This tale builds to the latest "Happy David" pen find. Among the following images, the snake pen is not mine. The others are from my collection.
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I grabbed a few pens at the Chi Show (May 2011) for my personal collection, and nearly 100 for the Vacumania website. One of the few keepers is a very special Wahl. I really don't need more pens at home, but until I cease to collect, no doubt each year a few new ones will have to stay.
There are old pens that either in casual or advanced collecting circles-- or in both circles-- carry great cachet. They are special. That specialness is recognized by seasoned collectors, independent of whether that collector even wants to own said pen.
It can be hard to pin down a single factor at root. Appealing color, rare model, strange trim variation, uncatalogued status, particularly large or small size, rarity, and attention paid to said pen during the early days of the hobby all contribute elements that can quicken the collector's pulse, when he meets said pen. Feel free to add some factors
A confluence of these factors can transcend even would-be objective analysis leaving us with a pen that makes us say, perhaps, "Yeep!". Hmmm, maybe time for an article on pens that make us say Yeep!
Not to dive into semantic debate, but these pens are more than just individual "grail" or "dream" pens that catch individual fancy. There is a hobby gestalt factor in play, even if no pen cited has *universal* recognition as the "ultimate" pen from make, model, era, etc.
The Parker Snake is one such pen. Less rare and in some cases less valuable than other overlay Parkers and indeed less rare and sometimes less valuable today than snake pens from other brands, its early use by Pen Fancier's Club and its iconic look give it perhaps disproportionate status today, perhaps more so for newer collectors than for those steeped in Parker overlays.
The oversized model in Roseglow of Sheaffer's Balance often is viewed as king of that series. The color is scarce, though perhaps not the most scarcely seen OS color-- one can argue that the mottled gray/black Grey Pearl lever filler is at least as tough. Certainly there are variants (often off catalogue) that are far more rare than the generic OS Rosie. I have a bunch of double and triple cap-band OS pens that dwarf the rarity of simple Roseglow. But-- and I witnessed this again most recently at the Chi Show even as a couple Rosie OS's traded hands among long time collectors-- there is a certain reverence attached to the Roseglow Balance OS, a reverence that permeates collectable pendom.
I recall chatting by phone with Paul Erano in my early days in the hobby after passing on a Roseglow OS I'd spotted in the wild (yeah, really), that was utterly trashed and was asking (pre negotiation) $200. After his initial expressions of doubt that I'd seen an actual Roseglow OS in a hole-in-wall antiques shop (hey, I was still even pre hack-amateur-newbie), Paul softly advised that I might wish to grab the pen, that such pens were... hard to find. I passed, and in retrospect am content with that, as this Rosie had been beaten to the point that it likely was not worth $200 (really), but the flavor of the conversation about Roseglow left its mark.
Parker's Vacumatics with the "Vacumatic Cap-band", even with 25 pens and pencils in a range of colors and models, has a bit of this flavor. Anyone who knows Parker feels that wee tingle when one of these appears, even though there are rarer and more esoteric variants of the Vac to be had.
Certainly though, if there is an ultimate Parker Vacumatic for collectors, it is the solid two-tone gold Imperial Coronet, which is another key pen for a series that I've managed to obtain of late. Really, with the Imperial Coronet, my collecting has peaked. It's all down hill from here. But that find is a story for another day. I will share with you a rare peek at this monster pen, the Parker Vacumatic Imperial Coronet.
Within the last year I posted what might be the "ultimate" Wahl, recognizing the inevitable nitpicking to follow. To finesse the discussion, one might argue for its status as ultimate plastic Wahl or ultimate flat-top plastic Wahl, and so forth. It is the uncatalogued OS flat-top Gold-Seal "Deco Band" pen in the color Wahl called Flamingo (an oxblood like blue-veined magenta). The pen gives palpitations to Wahl collectors. It has overwhelming rarity (it is doubtful that major collectors combined can identify 5 examples in the hobby), size, beauty, and off-catalogue status; it ultimately breeds a synergistic "oomph" factor that transcends even the integrated import of its individual charms. One can debate if it "THE" monster pen of Wahldom. Certainly other off-catalogue pens appear, Wahl offered solid-gold pens that cost far more in the day than a "mere" Deco-band, pens which today are scarce and valuable too. Even if we limit to the flat-top plastic era, the pure orange (off-USA-catalogue) flat-top Deco Band meant for Denmark is close to rarity of the Flamingo, and there are rumors of an intact single Wahl Deco Band done in Coral.
Here is my amazing Wahl flat-top, the OS "Deco Band" in uncatalogued Flamingo celluloid
As we stay with the Wahl theme, we can consider the next Wahl series, Equi-Poised, and its "Yeep!" specimens. I'd guess at the off-USA-catalogue pure "Duofold Orange" pens meant for the Danish market. These blow away rarity for any catalogued USA color, offer a color better known by far from Parker, and offer the only non-black solid color found in this series. On the other hand, I have seen one off-catalogue Equi-Poised done in earlier (flat-top era) Lapis Blue. Does that one trump the orange Equi-Poised? Who knows? It has the rarity factor and visual appeal, but is it not well known enough to have that wide-spread "Yeep!" factor? I don't know. This is esoterica. Maybe even the orange 'Poised is not so well known in general. Certainly we are beyond Snakes and Vac-Bands here. I am happy to have in my collection one of the three or so orange Equi-Poised pens I've seen.
However-- you knew there'd be a "however", right?-- Wahl's Doric saw much longer production- pretty much the entire 1930's- and has a wider collecting base (I assert) than Equi-Poised. It gets enough attention that the visually impressive, off-catalogue, and rare pens have more widespread recognition. And, even if such pens did not have widespread recognition, we learn about pens from posts such as this one... at least I hope so.
Doric was introduced after the flat-top era and after the Equi-Poised model. It featured a new line of colors not seen before (save for black, of course) and dispensed with classic older colors such as Lapis, Jade, Black/Pearl and others.
However, known to those who know are the rare Black-and-Pearl Dorics, pens done in color well known from many manufacturers and well used by Wahl itself, at least prior to the introduction of Doric.
I've seen perhaps 3-4 Dorics in this color, during my 13 years playing with old pens. Photographed at least one, maybe two. Rumor has it that these were released as award pens for successful Wahl salesmen. I cannot comment on that. Not sure of size range, but possible this was made in several sizes. Despite the occasional off-catalogue cap-band found in Doric and despite some fairly scarce rebadged pens made for Montgomery Ward and sold as Gold Bond, the black/pearl Doric has rarity and significance on its side. It is the "Oomph!" inducing (or is that "Yeep!") pen from the Doric series.
At Chicago, I stumbled across the first example of this pen I've seen for sale, offered by a long time collector who appeared at the show for the first time in years. Color not perfect, but not bad, the pen is fairly clean save for couple small cap-lip hairlines. I tend to eschew pens with lip hairlines, but I made exception for this one. I suspect I'll probably handle another black/pearl Doric down the pike, but there is fair chance that even if I manage to collect pens another forty years, i will never have another chance to own one. So, what could I do? I bought it
This is my most recent "Happy David" pen.
This post meanders a bit, mixing the "what makes a great/key pen" into "look what I found". I'm curious how others see these key pens, or if they see different keys out there.
regards
David
