www.VintageWriting.com
Pens
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To order, click on the Paypal 'Buy Now' button, or email for invoice. When requesting an invoice, give the name and number of the item, and the country to which it is to be shipped. Check my eBay listings here.
Compare the "a"s. Side-by-side writing samples of some of the pens for sale here. The squares are 5mm wide:
AUGUST PRICE REDUCTIONS IN RED -- PAYPAL ONLY PLEASE
 Conklin 50, Big Crescent Filler, Wide Band---Fine, Extra-Flexible Conklin 5 Nib  1920s
Conklin 50 crescent filler in black chased hard rubber with gold filled trim.
Somewhat better than most 50s, since it has the wide gold filled band at the cap
lip. Not the largest size made, but in fact just as long, though not as fat, as
the biggest, the 75. It's still noticeably bigger than the Parker Duofold
Senior. The nib is huge, bigger than a Waterman 7 keyhole nib. This one is fine
and extra flexible, capable of fine hairlines (for an iridium-tipped fountain
pen) and wide swells. Very good condition with minor fading, some wear
(especially clip high points). The back of the donut has some scratched-in
repair notations. Restored and working with new sac installed. Length just over
5 5/8 inches.
Item 9517 $385 NOW $350 plus $10 shipping and insurance to USA addresses, $30 for International. Email for invoice.
 S
P E C I A L N I B S Mabie Todd Swan 1500 Slipcap -- Fine, Extra-Flexible Nib  Swan
slipcap eyedropper pen c1910-'20, black chased hard rubber, made in England.
Number 2 nib with hard rubber over- and underfeed. A very decent early fountain
pen for Spencerian or copperplate-style writing: good thin hairlines and nice
wide swells. See writing samples. The ink is 2010 Boston Brahmin Black. The two
feeds help with inkflow. Good condition with typical wear and fading. Most
imprints legible if you concentrate. Fills with an eyedropper -- unscrew the
barrel, fill with ink, replace. The nib/feed/section unit has Swan's extra long
feed that sticks out the back, as well as its spiral wire, apparently intended
as an additional aid to ink flow. Length just under 5 1/4 inches. Item 9540 $150 plus $10 shipping and insurance to USA addresses, $30 for International. Email for invoice.
 Mabie Todd Swan 1500 Slipcap -- Extra Fine, Ultra-Flexible Nib  Swan
slipcap eyedropper pen c1910-'20, black chased hard rubber, made in England.
Number 2 nib with hard rubber over- and underfeed. One of the best pens I've had
for Spencerian or copperplate-style writing. Not quite as good as the Spencerian
No. 1 steel dip nibs I use for calligraphy, but almost. As good as any of the
gold iridium-tipped Victorian dip nibs I've used. Excellent thin hairlines and
big fat swells. See writing samples. The ink is 2010 Boston Brahmin Black. The
two feeds help with inkflow. Excellent condition with some wear and fading, but
clear imprints all around. Fills with an eyedropper -- unscrew the barrel, fill
with ink, replace. The nib/feed/section unit has Swan's extra long feed that
sticks out the back, as well as its spiral wire, apparently intended as an
additional aid to ink flow. Length just under 5 1/4 inches. An extraordinary
pen.
Item 9541 $350 plus $10 shipping and insurance to USA addresses, $30 for International. Email for invoice.
The L-94 was one of Moore's larger pens, slightly bigger than an oversized Sheaffer Lifetime flattop, fitted with the long and elegant Moore No. 4 nib which, despite the lower number, is comparable to a Waterman 7. Here's an unusual wide-banded chased model. The chased version of this pen, with no fancy trim, was one of my first Moores, and I looked for a long time before I found this one. Excellent condition with near perfect dark hard rubber, minor wear to the chasing. The cap band is perfect, with crisp engraving and initials 'TJW' in the cartouche. Two typical Moore flaws are present---irritating, but neither affecting use: the short crack at one corner of the lever slot, and the barely perceptible line coming up from the back of the nib, into the '4'. The nib is fine and semiflexible, the typical 'Maniflex'-style. Restored and working with new sac installed. Length just under 5 3/8 inches. Item 9026 $265 NOW $225 plus $10.00 shipping and insurance to USA addresses, $30 for international. Email for invoice.
One of the coolest fountain pen shapes, short and stocky, with a big nib. Short version of the hefty L-94, with the same large No. 4 Moore nib. Smooth hard rubber with the neat arrangement of two cap bands, one in the normal place and one at the top. Excellent condition with minor fading to the hard rubber, near perfect gold filled trim. The nib does have the typical crack coming up from the base, but the lever slot is perfect. Fine to medium, and semiflexible. Restored and working with new sac installed. Length is 4½ inches. Item 9027 $185 NOW $160 plus $10.00 shipping and insurance to USA addresses, $30 for international. Email for invoice.
 Moore Oversize L-96, Lined Hard Rubber, Striped Top Crown -- Italic 'Maniflex' Nib  Moore's
largest pen at the time, the L96. Lined black hard rubber. Striped crown, with
gold filled bands alternating with hard rubber. These bands are actual pieces --
black hard rubber and gold filled rings that you can remove and rearrange. Lots
of craftsmanship in these pens. Interesting transition piece with a late '20s
rounded-top clip and a No. 6-size nib marked 'Maniflex.' Very good condition
with virtually no trim wear, but some fading to the hard rubber. Excellent
imprint. The nib is a slightly flexible italic point, capable of broad-pen
calligraphy, yet very nice for everyday use. Maniflex nibs were supposed to be
somewhat flexible: stiff enough for carbon copies but flexible enough for
everyday use (by '20s standards). This nib lives up to that description. It's
got a little bit of flex. Restored and working with a new sac installed. Length
is about 5 5/8 inches. A beautiful and impressive pen, with an unusual nib.
Item 9525 $365 plus $10 shipping and insurance to USA addresses, $30 for International. Email for invoice.
 English
Onoto pen, probably 1930s, in barleycorn celluloid and gold filled trim. Big No.
5 nib, two tone, broad semiflexible point. Near mint with instructions and the
bottom part of the original box. Onoto piston filler, restored and working.
Length a little over five inches. Item 9526 $235 plus $10 shipping and insurance to USA addresses, $30 for International. Email for invoice.
Parker Duofold Senior Flattop 1920s, Black and Pearl Very good to excellent, minor trim wear, excellent color. An unusual example of one of these with an undented top crown. Takes 1.1mm lead. Length 140mm Item 9530 $185 plus $10.00 shipping and insurance to USA addresses, $30 for international. Email for invoice.
The prettiest of the Vacumatic colors, I think, in the largest size. Double jeweled Maxima, 1939, with striped top and bottom jewel, two tone Vac nib. Excellent to near mint condition with crisp edges, no visible trim wear. Beautiful, bright color. The nib is a fine point that actually has a little bit of flexibility. Clear imprint with '9' date code and no dots -- fourth quarter of 1939. Some minor surface scratches on the plastic, some scratches on the nib. Barrel transparency is present but not dramatic. Restored and working with a new diaphragm installed. Length 5 5/16 inches. Item 9505 $635 NOW $550 plus $10 shipping and insurance to USA addresses, $30 for international. Email for invoice.
S P E C I A L N I B S Sheaffer 1920s 'Lane Change' Lined Hard Rubber Ringtop -- Medium, Ultra-Flexible Nib  Like
many Sheaffers in this charming pattern, the nib is nice and flexible. In this
case, extremely flexible. Elegant long-tined nib, medium point, with a
capacity to get as wide with pressure as any nib I've seen. Makes a wet line.
You can do amazing things -- from normal writing to a sort of R. Crumb look. The
only inconvenience is that the ink flow does not always keep up with the nib.
(Remember, 1920s users didn't attempt the engrosser's script that we like, with
a wide line on every downstroke.) The ink here is Diamine Royal Blue. Black hard
rubber with gold filled trim. Excellent condition with good dark color and clear
pattern and imprint. Restored and working with a new sac installed. About 4 1/2
inches long. Item 9538 $150 plus $10 shipping and insurance to USA addresses, $30 for International. Email for invoice.
 The iconic Sheaffer flattop, complete with matching pencil, in black Radite celluloid with gold filled trim. Some teethmarks in the pencil crown, but the top is perfectly round -- very rare for these pencils. In fact, the pencil is much harder to find than the pen. Matching period script owner's name 'J.A. McEwen' established the eternal link between these two pieces. Massive Sheaffer Lifetime nib, smooth, fine and firm. Restored and working with a new sac installed in the pen. Item 9052 $265 NOW $235 plus $10.00 shipping and insurance to USA addresses, $30 for international. Email for invoice.
Sheaffer Lifetime Balance pen in jade green. The first iteration of the Balance pen in the next-to-biggest size. Extra-long pointy barrel, pinned lever made of a solid piece of gold plated brass, long hump clip, short early section. Almost as long, and a little thinner, than the oversized Senior model. Quite simply the best color in this pen I've had. It's easy to forget how vibrant the colors were in a pen shop in the late '20s, after the advent of celluloid. Here's something to remind us. Bright green with lots of perfect cream-colored marbled highlights and a lovely ivory white dot. Hefty Lifetime nib in the correct long shape, fine to medium and firm. Excellent condition with minor wear to the clip ball, shallow surface scratching, excellent imprint. Sac removed to preserve color. Length about 5 11/16 inches (144mm). Item 9514 $550 NOW $485 plus $10 shipping and insurance to USA addresses, $30 for International. Email for invoice.
Sheaffer Balance Senior Pencil, Marine Green Marble, Long Hump Clip The biggest Sheaffer Balance pencil made, and the earliest, biggest version. About 1930. Very good to excellent condition with minor trim wear, some nicks and scratches, excellent color (minor fading toward top). Takes 1.1mm lead. Length 147mm Item 9531 $115 plus $10.00 shipping and insurance to USA addresses, $30 for international. Email for invoice.
Sheaffer Balance Senior Pencil, Marine Green Marble, Long Hump Clip -- Extra Bright, Bluish Color The biggest Sheaffer Balance pencil made, and the earliest, biggest version. About 1930. Excellent condition with minor trim wear, excellent bright color. Unusually intense color for this pencil, with a slightly more blue tone than usually seen. Takes 1.1mm lead. Length 145mm Item 9532 $165 plus $10.00 shipping and insurance to USA addresses, $30 for international. Email for invoice.
    S H E A F F E R S Y O U ' V E N E V E R S E E N B E F O R E  Sheaffer Oversize Balance, Gray Marble -- Rare Feathertouch 8, Non-Lifetime I think I'm correct in saying that the gray marble is the most rare color of Sheaffer's 1930s Balance pens. It's probably neck and neck with Roseglow, if you include the stripes. I've only seen a few oversize senior pens in this color. (It's different, of course, from the more common red-veined gray marble.) Here's one that's even more rare than the 'normal' Lifetime Balance Senior. It's an oversized pen, the largest size made, but instead of a Lifetime nib and white dot on the cap, the pen has a Feathertouch 8 nib and no white dot. The pen is in every other way identical to the oversized Lifetime pen. The Feathertouch 8 nib is the same size as the two-tone Lifetime nib found on the oversized Lifetime model. But there's no Lifetime designation, and no white dot. It's a bit like the mid-'20s distinction between the oversized Lifetime Senior flattop and the nearly identical 7-30 -- same size, different details. One interesting distinction: notice that the incised line in the nib, the line between the uncovered gold area at the back, and the platinum plated area in front, is straight, not curved or angled forward, as it is in the Lifetime version. I doubt anybody out there has seen this pen before. I've had Feathertouch 8 seniors before, but only in black. Excellent condition with no chips or cracks, clear imprint with molten edges on the letters, and excellent plating on the two tone nib. The only noticeable wear is on the chrome plating on the cap band, which is notoriously delicate -- it comes off with very little actual use. The chrome on the clip is actually quite nice. I'd call the nib a medium point. It's firm. Lever filler, restored and working with a new sac installed. Length is about 5½ inches. Item 9091 $635 NOW $485 plus $10 shipping and insurance to USA addresses, $30 for international. Email for invoice.
 Sheaffer 3-25 Vest Balance, 1930s, Rare Oblique Sheaffer's charming '30s vest Balance pen in jade Radite celluloid. Canadian 3-25 pen with correct Canadian markings and a wild steep-sloped oblique nib. An amazing writing tool in an ultra-portable package. Very good condition with no chips or cracks, some typical discoloration but not bad, some wear showing to the imprint. Restored and working with a new sac installed. Length about 4 1/8 inches. Item 9054 $185 NOW $150 plus $10.00 shipping and insurance to USA addresses, $30 for international. Email for invoice.
Sheaffer Balance Senior Pencil, Black with Gold Filled Trim c1937 Surprisingly hard to find. Near mint. Takes .9mm lead. Length 141mm Item 9534 $135 plus $10.00 shipping and insurance to USA addresses, $30 for international. Email for invoice.
 1950s Sheaffer Snorkel set in one of the hard to find colors: peacock blue. This is the Statesman model, with plastic cap and barrel, somewhat more desirable than the metal-capped models like the Crest and Sentinel, because there's more peacock blue to enjoy. Near mint condition with the 'Fine' sticker still present on the pen's section, and correct F4 stencil -- palladium silver Triumph nib, fine point. The pen's original filling system is working well, with lots of suction; the pencil works too. The snorkel tube retracts farther into the feed than most, but this does not affect function. Both are marked 'Best Wishes Ed Sullivan' with Ed's signature. There is no better midcentury memento than this. The Ed Sullivan show was not a radio holdover; it started out in the new medium of television, in 1948, as Talk of the Town, becoming the Ed Sullivan Show in 1955, and continuing right up until 1971. Item 9519 $265 NOW $225 plus $10 shipping and insurance to USA addresses, $30 for International. Email for invoice.
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I P P E N S Snapfil (Houston Pen Co.) 'Snap-Filler' -- Needlepoint, Flexible Nib  This
obscure Iowa maker created some interesting pens. William A. Houston was behind
Snapfil, Houston and Jiffy pens. They used this cool lever-inspired filling
system where you lift up a backward-mounted lever, and then another lever falls
into place for you to push against a pressure bar. This Snapfil pen also has an
elegant ski-slope clip (it's tight against the cap but moves from side to side a
bit -- there's a screw on the cap top which may control it, but I didn't want to
try). The Snapfil No. 2 nib is extremely fine, and stretches to a very
respectable width with pressure. It's snappy -- the tines close readily when the
pressure is relieved. The result is a pen that's extremely well suited for
copperplate-style writing. In the search for the perfect fountain pen, one that
writes like a Victorian dip pen, this occupies a special place. It's like a
smaller dip pen, for delicate writing. The pen is black chased hard rubber with
nickel trim, possibly never used before I replaced the sac and filled it. From
an Iowa estate auction. Restored and working with a new sac installed. Length
about 4 3/4 inches.
Item 9542 $275 plus $10 shipping and insurance to USA addresses, $30 for International. Email for invoice.
  Waterman
52, 1920s, in black chased hard rubber with gold filled trim. This pen has an
unusual gold filled band, with a large rectangle and groups of engraved lines.
Charming. Very good condition with noticeable trim wear and typical wear and
fading to the hard rubber. It's a brown/olive/khaki color. The No. 2 Waterman
nib is fine and flexible, not terribly soft, but about the same as a typical
general-use 1920s nib -- ordinary at the time, but exotic by today's standards.
Restored and working with a new sac installed.
Item 9527 $165 plus $10 shipping and insurance to USA addresses, $30 for International. Email for invoice.
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O U N T A I N P E N S T H A T W R I T E L I K E D I
P P E N S Waterman 14, Smooth Black Hard Rubber -- Fine, Ultra-Flexible Nib  My
ideal, the thing I have been searching for since I discovered vintage fountain
pens, is a pen that was just as fine and flexible as a Victorian dip pen. They
are typically very fine and very flexible, unfortunately often found damaged or
missing iridium. My pen guru Pier Gustafson mounts them in big fountain pens,
and uses them for calligraphy (though he always dips, in addition to using the
fountain pen's internal ink supply). I've found a lot of fountain pens that come
close, or that offer other desirable qualities, but very seldom have I found
something that fits this ideal -- maybe five pens in my collection. This is one
of them. The nib is very fine and extremely flexible. It's virtually impossible
to write with it without flexing. Its extra long tines spread to a very wide
line when pressure is added. The squares in the Rhodia paper I use for the
writing samples are 5mm wide, so you can see how wide the lines get. The pen is
a clipless Waterman 14 eyedropper, generally excellent with great color, deep
molten imprint, original red color in model number, but with a spray of
itsy-bitsy nicks in the cap. The exaggerated elongated shape of the No. 4 nib
makes it very attractive. The only minus with the nib is that it has a crack
running straight back from the breather hole. It's not a good thing, I admit,
but the tines forward of the breather hole flex so readily that there is very
little pressure on this area. If it bothers you, a trip to Mottishaw may be in
order. I'm having too much fun using it myself. The flow is excellent, with very
few empty swells when using an engrosser's hand (every downstroke fat). Although
we all must remember that these pens were made for general use, not multiple
consecutive fat downstrokes. The ink in the samples is 2010 Boston Brahmin Black
(vintage ink reverse-engineered by Noodler's Nathan Tardif). Item 9539 $500 plus $10 shipping and insurance to USA addresses, $30 for International. Email for invoice.
Waterman 1920s Sterling Overlay, Rare Pattern, Large Size Large size, as was generally sold with 455 or 456 sterling overlay pens. Unknown pattern similar to pansy panel. Excellent, no dings except one pinprick on top, no engraving in cartouche. Takes 1.1mm lead. Length 137mm Item 9529 $225 plus $10.00 shipping and insurance to USA addresses, $30 for international. Email for invoice.
  Waterman
0556 in gold filled filigree. A hard to find example of a larger 1920's Waterman
overlay pen, large and hefty, the gold filled version of the substantial 56.
Excellent condition with very little wear (top edge of cap, top of clip). Notice
the pristine clip ball. Artfully engraved name 'Robt. H. West' in barrel.
There's one minor ding on the top edge, one nick in the hard rubber visible in
one cutout. The nib is medium and semiflexible, great for everyday use. Restored
and working with a new sac installed. Length just over 5 5/8 inches. Item 9095 $885 NOW $700 plus $10.00 shipping and insurance to USA addresses , $30 for international. Email for invoice.
Waterman 3V, 1930s, Steel Quartz Near mint, probably new old stock, original hardened unused eraser still present, takes .9mm lead. Length 108mm Item 9528 $65 plus $10.00 shipping and insurance to USA addresses, $30 for international. Email for invoice.
Item 9025 $7 (one ounce bottle) plus $4.95 shipping (up to 4 bottles, USPS priority, to USA addresses) Noodler's 'Boston Brahmin Blue 2006' Limited Edition Ink
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Rob Morrison |
Noodler's 'Boston Brahmin
Black' 2010 Limited Edition Ink
