What is it about the 472 ½ I found that makes it so uncommon? Are sterling overlays in general (any pattern) very uncommon on the 7x series pens, or is it the pansy panel pattern that sets this pen apart?
Honestly, I would like to know the answer to these questions. Can anyone tell me or will I have to re-post in the Waterman forum?
Hi Brian,
Suspect your signal was lost in the noise of this thread
While I'm not quite as sharp on details of 1910's-1920's as some others who play here, here is my view...
7x pens are at least relatively uncommon. By 1917, when I believe the major revamp of Waterman's numbering system occurred (the 1xPSF lever filler became the 5x, the 1xPOC became the 7x, the1xS safety became the 4x), Waterman had lever-fill (screw cap, though I learned here at FPB this month that some rare lever-fill slip cap pens also exist) and eye-dropper fill (safety, conventional screw cap, and slip cap).
The 7x pens of course were the eye droppers with screw cap. They looked at first peek quite like the 5x lever fillers (52, 56, etc), but lacked the lever.
My speculation (not unreasonable) is that with the surge in self-fillers, the screw-cap eyedroppers were not a hot cluster. Certainly while the 52 might today be the most common Waterman from the era, 72 shows up but occasionally. Larger 7x pens are more scarce still, though I own a 76 and though a Ripple 78 was claimed by Mike Dvoretz as part of the Gang of Five pen purchase at Ohio November 2012.
Now, recognizing I have not closely examined every one of the multitudes of apparent overlay 5x pens I've seen at pen shows (eg. 452, a silver overly 5x pen with #2 nib) to make sure the pen wasn't lacking a lever (thus making it a 472), I note that I have been aware of seeing really very few Sterling 7x pens. I've never seen (or never realized I've seen) a 47x in Pansy. Obviously, someone with stronger Waterman focus (David Nishimura, Bob Novak, Gary Lehrer) might have seen such. But, still, these are very scarce.
How many Sterling pens were made at far higher retail cost than plain black HR, back in the day? Plain pens are far more common today, and probably more of the plain pens were tossed over the years (people were more likely, I assert, to keep silver 'jewelry' pens over the years than old black pens), meaning the plain pens were reeaaaallllly more common at time of issue. This makes sense. How many bics are sold today vs MB 149
For someone to invest in a sterling overlay on what apparently was already a far less popular pen (7x eye dropper vs 5x lever filler), must have been an uncommon occurrence.
Thus, the pens today are scarce.
regards
david