Is This No-Name English Pen A Lang?

[penburg]

Cleaned up, restored, and writing beautifully. No ID on barrel except "Made in England". Nib says "Warranted 1st Quality 14C". Button filler. Art deco clip. I'm guessing late 1930s. I read in another thread about some similar unnamed pens mfd. by Lang in England. If you can help ID this pen, that would be great! And any additional information on the maker, too. Thanks!

 

[Summit pens]

The pen really seems made by Lang Pen Co. ltd of Liverpool. Two key elements here: the nib carries the typical rounded engraving of Lang made nibs. The section is very siumilar to that used for several Summit pens, also made by Lang. As an example, look at this Summit S. 75 mk 1.

As far as I can see, clip and cap top may be a later replacement, but of course this is just a guess.

Congratulation for the pen: it is very nice indeed.

Edited February 4, 2021 by Summit pens

[northlodge]

I would agree that the nib is a "made in Liverpool" item, and that the pen might be a Lang product.

 

Another possibility - Wyvern bought in gold nibs from Summit. This BF pen, with this clip, looks very like the Wyvern Orium, and  The Abbey pens I have seen.

 

perhaps Ricky can come on and comment on this last point.

[Ricky2011]

thanks Northlodge,

 

yes the warranted nib could be mentmore/ platignum...

 

although just checked my wyvern abbey again the same nib as yours penburg. 

[penburg]

Thank you all for your responses! I got delayed a few months and am back on FPN now! This is most helpful, as I do enjoy tracing the history behind the pens. 

Thanks.

 

[LesterPendragon]

Apologies for being late to the party, but…

It strikes me that the most distinctive feature of penburg's original pen is the "five-pin" art deco clip.  I have a number of pens with this distinctive clip [and seen others online].  A significant proportion of them have Wyvern inscriptions – or no barrel inscriptions at all.

Verifiable Wyverns with this clip include the Wyvern Smoker's Pencil [dated by Steve Hull to 1939], the Glasgow Empire Exhibition pen [1938], various Oriums [a Wyvern sub-brand introduced in 1936], and the Wyvern Wizard Water pen: [https://www.penbox.co.uk/burn.conk.ment.wahl.wyv.htm ]
See photos attached.

 

On that basis, the options seem to be that either:

• Wyvern manufactured this clip in-house and used it on their own pens and other 3rd party commissions in the late 1930s; OR
• An independent parts manufacturer made this clip and sold it exclusively to Wyvern for use on their own pens and pens Wyvern made for other 3rd parties; OR
• An independent parts manufacturer made this clip and sold it to manufacturers generally, but the only company to use it on their own designated pens was Wyvern… who, along with others, may have also used it on pens commissioned from them by 3rd party companies.

My default position is that the clip is characteristic of Wyvern, possibly unique to them – but since I specialise in collecting Wyverns, I'm in the position of the guy who's only got a hammer in his tool chest so sees every problem as one which can be solved with a nail.

 

I'm open to correction by those who know the trade more widely.

For example – has anyone seen this clip verifiably used by other manufacturers on their own brand pens?