What Conklin is it?

[ngc2632]

I found this little Conklin today in an antique shop. The engraving on the nib reads - "Conklin #2 Toledo". The fill lever has the imprint "Pat Nov 17 1925". Can anyone help me identify the model and approximate time of manufacture?

 

Many thanks

David

[Hugh200au]

Well, probably from 1925 to 1928/9 maybe. The ring tops seemed to end around this time. To me it looks like a ladies Endura but most Endura nibs are marked Endura, still a No.2 could be correct ( I don't know) and are good nibs, with the half moon breather consistent with the late 20's. Have you carefully examined the barrel with a decent magnifing glass? . Most Conklins carry both the makers name, Ohio and a model name. Given the good condition of the pen an imprint should be there. To me it looks like a really good find and an interesting and uncommon colour, I'm wondering if it's a hard rubber(first thought) or a plastic pen.

Regards

Hugh

[Shangas]

It's probably celluloid (plastic). Hard rubber came in only black, red or red and black. Not green. As such, this pen is probably second half of the 1920s. It still has a thick, nonstreamlined section, which is indicative of earlier designs of the 1910s. It's made of green plastic, so, mid 1920s. It's a ringtop. Ringtops were used by women and worn around the neck, or by men, and clipped to double albert watch-chains, but pens like these died out in the 1930s and certainly by the 40s, when streamlining came in, and pocket watches began to die out, even in the civilian market.

[Univer]

Hi,

 

Conklin made a range of flat-top "sub-Endura" models in ringtop as well as clip versions; this looks to be one of them. My recollection is that several of the patterns and colors were unique to this line.

 

There's a bit more information here. (Click on "Flat Top Pens" to see some representative models, including one in this blue.)

 

Not sure what to say about the absence of a barrel imprint; my impression is that things sometimes got a little haphazard and chaotic among Conklin's lower-end offerings.

 

Nice find!

 

Cheers,

 

Jon

 

PS This pen is celluloid, but hard rubber was indeed available in colors other than those mentioned. The Waterman blue/green, olive and rose Ripples come to mind (among others).

[Shangas]

What colours was hard rubber available in, Univer? I was under the understanding that colours other than red and black caused the rubber to be too brittle and it just shattered.

[Univer]

Hello there,

 

Initial disclaimer: I reckon the "regulars" in the Pen History forum would know a lot more about this subject than I do. That said...those Waterman Ripples would probably be the first examples one would think of. The olive color was rippled olive and black; the blue-green was (no surprise) rippled blue and green; and the rose was (I think) rippled yellow and red.

 

Like all hard rubber pens, these colors were prone to oxidation. Really pristine specimens are stunning. I couldn't turn up an online photo that shows them off to their best advantage, but here's one by way of reference (scroll down to the relevant tray).

 

Wahl made mottled hard rubber pens in a sort of olive/brown color (not the red-and-black rosewood); I bought one here in the Marketplace, in fact. If you glance at this thread, you'll see a photo showing desk pens in both rosewood and "brown."

 

Moore offered a color called "Tuscan" - I believe the pens were hard rubber rather than celluloid, but I will gladly defer to the experts - that was a nice rich maroon or cordovan. There's a photo here.

 

I'm not a Parker person, but there is evidence that Parker produced a brown/maroon/cordovan hard rubber Duofold in a shade called "Pompeiian Brown." There's apparently some controversy about the precise shade (and even the existence) of that pen, so I'll leave that one to the Parker experts.

 

I'm pretty sure I've seen vintage pens in solid blue, green and yellow - I can't call the specific brands to mind - but some of those may have been prototypes, and their existence certainly doesn't say anything about the relative durability of the various colors.

 

Among recent offerings, there have been hard rubber pens in shades of brownish orange (Bexley Owner's Club 2007, Watermain Liaison, and others, I'm sure), and there's that beautiful Cleo Skribent in blue/black mottled hard rubber. And - paging the Stipula fans! - haven't there been Stipulas in green and blue hard rubber? {Edit: yes there are.}

 

I know there's a German company that's been experimenting with a broad palette of hard rubber colors, but I don't know whether they're quite "there" in terms of quality control.

 

Cheers,

 

Jon

Edited March 11, 2009 by Univer

[Hugh200au]

Hi,

 

Conklin made a range of flat-top "sub-Endura" models in ringtop as well as clip versions; this looks to be one of them. My recollection is that several of the patterns and colors were unique to this line.

 

There's a bit more information here. (Click on "Flat Top Pens" to see some representative models, including one in this blue.)

 

Not sure what to say about the absence of a barrel imprint; my impression is that things sometimes got a little haphazard and chaotic among Conklin's lower-end offerings.

 

Nice find!

 

Cheers,

 

Jon

 

PS This pen is celluloid, but hard rubber was indeed available in colors other than those mentioned. The Waterman blue/green, olive and rose Ripples come to mind (among others).

 

Hi Jon

That links interesting, didn't realize the "Toledo" came in a ringtop. That certainly identifies this pen, and interestingly could be a bit younger than I had thought.

Regards

Hugh

 

[Hirsch]

It's a lady's Conklin student pen. The time of this pen was roughly concurrent with the Endura line, IIRC. Some of the student pens appear in the same plastics as the Endura line, but there are others that use plain plastics. One line of student pens used some very collectible plastics unique to the line, including the "Halloween" (white with black and orange veins), the "Zebra" (white with black veins, also a similar pen with green veins), and a couple of others.

[RevAaron]

Do you know what kind of plastic was used for pens like the Zebra or Halloween patterns? They look (to me) a lot like the non-celluloid plastics used in many lower-end pens of the time, like those made by Watersons or Spors.

 

They're not celluloid, rubber, or bakelite... I'd love to know what they are!

[Univer]

Hi,

 

Are Spors pens (and Nassaus, and Watersons, et al.) known to be made of a material other than celluloid? I'd be interested to learn more, since most reference sources I'm familiar with - not that this is necessarily conclusive - seem to agree that the Spors pens (and the wildly patterned Conklins, for that matter) are in fact made of celluloid. The one and only Spors I've restored certainly seemed like celluloid - thin celluloid, but celluloid just the same.

 

If there's a period mystery plastic out there, that would certainly be a fascinating discovery.

 

Cheers,

 

Jon

 

 

[Johnny Appleseed]

Parker did produce a "Pompeiian Brown" prior to going with the orange-red color that became the big red.

 

There apparently were other colors of HR. Rob Astyk described some Day Rubber information that had green HR as early as 1910. I have a catalog from 1926 that lists Good Service ring-tops in "Black, Blue, Red, Green and Coral" hard rubber.

 

John