8 replies to this topic

[Procyon]

I have a question about a nib that is up for auction on eBay. It is supposed to be from a Waterman #7 pen and is a Pink nib. However, it is not the usual long slit Pink nib that I am used to seeing. Frankly, I thought all Pink nibs were the long type, so as to get the flexibility desired. Here is the auction: Pink Nib


For comparison, here is a picture of my #7 Red Ripple with Pink nib.





Clearly my nib is the usual long slender nib I associate with the Pink color code. Can anyone tell me if the Pink nib for a #7 red ripple pen also came in the shorter size (like the auction) or is the nib on eBay some kind of later nib meant for a different pen?

[sloegin]

Didn't the #5 also use the color nibs?

[Procyon]

Didn't the #5 also use the color nibs?

Yes, it did, and I am not sure I could tell a nib from a #5 from one from a #7 just from a picture, like the one on eBay. However, even if it was from a #5 pen, the shape is still not a long slit nib, which is my question. I don't remember seeing any Pink nibs that were not the long slender shape.

[David Nishimura]

It looks as though the eBay nib was photographed at an angle (probably to reduce reflections -- it's really tough to shoot shiny metal objects square-on!) thus foreshortening its proportions. Even so, it still looks shorter-tined than usual, so this might well be a function of it being an 18K French-market nib. Long tines in an 18K nib might just have been too yielding.

This is just speculation, though. One other thing to keep in mind when one runs across a nib whose proportions are really too short in the tines, is that this is sometimes the result of when a nib has been retipped after having sustained damage or excessive wear, requiring reprofiling of the tines. The eBay nib doesn't have the appearance of a nib so repaired, however. As a whole, I am inclined to suspect it's a function of the material -- 18K vs 14K.

[matt]

Am I missing something? I don't see an indication that the nib is 18K.

[Procyon]

It says 18K in the title of the auction and also in the description of the item by the seller.

Edited by Procyon, 01 May 2012 - 06:34 PM.

[matt]

It says 18K in the title of the auction and also in the description of the item by the seller.

umm, where on the nib is 18K indicated?

[Procyon]

It isn't marked on the nib, as far as I can tell, but the seller has several color coded nibs up for auction, and claims that they are all 18K. Some are marked, some are not. I believe David was just taking the seller at his word, when he said the nib was 18K.

[David Nishimura]

I know the seller very well!

If he says the nibs are 18K, they are 18K. He's done more vintage pen business in France than any American I know. French-market Waterman nibs are 18K, of course, but the gold content is not usually indicated in big letters as part of the imprint. Instead, you will find the French gold hallmarks applied on the heel of the nib, usually on the inside -- and those marks are tiny.