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Seeking an Osmia cap emblem...


Christopher Godfrey

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Does anyone have, perhaps, among their spare parts an Osmia cap-top emblem?  I just received a Progress 96 (with Vacuumatic-type filling system) from...Bulgaria!  It was not well-described on the original eBay listing, having no cap emblem and having the single cap ring very loose and slightly bent (Ron Zorn -- Main Street Pens -- will hopefully swage the ring for me); but at the top of the cap there is just a dirty great, deep hole!  (The hole is 3,5mm in diameter, as far as I can judge)

 

It's a nice pen with flexy #6 nib and clean red-ish, see-through barrel with spiralling design.  The barrel is smooth, while the cap is chased -- mis-match or normal?  I have never used a Vacuumatic, though -- any tricks or tips re filling?

 

Anyone have spare parts, I wonder?

 

 

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Can you post some pictures? I have some Osmia spare parts, but I'm afraid they are for bit newer osmias. Usually, colored Osmias have matching caps. I think it might not be correct cap. I think all of these are too new for your pen? I think correct one would be parker style cap diamond, judging from the pen model. Cap might be from different pen.

WhatsApp Image 2021-01-26 at 21.06.21.jpeg

WhatsApp Image 2021-01-26 at 21.06.21(1).jpeg

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A picture would really help. The 96s, IIRC, had a once piece cap, and should definitely look like they belong to the pen!

 

Nice pen, though. Stunning nib, and a terrific filling system!

 

Ralf

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If this is the pen I think it is (a solid black one?), I'd be returning it, or at the very least asking for a significant refund!! It clearly has a major defect, and the pictures have been very cleverly taken to avoid showing that, as well as it being not mentioned in the description. There is no way it could have been seen that the jewel was missing, or that the band was loose.

 

I'd add that if it is the pen I think, it should be in pretty immaculate condition for anything approaching the price asked.

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Well, here was I, thinking that no one was going to read my post: thanks to all of you.  I shall attache a photo; but am already committed to sending the pen to Osman Sumer in Hamburg (at the suggestion of one of our very learned friends here on FPN -- gracias, Azuniga!)

 

mizgeorge, you have been watching the same pen, then, on eBay?  You are correct in that there was no photo showing the bent cap band and no way of seeing the cap emblem.  Additionally, it has been brought to my attention that the cap is really a miss-match: cap chased and barrel smoothly plain (plainly smooth!  The Germans used the letter G in some models, didn't they; but I forget what the letter actually <stood> for)  In any case, I hardly think I am in much of a position to ask for some refund: the pen took many weeks to get here (Christmas on top of Covid delays -- I tracked it while it sat and sat and sat at Chicago airport -- literally, weeks!)  Osman Sumer almost called me silly names for buying from that country...!  I shall not be doing so again, I assure you -- oh, and I have deliberately failed to leave any feedback for that seller.

 

However, the nib writes nicely and seems to have plentiful flex (yum yum)!  I know these photos are poor quality: I haven't yet come to grips with taking pictures of pens in close-up; but they demonstrate the pen better than what was posted on the fleabay.  The closed pen is almost 14cm. -- slightly longer, then, than my 226.

 

I have a couple of times also sent pens to Ron Zorn for the swageing of cap bands: his work, too, is great.  After its visit to Hamburg, perhaps it will go to the wilds of Pennsylvania, where the Zorns moved from upstate New York...

 

Funny that you should post that particular photo, Ralf: I <do> have a blue diamond-pattened 744 much like that one; but it has one single, wider cap band.  Model Platina Supra.  You want a photo of it, too?  Bl**dy fountain pens!  They are so addictive, aren't they?  😎

Osmia 96 00.JPG

Osmia 96 004.JPG

Osmia 96 002.JPG

Osmia 96 010.JPG

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That’s an awesome pen even though it might have been frankenized. The "G" usually stands for "glatt" meaning smooth in contrast to chased, at least for pre-war models. Later, the meaning changed to "gold" to indicate the nib material. Osmias were highly praised and expensive in their day but then forgotten almost completely. Especially pre-war models often were repaired with whatever parts were available just to keep them running. This makes it very difficult to tell what the original factory version really looked like. And even original factory pens apparently came in many slightly different variations making it even harder. However, mixing chased and smooth barrel/cap finishes is nothing I’ve seen before.

 

By the way, the cap looks like one version of the 7x series of the same period. If I get around, I will post a picture of the corresponding cap jewel tomorrow.

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Thanks for the encouragement, OMASsimo!  Looking forwards to any photos you may post...

 

(Should one say: grazie, Massimo, perhaps?)

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Finally I get around to post the promised pictures. These are from a 74 from the 1930s. First picture showed the conical shape of the jewel and the clip:

 

46692C8D-C880-431E-8C30-FFB5BEE9E6A8.thumb.jpeg.354c66fc80effd2f1f57f220ba7afd3f.jpeg

 

 

The other two pictures show it from top side and top, respectively:

 

 

6EA515BF-4035-4D8D-89F7-58B00814CCBF.thumb.jpeg.4b7a6f47a85af368749f280eb793ac5c.jpeg

 

 

E84BDD00-0FF1-462D-8ED8-D503F3F225D4.thumb.jpeg.add4755da793d09e0d2f09cf2b2e73ef.jpeg

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Excellent pix: thank you!  Grazie, signore.

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  • 1 month later...

Update on the lovely restoration work done by Osman Sumer in Hamburg (danke noch einmal, mein Herr!)  The photos (very first one, e.g.) are not good -- sorry for my poor efforts.  The diamond motif of the cap emblem is not quite as pronounced as on your 74, OMASsimo; but why worry -- the void is now filled...!

OsmiaProgress post resto 001.JPG

OsmiaProgress post resto 002.JPG

OsmiaProgress post resto 003.JPG

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Congratulations! I'm glad you got your pen restored so beautifully. It looks like he used a later style finial because those early ones are almost impossible to find. And now you can enjoy writing with one of those awesome Osmia nibs.😀

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Wonderful news! Osmias are such lovely pens. I have ended up with four, including one from Calgary and one from Seattle, neither of them places where you expect to see Osmias pop up!

 

Enjoy your lovely pen.

 

(I bought my first 100N from Osman about 700 years ago. A real pleasure to deal with)

 

Ralf

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It <is> good news, isn't it?  And OMASsimo, I also think that Osman has replaced the slightly-battered cap ring with an entirely new one.  My good fortune, I think.  Ralf, how do you know what Osman has for sale, because (as yet) I know of no website for him -- merely an email address!  (He did, by the way, rebuke me for having bought from one of those "previously-disadvantaged" countries!)

 

Thanks, both of you, for the good wishes!  Yes, time to enjoy it now.

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Well, whilst I'm at it, how about a (poor) picture of my little Osmia collection?  Herewith a small 62; Platina Supra 744; 884 with Supra nib; the Progress 96 and my old favourite 226 (bought several years ago from Cristof in Switzerland).  

 

I hope you all approve?  😎

Osmia collection 004.JPG

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12 hours ago, Christopher Godfrey said:

Well, whilst I'm at it, how about a (poor) picture of my little Osmia collection?  Herewith a small 62; Platina Supra 744; 884 with Supra nib; the Progress 96 and my old favourite 226 (bought several years ago from Cristof in Switzerland).  

 

I hope you all approve?  😎

Osmia collection 004.JPG

Beautiful! I love Osmia pens, and those are all gorgeous :) 

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You do have an exquisite little collection of Osmias that is a pleasure to see. Thanks for sharing!

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Thanks, both of you.  Interestingly, the big 226 has no Osmia markings on it -- just the name of a shipping line (so Cristof thought -- and I do, too); but its origins are quite obvious and the nib is another wonderful #6 Osmia one.  I seem to remember that he said he had only once seen another of these -- was it their flagship, at one time?  Perhaps...

 

I envy the fabulous photographic results of which some are capable -- I am not, with my limited equipment (small Canon point-and-shoot).  Oh, well: you get the idea...

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