Swan Split Lever Very Esoteric Post

[Greenie]

I have two hard rubber Swan Split levers. One has the standard U shaped metal parts for the lever. The other, however, is quite plain, and quite solid.

The pens are the same size, caps can interchange between pens. The clipless with solid lever is marked 4SF, and the shiny chrome furniture pen is marked 2SF.

 

Oddly, the 4 SF has a standard feed, cut off at a right angle internally, but the 2 SF has a feed seen on eyedroppers with the conical tip on the inside. Both have the early marking with arrows telling the user to screw down tightly. The marking is under the chrome clip on the 2SF.

 

[Cob]

Thanks Greenie! that's fascinating. I would be happy to bet that the solid lever 4SF (a No 4 nib I presume?) must be a very early example; close perhaps to pre-production, before the tooling had been produced for the later version.

 

Incidentally i have one of those caps - it is on a frankenpen: an Advance, with Conklin Toledo nib and the non-matching cap which carries a chrome Pat 1915 clip. I wondered where the cap came from; now I have a good idea!

 

Rgds

 

Cob

[Greenie]

Well, immediately off topic, but.... The 4SF is marked posting. It has a Swan 3 nib, that is not a posting nib. The nib is a medium with a soft semi flex stroke.

 

As for the lever, I also imagined that it would have to be a very early example, as all other Swan levers through WW2 (except the hard rubber ones, of course) have the U shaped metal. It is a solid chunk of pretty boring, unplated, not chrome, metal. But still with the end that locks on to a second C clip like a good swan lever does.

[texascharlie]

Greenie, I also have a split lever model 5C, which I had never heard of. But I am interested in the coloring of your pens. Do you darken them with some chemical? They are beautiful. My hard rubber pens looked bleach out even if they are unused. I would sure appreciate your help.

[Greenie]

The color and crisp chasing on these two pens is due to good fortune only. They simply appear to have been minimally used, and then stored in a dark dry place for 97 years. The crisp chasing shows that it is original condition, rather than blackened.

 

I have coincidentally just given my review of blackening options HERE. in the repair forum. Post #14.