the photo of this pen is lower resolution than those above. Moreover, the imprint is worn down and quite hard to read on this one: https://www.christies.com/en/lot/lot-2778060 All of the pens are engraved on a barrel band with Shackleton's initials and the year 1921. It seems he must have obtained them shortly before embarking on his final expedition; perhaps he even carried them aboard the Quest. Now, both (or all three?) of them are typical 1920s hard rubber Onotos in most respects - the shapes of the sections, caps, and plunger knobs; the chasing pattern; the absence of an over-under feed. But interestingly, they all bear this style of imprint: "ONOTO" PATENT SELF FILLING PEN DE LA RUE, LONDON The imprint on the last pen is so worn that I can't tell for sure that it isn't the "Onoto THE Pen" type of imprint instead, but based on what I can see, and word placement etc., it seems reasonable to say that it was most likely the same "patent self filling pen" imprint. I've always assumed the "patent self filling" imprint was early; certainly by 1921 I would have expected to see "Onoto THE Pen" imprints, especially on pens with the newer design of section/cap/filler knob. Clearly my assumption was wrong. That said, I don't have Steve Hull's Onoto book, so I don't know what the best of current knowledge is regarding when the imprint change happened. (Does the book say anything about when the redesigns and imprint changes happened for N and O model Onotos?) In any case, these are pens that accompanied the great explorer in his last adventures. It is heartening to see them preserved till the present day in such a fine condition.