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Pen material preference?


OutlawJosey

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1 hour ago, TheRedBeard said:

On silver: it may look unattractive only due to bad maintenance ;)

Yes, maintenance. Work. But also there will be bits that remain tarnished because you can’t get to them. And I’m not keen on polishing a section or band and micro-scratching the adjacent plastic in the process.

 

What’s wrong with rhodium or gold plating? Cheaper too. I don’t see anything but disadvantages to sterling silver. But I agree you can work around the oxidization problems, unlike with ebonite.

 

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17 minutes ago, MoriartyR said:

Yes, maintenance. Work. But also there will be bits that remain tarnished because you can’t get to them. And I’m not keen on polishing a section or band and micro-scratching the adjacent plastic in the process.

 

What’s wrong with rhodium or gold plating? Cheaper too. I don’t see anything but disadvantages to sterling silver. But I agree you can work around the oxidization problems, unlike with ebonite.

I don't mind rhodium plating for sterling jewelry -- that's very hard to clean without an ultrasonic cleaner (especially for chains and fine detail on small pieces).  But for my sterling overlay Morrison ringtops and the sterling Ciselé 75, it's okay (to me anyway -- YMMV) for there being a little oxidation in the recesses.  Gives the pen a bit of character and brings out the design elements better -- after all, they're not minty minty NOS (even the 75 has probably been around for close to half a century at this point).

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

 

"It's very nice, but frankly, when I signed that list for a P-51, what I had in mind was a fountain pen."

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1 hour ago, MoriartyR said:

Yes, maintenance. Work. But also there will be bits that remain tarnished because you can’t get to them. And I’m not keen on polishing a section or band and micro-scratching the adjacent plastic in the process.

 

What’s wrong with rhodium or gold plating? Cheaper too. I don’t see anything but disadvantages to sterling silver. But I agree you can work around the oxidization problems, unlike with ebonite.

 

Nothing wrong with gold-plating at all :)

And I like all my gold-plated 61s and 65s and even 88s/Rialtos very much, too :)

But I also have no problems with very careful polishing my sterling silver P75s either ;)

All the best is only beginning now...

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1 hour ago, como said:

1. celluloid

2. ebonite

3. urushi

4. wood

5. sterling silver trims

Edit: 6. vintage silver overlay 🙂

Thank you, Como :)

And there is my Top 5:

1. Sterling Silver

2. SP, GP

3. Lucite

4. Lacquer over brass

5. Epoxy/resin over brass

All the best is only beginning now...

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Funny how tarnish generally gets talked about as a bat think. There's nothing wrong with tarnish in my world. In fact in most cases I prefer it to clean and bright. My favorite is a well rubbed tarnish.

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5 hours ago, maclink said:

Yes... silver tarnishes very well, IMO.  Love it, hence my interest in the Yard-o-Leds, but alas, the price! :gaah:

 

Hi Maclink,

 

Look into Waldmann Pens; they offer a nice range of sterling pens at a nicer price. ;)

 

- Sean  :)

https://www.catholicscomehome.org/

 

"Every one therefore that shall confess Me before men, I will also confess him before My Father Who is in Heaven." - MT. 10:32

"Any society that will give up liberty to gain security deserves neither and will lose both." - Ben Franklin

Thank you Our Lady of Prompt Succor & St. Jude.

 

 

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I like my silver P-75 cisele, gun-metal colored than polished to have someone ask, 'Is that Chrome?''

 

:P14 K/585 gold of course is the only way to go.:bunny01:

OK an overlay will do too....a no-name gold pen, and matching MP.

My guess was the  body was a fishbone Luxor.

Clip that is not seen is what I call a Pfortzheim one, similar to my three silver overlay's. Standing Bison, eyeball to a BB,  Easy Full Flex first stage of superflex, , perhaps a 5 X tine spread.

 

The standing bison was also found on Niicroma (steel) nibs but mine  is  gold. Also a Pfortzheim nib. Pfortzheim was the main and still is the main jewerly producing city in Germany.

 

Mrs. Benz took her kids on the very first Automobile drive from Ladenburg to Pfortzheim; a whole 85 km....having to stop at a drug store to gas up.

There is a great jewelry museum in Pfortzheim, it's amazing how up to date some of the stuff was from 2-3,000 years ago. 

The steel nib.

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CKhIW6H.jpg

Sometimes I just love live auctions.....especially back when telephone bidding was new.....I got a steal on this.....no where near gold price.....no where any where near gold price.....it was a while back, but was E-150 or less, for the set...having tested the nib before hand, never expected to win it.....It Was Gold!

 

Depending on the pen, I often drive dealers out with a bid of 150.....My rolled gold MB 742, also had a great nib, and got it for the same price. But the MB is much the heavier pen. Must have been brass gold plated, and this one is a gold overlay over a plastic body. Don't know, if the MP is a overlay, but imagine it is. It's not heavy enough to be fully gold. The cap is, but I suspect the lead holding case is brass.

 

 

In reference to P. T. Barnum; to advise for free is foolish, ........busybodies are ill liked by both factions.

 

 

The cheapest lessons are from those who learned expensive lessons. Ignorance is best for learning expensive lessons.

 

 

 

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9 minutes ago, Bo Bo Olson said:

...

The standing bison was also found on Niicroma (steel) nibs but mine  is  gold. Also a Pfortzheim nib. Pfortzheim was the main and still is the main jewerly producing city in Germany.

...

fpn_1575920569__img_20191209_202837_resi

 

@Bo Bo OlsonVery interesting nib... A while ago I was looking for information on a vintage replacement nib which had a bison on it. Your pen seems to have the same nib.

 

 

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14 hours ago, maclink said:

Yes... silver tarnishes very well, IMO.  Love it, hence my interest in the Yard-o-Leds, but alas, the price! :gaah:

Perfectly agree.. YOL Viceroy Grand Victorian is my grail pen...

All the best is only beginning now...

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8 hours ago, corniche said:

 

Hi Maclink,

 

Look into Waldmann Pens; they offer a nice range of sterling pens at a nicer price. ;)

 

- Sean  :)

Thank you, Sean.

As always, great recommendation from you :)

I have never looked at Waldmann pens, but now find them pretty interesting and attractive... Will definitely consider purchasing one or two in full silver finish... 

All the best is only beginning now...

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Somewhere in my posts on the com I 'know' the name of the maker.

Thomas/Kaweco who is a scholar of German pens, told me (sometimes I meet him at flea markets.....as soon as Mask and Don't Pass Go, passes; I'll have to get down again to his pen museum across from the the ruins of the Handschueheim castle here in Heidelberg) ...or he reported the name to us here on the com.

Heidelberg was once the fountain pen capitol of the world.

 

Of course he won't sell the celluloid pen bodies.

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Another pen making machine.

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Something to do with nibs.

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I don't remember what this is.

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Half the machinery he has, there is no room for in the City refused to let him build a industrial steel gitter second floor in case some drunk jumps off of it. An much of his pen collection has no room, even the best pens.

JZhWtLT.jpg

 

In a half back room with some of the machinery, pile of Herlitx/Luxor pens, and a few other major minor brands;;;; just in a pile. I told him to lock them up. He's good fella, with no thought of being robbed. My hand holding.

No, he don't sell spare parts.

xk9tMSJ.jpg

He's got lots more machinery including a nib press that required a fork lift to transport it....no space.

He had to twist City Halls arm for years to get the old Art Nouveau firehouse for the museum.

 

His uncle use to work in the Heidelberg Kaweco factory. It went bankrupt a few times and moved all over the place, once even in Greece. (MB& Pelikan also went bankrupt in the '70-80s. )

The piston Dia has a great nib. But I don't collect Kaweco.

 

1900-1914, Kaweco imported and used the best nibs in the world; US Morton companies. April 1914 Kaweco bought up machinery and brought over US trainers from Morton to train their work force. Then came August 1914, and the Americans had to leave. Skilled workers can learn a lot in four months. Enough to be still the best nib in Germany.

The worlds best nibs were made at Kaweco until @ 1930, when the owner went bankrupt from the market crash. The factory was still solid. The new owner said cut labor costs, a second rate nib like Soennecken or MB was good enough.

I've posted on hand hammered and annealed nibs, with the delicate Iridium tipping protected from the heat of the Bunsin burner by potato pieces.

Guess the factory canteen always had potato soup.:P


 

 

In reference to P. T. Barnum; to advise for free is foolish, ........busybodies are ill liked by both factions.

 

 

The cheapest lessons are from those who learned expensive lessons. Ignorance is best for learning expensive lessons.

 

 

 

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3 minutes ago, I-am-not-really-here said:

Ebonite grip, wood barrel.  Vintage (pre 1940) flex nib.

Now that sounds like a lovely pen!!

Eat The Rich_SIG.jpg

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