S.T. Dupont Porte Plume questions

[mhatta]

Hello everyone!

 

I recently got two Porte Plume from S.T. Dupont. I am very pleased with them.  Beautiful and consummate writer!

 

I've searched this forum and the internet for information on this fountain pen series and I'm surprised at how little information there is about it. I have a couple of questions.

 

1.  Is it really called "Porte Plume"? In Japan, it is called so, but at auctions or such, it is sometimes sold under different names.

 

2. There used to be 10 types of Porte Plume sold in Japan: Line Silver, Line Gold, Silver & Gold, Black Lacquer, Navy Lacquer, Ecaille, Flame, Tiger Eye, Ocean, Nebula(?) (aka Sei-un in Japan).  I think what I got are Ocean and Flame. But I have also seen white Egg Shell and Orange Golddust(?) in photos.  How many kinds were there actually?

 

3. Which company actually made nibs?  I heard nibs for the original Classique were made by Pelikan.  My wild guess is they were made by Waterman, but not sure.

 

I hope someone knowledgeable enlighten me.  Thanks in advance!

[jchch1950]

I think that the name of your pens was different in other countries. Maybe La Plume Ultime. It  was also a model called Gatsby , but I stand to be corrected. Your pens are beautiful, specially the blue lacquer.

[mhatta]

On 9/9/2021 at 11:05 AM, jchch1950 said:

I think that the name of your pens was different in other countries. Maybe La Plume Ultime. It  was also a model called Gatsby , but I stand to be corrected. Your pens are beautiful, specially the blue lacquer.

 

Thanks for comment.  Yes, they are sometimes called "La Plume Ultime".  Was this the original name?  Also, I thought Gatsby had rolled nibs (like Montparnasse), but I'm not sure.

[PithyProlix]

[I realize this thread is a couple years old.]

 

Yes, these are La Plume Ultime. Yours are beautiful! I want them.   After you had them for a while, did you like them? 

 

I have a mostly amber colored lacquer one that changes color depending on light and the angle it is looked at - it's the same as the La Plume Ultime fountain pen pictured here: https://penstylo.blogspot.com/p/dupont-penography.html. I don't know the "type," as you call it. It's easily one of my most beautiful pens. A navy lacquer one is on its way to me now.

 

The next model was the somewhat similar Gatsby. The wrap-around nib started with the Gatsby.

 

I strongly suspect that Dupont started making their own nibs after the first version of the Classique, their first model.

 

[jchch1950]

If I remember correctly the main difference between La Plume Ultime and the Gatsby are the thickness and the ring.  Also they were some new designs of the lacquer in the Gatsby. La Plume Ultime is one of the nicest  Dupont pens.