A like-new 125-year-old Waterman 14

[Sinjin]

I just acquired this pen, and I am so excited about it that I wanted to share. As far as I can tell, this pen was made between 1898-1901 and appears to have all its original parts. It’s super-shiny—stunning in person.

 

Since these photos were taken, I have wiped the pen down and put it back together. I didn’t remove the feed. It looks quite clean, and the section is so thin at the front, I was worried that it might be marred in the process of knocking the feed out. However, I found that it is fairly easy to wiggle the nib in and out with the assistance of a little bit of rubber for grip.

 

I’ve inked it up and I’ve been writing with it. It’s a fantastic pen.

 

I spent $400 on this from eBay based on some blurry-cam images. I was stressing about how much I spent until it got here, and then all those feelings evaporated when I saw how perfect it is. What do y’all think? How did I do?

 

[darkziv]

I know a bit late but very nice pen, I have a 12 in the same finish

Does the nib have much flexibility?

[shalitha33]

Congrats to both of you  Waterman eyedroppers are nice pens to write with.

[Sinjin]

Thank you for taking a look! It is lovely to write with! And it is quite flexible but it requires some little pressure to flex the tines. It will reliably produce a range of line widths from a hairline to about 1.5mm. It snaps back to a hairline instantly and it never misbehaves, except that when it starts to get low on ink, it will sometimes write a little too wet from the pressure of the air inside as my hand warms the pen body. And of course ink likes to get on the section from time to time due to the lack of an inner cap.
 

I love this pen. It is more comfortable and produces more beautiful letters with greater precision and reliability than any of my others, many of which are also old Waterman’s, though not as old as this one.
 

I also like the markings quite a lot. Note that NEW YORK on the nib is written straight across, rather than in the shape of a crescent to form the bottom half of a globe shape (with the Waterman’s imprint forming the top half). I suspect that this change coincided with the adoption of the globe trademark around the turn of the century. Note the pen body also lacks the globe imprint.

[inkstainedruth]

Hadn't seen this thread before now, and I'm glad that someone said it was an eyedropper fill (I'd been curious about that).  Also now wondering if it's ebonite from the look of it (ebonite has a warmth to it that you don't get from acrylic pens).

It certainly is a pretty pen -- but WAAY too rich for my blood....  Sigh....

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[Sinjin]

It is ebonite yes. Smells like a tire if I rub it

[Sinjin]

And you can find old waterman eyedroppers a lot more affordable than what I paid for this, if you’re lucky and/or patient!

[inkstainedruth]

Well, I've never been THAT lucky, but did find a Waterman Ideal ringtop (I think it's a 52-1/2) chased hard rubber that was a lever filler at an estate sale a little over a year ago for a buck.  I didn't really have my hopes up at that sale, but then when I went down in the basement I spotted a couple of ink bottles on a table, and thought, "Hmmmmm....  If there's ink, I wonder if there's any pens...."

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[PAKMAN]

Glad this post was re-energized. I missed it the first time around. What an incredible pen! Congrats!

[darkziv]

Damn it, I just purchased another #12 in mottled hard rubber, seller listed as a wet noodle, when I received it looked great but the nib is not much softer than a friggin nail, p*ssed off as I paid good money for it.

It had all the right signs, nice extra fine tip and long tines, went to contact the seller and surprise surprise he's no longer a registered user,  luck of the draw with vintage pens.  

Edited April 4 by darkziv

[Sinjin]

Thanks! And thanks for stopping by and sharing! I would love to see these pens. I love to see nibs that look soft but aren’t and vice versa. And I’ve never been so lucky with pens as to find a $1 Waterman. That’s fantastic. Luck of the draw indeed

[darkziv]

On 4/6/2025 at 1:51 PM, Sinjin said:

Thanks! And thanks for stopping by and sharing! I would love to see these pens. I love to see nibs that look soft but aren’t and vice versa. And I’ve never been so lucky with pens as to find a $1 Waterman. That’s fantastic. Luck of the draw indeed

I forgot to ask do you know if that's the original feed for the pen?

[shalitha33]

I'm no waterman expert so I can be very wrong :(. Feed to me looks correct for a pre-globe narrow feed Waterman 12 or 14 pens.


There is also a feed that extends in to the barrel (possibly earlier?) on older thin straight caps (2 or 4 etc) for both Waterman and cheaper Remex pens as far as I know .

[Sinjin]

On 4/8/2025 at 7:39 PM, darkziv said:

I forgot to ask do you know if that's the original feed for the pen?

I believe the pen is all original and was unused

[darkziv]

On 4/15/2025 at 3:49 PM, Sinjin said:

I believe the pen is all original and was unused

Nice, it's not often you see those early feeds