Celluloid is, unbeknownst to many, a type of plastic. It’s a class of compounds created from cellulose nitrate and camphor. Celluloid was used frequently as the material for vintage pen caps and barrels because it was more durable than hard rubber and because it was available in a myriad of colors, not just cardinal or black. It’s not used as often as plastics/acrylics today for pens because it’s not as stable as these materials, even …
Waterman came up with some pretty good lines for their Ideal fountain pens – this time, that they worked both on land and sea because they didn’t get seasick! Of course, that doesn’t mean the user wouldn’t. Truly the “ideal” fountain pen!
The simplicity of an eyedropper is one of the reasons to love it. The less parts there are, the less there is to break. One of our customers loves eyedroppers because of how easy it is to disassemble to clean thoroughly. What is your preferred vintage pen filling mechanism?
This 1917 Crocker fountain pen (#263) uses the unusual “hatchet-filler” mechanism. Crocker was founded in the late 1890s by Seth Crocker, who then went on to start the Chilton Pen Company. This is a black hard rubber ring-top model with a gold-filled knurled cap top and an extra-fine/fine flexible nib. This Crocker Boston #3 is in near mint condition! (Still available!). The Crocker is a wonderful vintage pen. The hatchet-filler came in 1913, after the “blow-filler.” …
We are pleased to announce a sale of 10% off of any item remaining in Catalog #71. There are about 60 wonderful vintage pens and pencils remaining – hopefully one will be just what you’re looking for. Please be sure to also check out the remaining pens in the other active Catalogs!
Not all vintage pens were made to be carried in a pocket or purse. Desk pens are long, tapered pens normally held in a base, nib down, and of course are designed to sit on a desk. Many companies made desk sets and designs range from the very simple to extremely ornate. The base is heavy to keep the desk set in place. Below are some Conklin, Waterman, and Parker desk sets. Other manufacturers include Esterbrook, Sheaffer, …
The Parker Vacumatic are some of the most beautiful vintage pens because of their wonderful laminated and striated caps and barrels. They were launched in 1932 and were so popular they soon outsold their predecessor, the Duofold. The name changed twice: from “Golden Arrow” to “Vacuum-Filler” and finally to “Vacumatic.” The pen (not surprisingly) features a vacuum-filling system that took five years to be perfected, at no small cost of $125,000 (in 1930′ dollars!). The filling mechanism was so popular …
Waterman has produced several filling mechanisms in addition to the lever-fillers and eyedroppers; for example, there was also the “coin filler.” The coin filler operates with a prop: Waterman provided a special “coin” to use with these pens. In the side of the barrel is an open rectangular shaped slot under which is a press bar. Once depressed by the special coin (or of course anything else the user might decide to use), the bladder was evacuated …
In addition to demonstrators/Ink-Vue fountain pens for showing customers how the inside of a fountain pen worked, Waterman also made Dummy Pens. They look like a regular Waterman at first glance, but they were not functional pens – they were just “dummies” for display. Since the pens often sat in display cases in shop windows, they were painted black to minimize fading from sunlight exposure. A hard rubber pen sitting in sunlight and heat for …
Pen #20 is a 1921 Waterman in a beautiful Red Ripple. It’s a #7 lever-filler with a “Pink” color-coded nib and matching band at the top of the cap. Waterman produced 10 nib “colors” for the #7 pen: red, green, purple, pink, blue, yellow, brown, grey, black, and white (an example of the “white” has yet to be found). Each “color” corresponded to the style of the nib. The “Pink” is usually “fine/triple-flexible” with the highest flexibility of …
