Minerva 60

[Paul-in-SF]

This pen arrived recently.  It is a Minerva 60, as testified by the barrel inscription. As you can see it has issues, including the obvious and nearly complete brassing of the clip and clip ring. There are others that are more serious.

 

First, I have read that Minerva pens were made by Omas. This would have clearly been a utility brand for them, no fancy celluloid here. It is a piston filler, and the piston works well. There was some dried ink in it, which I have cleaned out.

One problem is with the nib, which seems to be slightly loose in the section, and doesn't fit snugly against the feed. I haven't tried heat-setting the feed yet. Although the nib comes out fairly easily, I have not yet been able to remove the feed, even after extensive soaking. I am reluctant to try very hard. The nib includes, as well as I can make out, the expression [ 1 'Qualita' ] (without the brackets) which I assume means something like 1st quality. When it is writing, there is some line variation but it's not flexible per se. 

 

The feed itself has some of the vanes broken off (which I knew about before I bought it, the seller was very conscientious about that). These two factors (nib looseness, feed damage) probably contribute to the writing problems, which include drying out between writing sessions, and flow that is a little uncertain even once you get it going. 

 

The worst for me, and which appears to have no solution (and which I can't take a photo of) is that the cap does not post at all, the barrel just runs into the inner cap too soon and so the cap just wobbles on the barrel. The pen uncapped is quite short, only 114 mm, and writing with it uncapped is not very comfortable. I might be able to put up with that at least for a page of writing if it weren't for the flow problems. 

 

So I am writing for any comments on the pen, and advice on any of these issues. Here are the last two photos.

 

 

 

[Paul-in-SF]

I am bumping this because I now need help putting the piston mechanism back together. I was able to get the knob off and the shaft out, but that's all, and now I can't get the shaft and knob to go all the way back in when I tighten it back down. I have fiddled with it quite a bit, but it always comes out with at least a fingernail's width of space between the knob and the barrel.

 

Any tips or tricks for how I can get this together properly?

[senzen]

Did you make any progress? I just got exactly the same pen, in the same colour and trim, looks new, the piston barely budges... Do the feed and nib just pull out or do they rotate?

 

I was told in another forum that it should be close to the Omas 555, for which there is a little more info...

[Paul-in-SF]

Thanks for asking, I got it writing okay, but there is still a tiny gap between the piston knob and the barrel. I guess I can live with that, although it may be the reason the cap does not post. The piston is fairly stiff, but it does turn. After working on other pens, getting this to come out right often seems to depend on finding just the right spot to start turning to get the piston mechanism back in. I didn't find that spot for this pen.

 

The nib and feed are friction fit. I never did get the feed out. I managed to seat the nib well enough so that it is no longer loose. I just needed to push it further in, pushing against the shoulders with my rubberized grippy cloth to protect my fingers. The nib is more flexy than I originally thought, now that it is well seated. 

 

Yes, as I understand it, Minerva was a sub-brand of Omas, so it wouldn't be surprising if this one bears a resemblance to an Omas model. 

[senzen]

Good to hear; I found some advice from Fountainbel, I just let it soak overnight (in plain water with a drop of dishwashing liquid, not ammonia though) and lo! The piston is still stiff but at least can be turned now.

[Christopher Godfrey]

Paul, old thread, I know...

 

I think you are misguided if you dismiss Minerva like this: <...Minerva pens were made by Omas. This would have clearly been a utility brand for them, no fancy celluloid here...>

 

No fancy celluloids?  Think again, friend!  This one of yours may very well be an inexpensive model; but Omas also made more affordable models themselves, too, didn't they?  I am afraid I still take poor photos of fountain pens; but I have one Minerva (only) that is green and silver celluloid and it is gorgeous and has one of the most flexible nibs I own.  Also note that the prices of Minerva pens seem (to me) to be going upwards: they are no longer cheap.

 

Good luck with yours, Paul.  At least it sounds as though you have made progress with the nib...?  You can always have the clip re-plated at some later stage, can't you?  And you were quite right about 1 qualita = prima qualita.  Yes, a good one!  Same on mine.

[Paul-in-SF]

13 hours ago, Christopher Godfrey said:

I think you are misguided if you dismiss Minerva like this:

 

Hi Christopher, no disrespect of the line intended, that remark was only directed at my particular pen. 

 

The main thing that makes this pen a problem now is the complete inability to post the cap. I suppose I will keep trying to get the piston mechanism to seat properly, but that will only save about 0.5 mm at the end of the barrel, and I doubt that will make any significant difference. I now occurs to me  to wonder if maybe this isn't the original cap for this pen, it seems unlikely that it was made to not post since it's such a small pen. Also, after some measurements, it appears that the inner cap doesn't meet up with the section by at least 3 mm. So it looks like this cap might have been made for a model that has more distance between the cap threads and the end of the section, as well as a less tapered barrel and piston knob. 

 

On 12/29/2021 at 8:17 PM, senzen said:

I just got exactly the same pen

Senzen, I forgot to ask before, does the cap post on your pen? The cap on my pen measures 58.42 mm long, and the pen unposted measures about 114.75 mm long if the piston mechanism was seated properly. 

[sansenri]

in fact your pen does not seem to be in exceedingly good shape, Paul, which is somewhat a pity.

The Minerva 60 is a nice pen, quite simple in general, usually sporting nice Omas nibs.

I was lucky to get one some years ago for very cheap (mine was full of ink and stuck too, for which I got a further discount from the seller)
As Christophers says, there are some really nice celluloid versions around (those, not cheap unfortunately).

(btw my pen is out of reach at the moment, so I cannot check whether it does post, and honestly I never post practically any pen except the really tiny ones)
 

 

 

 

[senzen]

On 1/2/2022 at 11:36 AM, Paul-in-SF said:

 

Senzen, I forgot to ask before, does the cap post on your pen? The cap on my pen measures 58.42 mm long, and the pen unposted measures about 114.75 mm long if the piston mechanism was seated properly. 

 

Yes, the cap posts securely, same measurements for cap and pen.

[senzen]

On 1/3/2022 at 5:12 AM, sansenri said:

 

The Minerva 60 is a nice pen, quite simple in general, usually sporting nice Omas nibs.

I was lucky to get one some years ago for very cheap (mine was full of ink and stuck too, for which I got a further discount from the seller)
As Christophers says, there are some really nice celluloid versions around (those, not cheap unfortunately).

(btw my pen is out of reach at the moment, so I cannot check whether it does post, and honestly I never post practically any pen except the really tiny ones)
 

 

Nice pen! I don't know if it's the photo but the clip on yours also seems to be slightly bent towards the left, like mine. Did you ever grease the piston, and if so, how?