Still recovering from the Ohio 2010 Pen Show. Still sorting the finds. Enjoyed showing off there one of the best Parker pens out there (a recent find). Just wrapping up work week. Wanted though to share the following pen.
A pen friend from western NY turned up at my table as he does each year with a solid selection of old pens.
One that caught my eye right away was an apparently mint Mabie Todd Blackbird model in "Cherry Red" plastic (celluloid?)
While the Mabie Todd book by David Moak I've so far only skimmed, my recollection (feel free to correct me) is that Mabie Todd pens from this era track from high line to economy line as one moves down the list as follows:
- Swan
- Blackbird
- Swallow
Know too that "Cherry Red" holds a bit of a special place in pendom. Most "red" pens of yore in fact are orange. Red Hard Rubber today at least looks orange. Parker's Big Red Duofold after switching to plastic in the 1920's used an orange plastic, perhaps to approximate the early orange "red" rubber.
Cherry Red- a pure bright red- was not used on many major line pens. To best of my recollection it was not used by Waterman or by Wahl. Sheaffer used it sparingly in a series of Loaner, Secretary and Pigmy pens that are scarce, in demand today, and cluttered by lore regarding whether some might have been of casein rather than celluloid. Parker used the color only on one of its poorly characterized so-called "Thrift Time" pens probably for short time around 1933.
Cherry Red plastic tends to be fragile. Often pens are found heavily discolored, cracked or suffering shrinkage.
So, clean examples are the minority, pens of this color already already are scarce, and in most cases the color is found in pens that have some other "charm" factor ("Thrift", "Loaner", "tiny pen", etc). All this makes the Cherry Red pen a hot item.
When this Mabie Todd Blackbird thus was presented to me, glowing with color, probably in mint condition, I had to grab it. Yes, I have more than enough pens at home, but this is- i guess- why I sell pens. I enjoy buying pens- finding pens really- and owning them forever is not key. But, I'm not letting go of this one anytime soon. It is the first Mabie I've seen in this color
While not a "top line" Swan, this one clearly was appreciated by its manufacturer. It has multiple imprints:
- Barrel Imprint.
- "Blackbird" imprint at top, opposite the clip
- "Blackbird" imprint on section
- "Blackbird" imprint on feed
- Code imprint (model #?) at butt of pen
David