27 replies to this topic

[Ron Z]

..you find a really good pen in the wild. I picked this one up this week. The only flaw is a small fleabite in the pencil cone. A nice extra fine nib, no wear to the barrel, no tooth marks or brassing, and a crisp imprint. Beautiful color....

[Greg Minuskin]

Ron,

Great pen! What makes this pen so special? The clip looks neat, and of course the condition is really wonderful!

Greg Minuskin
www.gregminuskin.com
greg@gregminuskin.com

Edited by Greg Minuskin, 14 August 2013 - 11:56 PM.

[gweddig]

Woah...nice find Ron! Was it priced sensibly? I would love to see a section photo to see what is happening at the end of the clip. --greg

[Ron Z]

Let's just say that I got it at a very good price and leave it at that. Greg M - - the company was in business for just one year. Not a lot of the pens in circulation. I don't like to use the word "rare" but I think that these qualify. They're good pens, well made, and nothing else has that cool airplane clip.

The end of the clip turns up so that it slides onto your pocket. It's like the elevators on the airplane are turned up.

[Greg Minuskin]

Dear Ron,

Oh, I see, just one year, very interesting! I and now I understand the upturned clip, neat too!

Thanks for the information; perhaps in my wanderings I might run into one of these gems, you never know!

Greg Minuskin
greg@gregminuskin.com
www.gregminuskin.com

[david i]

Dear Ron,

Oh, I see, just one year, very interesting! I and now I understand the upturned clip, neat too!

Thanks for the information; perhaps in my wanderings I might run into one of these gems, you never know!

Greg Minuskin
greg@gregminuskin.com
www.gregminuskin.com

I'll touch base more on history and collectability tomorrow. Must sleep...

regards

d

[gweddig]

Let's just say that I got it at a very good price and leave it at that. Greg M - - the company was in business for just one year. Not a lot of the pens in circulation. I don't like to use the word "rare" but I think that these qualify. They're good pens, well made, and nothing else has that cool airplane clip.

The end of the clip turns up so that it slides onto your pocket. It's like the elevators on the airplane are turned up.

That is what looked like was going on with the clip but wanted to be sure. I'm glad you got a good deal.

--greg

[philm]

Julius Schnell was an interesting figure in Fountain Pen History. I will let others with much more knowledge chime in, but he was a parts maker and had a brief run as a Pen Maker of the Pencilpen, which Ron has an excellent example of. These are quite highly sought after, and to find one in the wild is a coup. If I recall correctly, he was a character in the Sheaffer lawsuit saga, which would require volumes to cover, and which I hope someone summarizes for us.

Nice find.

Phil

[IPD_Mr.]

I have only seen one other in jade green and we all know where that one is. Great find Ron!

[Shadow Wave]

I bought a jade green one from Paul Erano some time back. He was careful to tell me that the clip had been trashed and Ron Zorn had had to remold (?) it. So it looks like Ron has had a lot of experience with these!

[Ron Z]

I bought a jade green one from Paul Erano some time back. He was careful to tell me that the clip had been trashed and Ron Zorn had had to remold (?) it. So it looks like Ron has had a lot of experience with these!

Must have been Andy Belveu. Andy does a lot of metal work, including casting replacement parts. This is the first one I've had or worked on.

Added more pictures to the original post.

[Daniel A]

Schell's are nice pens. I passed on this pen on Monday because of the engraved name. It was cheap enough, but the owner's name is awfully...pronounced.
I did snag a few gems!

[Procyon]

Great pen! Wish I had had one of those in my pre-retirement years working at Lockheed. Would have been a great conversation piece around the coffee maker for a bunch of aeronautical engineers!

[Shadow Wave]

I bought a jade green one from Paul Erano some time back. He was careful to tell me that the clip had been trashed and Ron Zorn had had to remold (?) it. So it looks like Ron has had a lot of experience with these!

Must have been Andy Belveu. Andy does a lot of metal work, including casting replacement parts. This is the first one I've had or worked on.

Hmm...I could have sworn. I'll have to ask Paul sometime.

Moreover, it is just a pen, not a Penselpen.

Isn't senility wonderful?

[penpalace]

I bought a jade green one from Paul Erano some time back. He was careful to tell me that the clip had been trashed and Ron Zorn had had to remold (?) it. So it looks like Ron has had a lot of experience with these!

Must have been Andy Belveu. Andy does a lot of metal work, including casting replacement parts. This is the first one I've had or worked on.

Hmm...I could have sworn. I'll have to ask Paul sometime.

Moreover, it is just a pen, not a Penselpen.

Isn't senility wonderful?

It's a Masterpen. Schnell made some pocket pens, not at all common.

[David Nishimura]

I'm not sure if we know exactly how long Schnell's Penselpen venture lasted. Although many older books stated that it started the fad for combos, this is clearly not true.

Schnell was a major figure in the pen industry starting in the dip pen era, mostly operating behind the scenes as an independent manufacturer of parts for other companies.

[Shadow Wave]

It's a Masterpen. Schnell made some pocket pens, not at all common.

True, true. Not to derail the thread, but I thought Schnell made these as well at the same time. I'm not clear what the distinction was as they both have
he same patented clip. I'm happy to be enlightened.

Another thing that seems unclear: Some sources say definitively that Schnell was bankrupted by the Penselpen while Richard Binder says "almost bankrupted."

There seems to be an old Pen World article that's in the PCA library which might be helpful.

[Rocco P]

Am I mistaken or there's something different about the lever?

[Ron Z]

The Schnell lever isn't a lever - it slides along the groove to move the mechanism and the pressure bar. I have pictures of it disassembled somewhere. Funky design, also used in Bankers pens.

[david i]

Time to wade into this chat

Julius Schnell indeed had heavy involvement in early pendom and had connections to more than one major pen company before he struck out on his own with the ill fated Schell brand. I've forgotten some of what I once knew and am due to review my literature. PCA has a critical pamphlet in its library , one that addresses models/colors.

The brand falls into the High Quality, Small Make, High Cachet category of collectable pendom, pens known to those who know but not so well known to most collectors, who perhaps will drool over the 100x more available Patrician/Balance/Vacumatic/Doric, but ignore these niche high quality items. Rumor has it Parker offered Schnell $10k for the patent to the airplane clip, but I don't have evidence on hand for that.

Along with Triads, Pullmans and various other quality/interesting/small-output labels, Schells are cherished with they appear to collectors who might go years without finding any.

I would disagree a bit with Dan's assessment of Ron's discovery (though i would like to see what he found at Bouckville). Recognizing a degree of subjectivity, I view any generally clean Schnell to be a major find. The engraved personalization does not bug me at all, though no doubt it affects dollar-value a smidge. To those who crave Schnell, engravings are a small thing about which to worry. A standard size black/bronze pen is a nice find, though not the rarest of colors. Knowing the value of Schnells, and knowing what the pen was asking at the antiques fair, I doubt I've ever found as much a bargain in the wild as Ron did with this pen. It really is a nice find.

Here is a bit of Schnell info, before I get to my next post and offer some show-and-tell.

regards

david