3 replies to this topic

[John Jenkins]

Brown #5

A fairly ratty Waterman #5 Brown just sold for $456. This is quite a bit higher than I thought it would go. There was considerable back & forth bidding between two individuals, so perhaps it was a case of "I gotta have its". Brown nibs aren't all that rare, but I don't recall seeing a #5 with brown inset & nib.

Any comments or thoughts?

John

[david i]

Brown #5

A fairly ratty Waterman #5 Brown just sold for $456. This is quite a bit higher than I thought it would go. There was considerable back & forth bidding between two individuals, so perhaps it was a case of "I gotta have its". Brown nibs aren't all that rare, but I don't recall seeing a #5 with brown inset & nib.

Any comments or thoughts?

John

Rob sells nice pens, has excellent presentation and stands behinds his sales, so he should do well at auction.

Still, this clearly is a flyer.

Outliers on curve... happen. no one posted (except me) when I won the mint solid gold 1940's Sheaffer Masterpiece set in box for $250 or won occasional pen even from Rob at way-below-retail price in no-reserve auction. It is the outliers at the right side of the curve that tend to catch attention. We tend not to wonder why a nice pen sells on ebay for fraction of retail, but our collective eye is drawn to the high numbers.

As to... why... this happened in this particular case?

Good flex pens often command premium, and it takes but two "motivated" bidders to make the auction go crazy. I once posted a plain 1945 brown Vac Major, Canadian, with high flex nib and (years ago) a $175 reserve... it hit $500. Ask Zorn... I'd had it on consignment from him, back before he had a website. Yet, often (on the occasion I'll sell on ebay) my pens don't even hit my reasonable reserve

Indeed, looking at the bidding list, looks like total two bidders, 30's and 250's feedback respectively, nibbled the bids up from $230 to $460

... outliers.

Those be my 4¢

-c

[Hugh]

To me on looks alone, way overpriced. I know "zip" about Watermans ( although my wife has a beauty but never uses it!!) but whatever drove the price it wasn't "good looks", one rather ordinary looking pen except for the nib...that does look the part.

Regards
Hugh

[John Jenkins]

Thanks David, I supposed that was such since I purchased a Pink #5 at the Dallas show for roughly one third of the Brown's final bid.

In spite of it being somewhat worn, I would have liked to have snagged this to get one more step closer to the full rainbow.

John