Azizah, one of our customers, sent us these two pictures of her Waterman 42 Safety filler. She picked this 1930 vintage eyedropper in red ripple hard rubber out from our Catalog #74. Azizah loves music nibs and she told us she just couldn’t miss this opportunity. She shared these two pictures with us; one of the pen itself, the other a writing sample – the nib is no big deal, she joked. Watch for a post on …
Pelikan has recently relaunched their 101N series in Lizard, Red Tortoise, and Brown Tortoiseshell. They look very similar to their vintage counterparts and feel quite similar in terms of the size and design. Pen #15 below is a 1937 Pelikan 101N Lizard. It has a delightful double-broad, flexible, italic nib. This specimen (no pun intended) is in near mint condition. Although you can find the modern Lizard, it won’t have a nib like this on …
Continuing on the (now vintage pens!) Esterbrook trend! For the traveling sales person, Esterbrook had handy cases with slots for various Esterbrook pens (such as the lovely pastels), along with smaller slots across the top for nib units, with corresponding numbers. There was also a nib selection chart with writtng samples tucked into the case. With so many nib units to choose from, it only made sense to carry a selection of pens and nib …
Now in the vintage pens category, Esterbrook’s interchangeable nib system was so great because it offered users the ability to have just one or two pens, and a huge variety of nibs. There were dozens of different nibs, each with its own number and name, that we could wonder how on earth a retailer could keep them all organized and easily available for sale. Esterbrook developed systems for this, of course, one of which is …
Esterbrook was one of the largest fountain pen producers in the US, founded in 1858. They produced an inexpensive but remarkably high quality pen. Walter Sheaffer used to challenge his new salesmen during their training classes about how to convince the retailer to buy Sheaffer pens rather than Esterbrook pens, when the Esterbrooks were a lower cost investment for his shop, and just as good as the Sheaffer pens for his customers. The Esterbrook Pen Company …
Apart from being one of the most popular brands in the history of vintage pens, Waterman really nailed it with their nibs – or points! I enjoy a few things about these ads: the obvious popularity of fountain pens in common magazines, the prices of the pens (and contrasting them to the prices of new and the same vintage pens today), and in particular for this ad, the wonderful description of a point. Fountain pens often come …
Although this isn’t a fountain pen, it does surround the culture of writing. The Gorham Postal Scale was used to weigh letters, books, newspapers and other small parcels to calculate the amount of postage required (of course, in that time, it was still measured in cents. The particular one shown in this advertisement is made of sterling silver and guaranteed to be accurate. Only $10.00! Postal scales are still used today, but they are very different, and probably …
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.
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 …
