Best Fountain Pens At Turn Of The 20Th Century

[Le Vieux]

Hello everyone!

 

I am in the middle of writing some material regarding Queen Marie of Romania, and I wish to touch (lightly) the subject of her writing implements she might have been using to write her journals and such. She was quite a busy person in terms of keeping a personal diary over most of her adult life, and from what I could uncover until now, she used regularly a fountain pen. From my diggings, it would appear that she was active in writing her diaries well between 1913 and 1935. It would also appear that she had a sweet spot (no pun intended) for stubbed nibs, because most of her writing is done with such a nib.

 

 

As a crowned head, she would have been in a position to purchase pens without a price limit, obviously, and she probably did. The only question remains, what choices of pens was she having at that time? We are discussing here a period of time spanning from the turn of the century, say 1910 - 14 to say, 1920; I suspect that the pen or pens she used during the WWI period was or were acquired prior to the war. In a war-ravaged Romania, I guess there were not many chances she could buy the newest ones on the market, nor did she had any priority of doing so. So, probably what she used over that war period (and probably even after that) were pens she already had.

 

What would have your choices of best pens available on the market at the turn of the century, if you had unlimited funds? I know Waterman is one, the 0552 being an obvious choice. Parker and Onoto also, I guess. What others? Wirt, Conklin ?

 

I know it's a stab in the dark, but to be honest, any information is better than none. Photographs with the queen actually using a pen are scarce and I have seen none so far, so no indication whatsoever in terms of visual identification of such pens. I only hope to narrow it down to the best possible, hence this inquiry.

 

Thank you all in advance, really appreciated.

 

Best of,

 

JT

 

New data shows that in 1919, she tested and purchased a fountain pen. The pen (unidentified) was tested on the back of a catalog advertising 4 brands: Waterman, Onoto, Swan and Kaweco.

 

The scribbling on that paper shows the words "manyfold" (repeatedly written by the queen, obviously trying out the nib), not "manifold". Could this be related to the fact she was testing a pen with a manifold nib? It follows that she was testing a pen manufactured by one of the 4 brands above. It follows she purchased one of those pens.

 

 

My question: which of the 4 brands was selling pens with manifold nibs in 1919? That would narrow down even further the most probable fountain pen the queen purchased.

 

Thank you ever so much for your kind input!

Edited July 17, 2019 by PenThing

[Timeline]

Possibly Waterman as they had several models that had a manifold nib. I believe Models #52 had them and I am not sure of the model #, but they offered hard rubber with silver or gold overlay on them. Best of luck with your research!!

[Tweel]

Guessing at "most likely", I was going to guess Onoto, and I see that's one of the brands on that catalog cover. And they did, I believe, have stub nibs.

[AAAndrew]

Interesting question. This looks like a fairly seriously broad stub. I look forward to someone having actually useful information. If it was a dip pen, I could give you something more concrete, but you've already covered pretty much anything I would have known regarding fountain pens at the time. When did Pelikan begin business? They'd be another possibility if their dates overlapped.

 

I know with dip pens, the style of writing in your first example would have been done with a stub cut at an oblique angle. This style was more common on the continent than in England or the US. Not sure if this has any relevance.

 

Here's a French illustration from 1785 showing how to cut the oblique angle on a quill for different styles of writing similar to that in your first example.

 

Edited July 18, 2019 by AAAndrew

[Mech-for-i]

now that's an interesting research , looks to me not stub nib on the 2nd sample ... it look to me more like a fairly wet and wide Broad or similar . Not heard of any manyfold before but clearly the writing is there , could that be something on the pen itself ; I wonder. But if one look closely at that 2nd sample one can tell there is likely more than 1 pen being used on all the scribbling there , clearly her majesty are testing out more than one there , and I wager one of them might be that manyfold, and likely that pen is the one producing those scribble of the word .. I am pretty certain all of Waterman, Swan and Onoto provide manifold nib at the time, I am not really sure about Kaweco

[sidthecat]

Which turn? The first one or the last?

[Le Vieux]

I meant beginning of the XXth century, I should've mention that in the title.

 

Thank you!

[Karmachanic]

Which turn? The first one or the last?

 

The one mentioned in the second paragraph.