Help identifying a pen

[Diver]

 

Hi Guys and Gals.

 

I wonder if any of you can help in providing some information of this pen?

 

The pen was shown to me recently by a retired Gentleman, who is a volunteer engineer at the local aircraft museum, in Newark on Trent.  He has had this for a lot of years, residing in the back of a drawer, previously owned by another family member.  The conversation pretty much came about by accident, as we usually talk about his fixing of vintage aircraft, but for some reason, I had just mentioned that I owned a few pens!

 

I digress.  On my next visit (which was last week), he had brought the pen in to show me, stuffed in his work overalls pocket…  I had a look, and it is some sort of Onoto, with a number 3 nib.  The body looks and feels like an acrylic material, but could be anything (not an expert in any way shape or form) with a well worn silver overlay.  The filling mechanism seem jammed solid, the plunger was pulled gently until it stopped, which was not very far.  No forcing, just moved so I could take a picture.

 

I have looked over the internet, and multiple pages on FPN, but not managed to ID the pen, or get any ballpark date on it.  I have no idea if it is valuable, or just worth a few pennies, but have advised that he takes it out of his coveralls and keeps it in some safer place for now!

 

Many Thanks!

[mizgeorge]

I am by no means an Onoto expert, but it certainly shouldn't be rattling around in a set of overalls! It's a hard rubber pen, heavily oxidised (I quite like the colour, but that's a personal thing) but the overlay looks in good condition as does the nib, and I'd hazard a guess that it's a later 3000 - but please let someone with more knowledge (or a copy of the Stephen Hull book) answer that definitively! Is there any marking on the knob (either numbers or a single letter?)

 

There may well be a hallmark which should make dating it very straightforward, but it's almost certainly due a telegram from the Queen (or is it a text message these days?).

 

Definitely worth restoring.

[Diver]

Hi Mizgeorge.

 

Many thanks for the information.  I never thought to check for a hallmark, I will definitely ask him, when I next get to the air museum.  I am not sure if I managed to se it/photograph it.  I thought it was old when I picked it up to photograph it, but wow.  The pen is incredibly light and it felt quite delicate in the hand, so I truly did advise him to put it away somewhere safe, dark, dry, and away from any chemicals.

 

It's definitely the oldest pen I have ever handled, with my own oldest pen being a youthful 30 years old.

 

Many thanks again for spending time to help, I will feed this back at the earliest chance I get to drive there.

 

Dave.