I won a cheap pen on Ebay the other night with a clip and nib marked "Hamilton Pen Company, St. Charles, IL". I've never heard of this company and absolutely zero came up searching for it. (Pictures are from the seller, I'll see the pen next week).
The pen is a nice looking pen - handsome almost - torpedo shaped with a marble body, black blind cap, section and cap. I like the black cap matching a grey/black marbled barrel, I've seen that on European pens before. It seems to have a nice length (5") big fat girth. Seems like a pretty cool piece for a 3rd tier / noname.
Actually, if it IS a third tier, its got a large hunk of gold for a nib sitting there. I'm not 100% sure if its a stub or its broken, but a shot of the bottom side of the nib suggests there's plenty of iridium.
The curiousness begins with the filling system. Is that a piston? A plunger? A pump? What third tier manufacturer uses advanced filling systems like that? The seller said she just dumped ink into the cylinder, I guess that worked for her.
The mystery (or the solution) grows with a shot of the feed:
A snorkel?? I have no idea. I am interested in learning if anyone knows what we are looking at.