The March 2015 Catalog #74 opens Tuesday, February 24, 2015 for subscribers, and March 2nd to the public. You can always browse the other active Catalogs #73, #72, #71, #70, #69 and #68 (10% off Catalogs 68 through 70). Click here for more information on becoming a subscriber and getting first dibs on the Catalog goodies.
At first glance, one probably has no clue what this could be! In the good days, when handwriting and cursive was taught in elementary schools, an individual teacher would have to grade and correct an untold number of handwritten papers of many, many students. Pictured below are various stamps, designed with the intent to assist a teacher in correcting papers. The stamps have various corrections on them: Use more pushing motion Watch the down stroke …
What could the universal gift be? Ask any fountain pen lover, and they’ll probably say a fountain pen. Waterman’s Ideal fountain pen was a gift for everyone in the family, except the baby. This is a cute and comical ad! Appropriate name, calling it the “Ideal Fountain Pen.” There was a Waterman for everyone then …and now. The Ideal Fountain Pen was not just a new pen that was launched: it was the pinnacle of …
Although I recently shared an ad about the Swan Safety Fountpens (and the delightful pricing), I came across another Swan Safety Fountpen ad that I enjoyed. The ad below emphasizes the features of the pens: they never leak because of the screwdown cap, they never blot because of the ladder feed which controls ink flow and supply, and they always write because of the feed and 14KT gold, iridium-tipped nib. Aside from that, the “little windows” …
This 1915 Mabie Todd Swan Trench Pen in #2 size (pen #178) is an eyedropper-filled pen in simple black chased hard rubber. When WWI started, soldiers were sent into battle and the pen industry filled the demand for fountain pens that could be used in the trenches. Parker was first to introduce the Trench Pen, but Mabie Todd & Co. followed not long after. The Trench Pen had a compartment in the barrel designed to hold …
Mabie, Todd. & Co. is a beloved vintage pen manufacturer, having made fine pens, and especially many very pleasant flexible nibs. Their Swan Safety fountain pens were made in a variety of finishes with designs in chased black hard rubber (vulcanite), sterling silver and solid gold. The smaller E. T. Design even had a ring top for convenient carrying. Some models were quite simple while others rather elaborate. Mabie Todd advertised that their pens that didn’t …
The Postal Reservoir Pen could only be bought through mail order – there were no retail stores that carried it. The intent was to offer an affordable pen which performs as well as any higher priced pen. You could acquire the pen through the mail (the “Post”) and, with not needing to pay for thirty days, had plenty of time to try it out. Apparently the pen in the ad below was $2.50 and was advertised to be comparable to pens of $7 or $8.75. …
The Parker Duofold is “unecessarily good.” Parker was so certain of their Duofolds that they advertised, “Not one can fail, or we’ll make it good free!” The nibs were advertised as “ultra-smooth, which relieves writing pressure,” and it “won’t hard start.” In addition, the barrels were improved, no longer made of rubber, but now non-breakable “Permanite.” Combined with an oversize ink capacity and beautiful colors, it is a tempting pen. Check out our Catalog #73 – …
In a recent post, we shared an ad about the Conklin Self-Filling fountain pen. It was a celebrity endorsed ad, in a somewhat comical way, where Mrs. Grover Cleveland suggests that self-filler pens would have greater sales if the filling mechanism was better known. The logic made sense — the Self-Filler is a lot easier to use and carry with you than an eyedropper-fill pen. How did the Conklin Self-Filling fountain pen actually work? Pretty simply, and Conklin emphasized in …
Not so vintage at all, nor is it a fountain pen! Believe it or not, Catalog #73 has this attractive sketch pen; a Limited Edition #328 in clear acrylic. If you are going to use a pencil, it should really be a pencil! This is a new-old-stock pencil, mint in its original box with papers, leather pouch, and outer box. I love this pencil! A demonstrator pencil is more interesting than one may think, especially …
