9 replies to this topic

[John Jenkins]

An old Lion & Pen post indicated these Indian combos were made by Epenco. No support or attribution was given. Can anyone support or debunk this claim?
JJ

[philm]

I too, have read this at Lion and Pen. I lean more toward these being produced by Arnold or related brand, though have NO documentation. The reason for this is that I have seen a blue one with an Arnold clip. I only own the yellow and green and they are identical to your photos. Sorry for muddying the waters.....

Phil

[philm]

I too, have read this at Lion and Pen. I lean more toward these being produced by Arnold or related brand, though have NO documentation. The reason for this is that I have seen a blue one with an Arnold clip. I only own the yellow and green and they are identical to your photos. Sorry for muddying the waters.....



Phil

[desksetfan]

Hey John, Angela (sorry I can't remember her last name), that comes to the Dallas Pen Collectors meetings is really well educated on Indian pens. If you are going to be at the meeting tomorrow night, you may want to follow up with her. Brooks (from the DPCC). See you tomorrow!

[John Danza]

I'm resurrecting this thread as I just bought one of these at a local antique store. I'm always drawn to really striking plastics, even more so if they're yellow based, and also combos. This one is in excellent shape. The pencil works fine. The Durium 14K plated #4 nib is nicely aligned and ready. It will need a new sac, so I guess this will be my first attempt at restoring a lever filler. Anyone know if the section unscrews, or is it a pressure fit?

John, did you happen to go to the Dallas Pen meeting that was mentioned in the last post and find out anything more on these pens?

There's a photo of three of these and a paragraph in the F & S book. It states that they're circa 1933 and were made for selling on Indian reservations as there was a big interest in Indian stuff in the 1920s and 1930s. However, there's no attribute to support this claim.

I could see trying to find others of these. They're pretty cool looking.

[John Jenkins]

Adding some fuel to the fire, allow me an observation and an other piece.

The Indian plastic doesn't feel like other plastics from the thirties nor the forties. So my guess is the production date is late forties/fifties.

Then there is this Drexel, egad!!

[philm]

John

As Frank Barone would say -" Holy Crap"..... Sitting here at work, without notes, I seem to remember that Drexel pens were available through Spors Catalogs (and other places I suspect). But, I never saw one like this! Most were cheap plastic piston fillers. There are lots of possible explanations for this, but perhaps if we knew who made the Drexel brand. I also need to track down the owner of the pen I mentioned in my post that had an "A" on the cap, in lieu of "Indian". I will see him at a pen meeting this Friday and ask for a photo.

Phil

[David Nishimura]

I bet the Indian combos are prewar rather than postwar, but we all clearly need to do some more homework on this!

[travberg]

Back in the 1990s I had a large collection of combos, there are two sizes of Indians! Also remember seeing the plastic in non-combo pencils and pens. Sorry don't remember the brands, but they were not Indians.

[John Danza]

Well, decided to sell the Indian instead of keeping it. I restored the filling system and put it on ebay. You can find it here.