Waterman Nib Idenfitication: A White Toned #7 Keyhole?

[IlyaKovic]

I purchased this pen off of eBay and when I say the original listing I believed the photos to be edited until I had the pen in my hands and saw it clearly. Then I thought there was something wrong with my eyes. This appears to be a perfectly ordinary Waterman RED #7 in jet black celluloid with nickel trim, except the nib has a silver tone to it. I've never seen a Waterman nib with anything other than a gold tone. I showed it to some very high profile collector friends of mine, and they have never seen a Waterman nib like this either. One had some theories about it being a depression era pen that may have been made of a different metal than gold, which made some sense, but it's strange to me that I've never come across one before. Has anyone else ever come across a pen like this? Is this some kind of standard model? Maybe someone plated it after the fact? I'm tempted to start polishing it to see if there's a base metal underneath, but not before I find some kind of information. The only thing I'm pretty sure of is that it's a nonreactive metal. I live in Florida and all reactive metals and finishes show some kind of patina relatively quickly. After removing the nib I couldn't find any kind of precious metal hallmarks, although I do have other keyhole nibs missing hallmarks so that may not indicate much.

 

I've included a comparison "BROWN" keyhole nib in one of the pictures so that it's easier to see the color difference. It's extremely weird to look at and my eyes keep telling me the photo has something wrong with it.

 

https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/uploads/imgs/fpn_1514412797__unnamed_1.jpg

 

https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/uploads/imgs/fpn_1514412787__unnamed_2.jpg

 

https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/uploads/imgs/fpn_1514412776__unnamed_3.jpg

 

https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/uploads/imgs/fpn_1514412758__unnamed_4.jpg

 

https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/uploads/imgs/fpn_1514412737__unnamed_5.jpg

 

https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/uploads/imgs/fpn_1514412723__unnamed_6.jpg

[Xof72000]

Odd really ! I've never seen such a nib.

 

Do you have a way to have the nib tested (acid test) to see if it's really gold ? (or weight it and compare with another RED one).

[Left FPN]

I have a pdf copies of 1933 & 1936 catalogues which shows this pen but in gold finish and it's termed a No 7 J Jet.

 

 

 

There are other models available with chromium fittings but gold nibs so perhaps the No7 was produced the same at some point and then maybe someone had their nib plated outwith Waterman.

 

The problem being chromium would not be that flexible so perhaps it's silver plate.

 

I am not sure if Richard shows it with chrome trim (not nib) or maybe its gold and just the way the colours have printed.

[IlyaKovic]

Gary Lehrer of gopens.com suggested that it's a rhodium plating that may have been done as a customization. But there is no way to know if it was done by the factory or not. Or when it was done. Because of how resilient the metal appears to corrosion, that seem very likely. A weird case, but it looks very nice.

[Xof72000]

@IIyaKovic : do you mind if I share your pictures on a Facebook group ?

[Estragon]

Very peculiar. Have others seen #7s with nickel plated trim before? I know that the #5 was commonly available in GPT and NPT, but this is the first #7 with NPT I've seen.

[Vintagepens]

Great find.

I would suspect that the whole pen is original and special-order. Trim would normally be gold-filled, so to find it in white is striking enough. I would also guess that the nib is plated in either palladium or platinum, not rhodium and most certainly not silver. Please don't have it tested by a jeweler -- I can assure you it's 14K gold underneath, and you don't need to damage the nib with either file cuts or acid to tell you that.

[IlyaKovic]

@IIyaKovic : do you mind if I share your pictures on a Facebook group ?

Not at all. Please feel free to share them.

 

Very peculiar. Have others seen #7s with nickel plated trim before? I know that the #5 was commonly available in GPT and NPT, but this is the first #7 with NPT I've seen.

One of my collector friends actually pointed out that they had never seen that combination before either. She could find no reference to nickel-plated trim in any of her books.

 

Great find.

I would suspect that the whole pen is original and special-order. Trim would normally be gold-filled, so to find it in white is striking enough. I would also guess that the nib is plated in either palladium or platinum, not rhodium and most certainly not silver. Please don't have it tested by a jeweler -- I can assure you it's 14K gold underneath, and you don't need to damage the nib with either file cuts or acid to tell you that.

That's wonderful to hear. I had purchased it for resale, but I'm tempted to just keep it. The color combination is really stylish and it's a pretty good writer. I never intended to have it tested as the nib is in excellent condition and it would be a shame to make any marks on it.

[Left FPN]

Not at all. Please feel free to share them.

 

One of my collector friends actually pointed out that they had never seen that combination before either. She could find no reference to nickel-plated trim in any of her books.

 

That's wonderful to hear. I had purchased it for resale, but I'm tempted to just keep it. The color combination is really stylish and it's a pretty good writer. I never intended to have it tested as the nib is in excellent condition and it would be a shame to make any marks on it.

An excellent pension potter.