Jump to content


Photo

An Odd Pen Set?


  • Please log in to reply
4 replies to this topic

#1 June H

June H

    journeyman

  • Members
  • 220 posts

Posted 01 September 2010 - 05:01 AM

Hello All:
Here is a pen set I picked up some years ago. I have not seen a similar pair in any of the books I have. I know what it is but do You know?
Am I the only one in the world with this set or are there thousands out there? What year was this set made? To this question I do not know the answer .





#2 david i

david i

    ADVISOR

  • ADVISORS
  • 7,515 posts
  • LocationEast Coast USA

Posted 01 September 2010 - 05:11 AM

Hello All:
Here is a pen set I picked up some years ago. I have not seen a similar pair in any of the books I have. I know what it is but do You know?
Am I the only one in the world with this set or are there thousands out there? What year was this set made? To this question I do not know the answer .


Hi June,

Nice set. :)

It dates to 1929,

Likely once thousands, not so many today.

You are not the only one in the world with the set... I would guess.

Shall I spill da beans and post a related image, or shall I leave it open for others to chime?

Actually, will have to leave it open a bit as must get some sleep. I'll post related image when I awaken.

regards

David
David R. Isaacson MD. Website: VACUMANIA.com for quality old pens with full warranty.
Email: isaacson@frontiernet.net

Posted Image

#3 June H

June H

    journeyman

  • Members
  • 220 posts

Posted 01 September 2010 - 05:23 AM

Hi June,

Nice set. :)

It dates to 1929,

Likely once thousands, not so many today.

You are not the only one in the world with the set... I would guess.

Shall I spill da beans and post a related image, or shall I leave it open for others to chime?

Actually, will have to leave it open a bit as must get some sleep. I'll post related image when I awaken.

regards

David


Just thought it might be fun as I know what it looks like, but maybe there are others who don't. I should say it is 13.1cm long. Not one of your shorties.
June

#4 david i

david i

    ADVISOR

  • ADVISORS
  • 7,515 posts
  • LocationEast Coast USA

Posted 01 September 2010 - 12:19 PM

Just thought it might be fun as I know what it looks like, but maybe there are others who don't. I should say it is 13.1cm long. Not one of your shorties.
June


I concur.

After all...

What's better than posting images of grand vintage pens ;)

Here is the sibling to your set, the clip version. This one is mint stickered. No, I don't own it. I photographed it at the Chicago Pen Show years ago. The image obviously is a montage.

Posted Image

The set under discussion is first generation Wahl-Eversharp Equi-Poised in black/pearl. This is essentially the first catalogued style with the caveat that some of the first generation pens have more streamlined/pointed top than others. Some of us have come to call these Type 1-A and Type 1-B variants, and while the assumption is that the catalogued more pointed form is earliest, it is not clear to me that this has been proven. The imaged pen is the more blunt pen, so perhaps (or perhaps not) it is the sub-type late in the first generation, which itself lasted at best a year.

A high quality pen, the Equi-Poised, which had several often disparate appearing types or generations, was Wahl's first foray into the streamlined look, a marked departure from the typical flat-end pens. Finding clean early Equi-Poised pens is not easy.

Having recently put effort to research and document the Equi-Poised 1932-ish Purse Pen for an article that appeared in the final regular print issue of Stylus Magazine (there will be annual hardcover still with vintage articles), and having been involved in some online discussion with Syd and others to try to gain handle on the complexity of the Equi-Poised series, always I'm fond to see Equi-Poised eye candy.


regards

David
David R. Isaacson MD. Website: VACUMANIA.com for quality old pens with full warranty.
Email: isaacson@frontiernet.net

Posted Image

#5 J Appleseed

J Appleseed

    greenhorn

  • Members
  • PipPip
  • 23 posts

Posted 01 September 2010 - 03:44 PM

This isn't quite relevant to the pen in question, but there is a black-and-pearl Eagle pen on Ebay right now that has the same Sheaffer Balance profile.

These balance-like Equipose pens have been the subject of much discussion by pen historians. The assumption is that Eversharp first came up with this design as a counter to Sheaffer's Balance pens, then quickly shifted their design in response to legal threats from Sheaffer. I believe the less-balance-life designs were out within 18 months of the initial balance-like ones. To date there is no documentation of legal action by Sheaffer, but we presume that a company of Sheaffer's size and known zelousness in protecting their patents would not have allowed such a blatent infringment of their design patent (the action would have been in the form of a cease-and-desist letter from their legal counsel and could have easily never have gotten to the point of filing a formal suit, so the lack of formal legal action is not proof that there was no legal threat). A lot more could be said about this topic.

What I find interesting is that Eagle also copied the balance design almost completely. The pen is a discolored black-and-pearl, which would more likely date it to around the time of the introduction of the Balance, rather than many years later after Sheaffer's patent had expired. It is clearly marked "Eagle Pencil CO." on the clip. Another interesting pen in relation to the post-balance era.

John




0 user(s) are reading this topic

0 members, 0 guests, 0 anonymous users