18 replies to this topic

[penmanila]

okay, i got a bit crazy again and went all in for two lots of assorted pens and pen parts in two separate auctions online.

 

one of them, from the US, cost me next to nothing—$20 for the lot, including free shipping. the lot includes an intriguing wooden pen (no, it’s not one of those big and pricey 1980s german wooden parkers, but it does seem to have a clip and its maker took the trouble of turning the butt so that the cap should post; might be an interesting bit of folk art); and some vintage caps and barrels, and a box of pencils, nibs, etc.

 

 

the other lot, from the UK, is costing me quite a bit—around 5 C's when auction premium, taxes, and shipping are all added up, but i’m hoping there’ll be some pens there that will all make it worth it. i had only one smallish and grainy pic to go by, and i could see a green sheaffer touchdown (maybe), a blue conway stewart set, what could be a parker 61 (or a DJ 51, hard to tell from just the barrel end, but i’ll keep my expectations low and say a 61), maybe a blue parker 21, an english duofold, a silver pencil,and a gold-filled pen i can’t make out, nothing special.

 

 

but then, in the foreground, is this fat woodgrain pen with what looks to be a wide gold band. this, of course, is what i’m basically paying for, and i don’t even know what it is, although it vaguely resembles a swan eternal 48 that i already have; it also seems to have a gold ring around the top of the cap. in any case, i’m a sucker for vintage woodgrain, so if this is a complete pen, with all the parts in there and a good nib and no cracks, i’d be in pen heaven. there’s a swan box in the background and a parker one as well (can’t make out what the blue one is) and i don’t know if there are still pens in them, but i’ll assume they’re empty. 

 

it’s going to be a long month waiting for these pens to come in. meanwhile, speculations are welcome--tell me what you see! (isn’t gambling an exhilarating—and a terrible—thing?)

[Rocco P]

I'm italian, hence the question: 5C = 500?

The blue box might be from Waterman

[penmanila]

thanks, paolino. yes, $500 or about 300 UK pounds. 

 

well, this is what i'm hoping the big woodgrain pen will turn out to be, the swan eternal 48, the top of the swan line from around 1925. this particular pen remains my biggest sumgai find ever (about $20 when i found it in a local flea market almost 20 years ago) and i wouldn't mind getting another one, albeit close to retail:

 

 

tell me if you don't think it matches the profile of the pen in the pic. note how low the clip is set, particularly in the lot pen, but iirc there were two versions of this pen (US and UK), with one of them having its clip set really low, touching the wide band, which seems to be the case with the pen in the lot. theofountainpens.com has a nice review with pics of that second, shorter version.

[Rocco P]

I wish you luck and that your bet pays off. It seems to me that you weren't the only one with a suspicion that the woodgrain might turn out to be the pen you think it is. 500 is a lot for a bunch of pens in a blurry photo.

[penmanila]

Ha ha, thanks, yes it is a crazy gamble, but I've lost as much if not more in poker, so these are actually better odds than what I usually face and call at the table. I'm hoping that the other pens in the lot will raise around $200 from individual sales, which will bring the cost of the big pen down to something more reasonable rather than high retail.

Edited by penmanila, 12 March 2014 - 08:53 AM.

[ljwahl]

Well-- I'm going to disagree with you on the Parker 61-- I think it's a DJ 51 because of the shadow line apparent on the barrel tassie itself. Also think you might have an all gold-filled Sheaffer Snorkel to the right in the pic. As to the Swan-- outside of my expertise but the profiles sure look the same. Are you concerned about the color difference between barrel and cap?

 

Blue Conway set looks great-- and let's hope the boxes have something inside! (though that'd be like finding another ace in your hand...)

[marcshiman]

If its a British Pen (and its entirely possible its an American pen), I don't think Swan ever did a 48 in the UK - 46 was their biggest.

 

I think. I can very easily be corrected on this point.

 

Still a 46 is an impressive pen. Good luck with it.

[Fred H]

Nice, Marc!  I agree it looks like an Eternal.  I snagged a mottled 44 with a very nice semi-flex stub last Saturday.  I passed over the bigger but less interesting 46.  I shall resist collecting all sizes.

 

Fred

[penmanila]

thanks for the comments and observations, friends. i wouldn't mind at all if it turned out to be a 46. i already have the 48 and 44, so there's that gaping vacancy waiting to be filled....

[marcshiman]

I've developed something of an (unhealthy) obsession with Swans lately, with no good explanation. I am particularly hunting their pens from mid-20's to early 30's, when they switched over to celluloids (they called it "Eternalite"). The only catalog I've seen is on the PCA site which is a 1928 catalog, and it shows a jade and a lapis blue. However, I've seen a lot of other colors in 46 size pens (man, those nibs are HUGE) and different shapes - some streamline, some flattop.

 

For a while I told myself "only American Swans", and "only 46 size". Yeah, how long did that last? I'm talking to a few British dealers, and the pens are often mixed and matched - the imprint on the barrel says "UK", the imprint on the nib says "New York".

 

I'd love to be able to look at a pen, look at the cap band, or some other part of the pen and identify it, but I'm still clueless. I think the streamline came into production around 32, and I think that stacked-coin cap band is also early 30's, but this is educated guessing.

 

I'm still hunting for advertisements and catalogs from the early 30's from Mabie Todd NY, but they seem to be more scarce than the pens. 

 

I always look for that flat portion of the clip where the swan is imprinted. Towards the end of the 30's Mabie Todd ended their US production, and some of the pens that came out then were awful. 

 

So, Penmanila, I hope you get a 46 or better yet a 48 (worth considerably more for scarcity). I personally think these pens are underrated. 

Edited by marcshiman, 13 March 2014 - 11:30 AM.

[Deb]

Most of the British Swan records have disappeared, some due to enemy action in WWII, others just discarded in the fifties.  The British arm of Mabie Todd acquired a nib-making facility in 1920 but continued to import at least some nibs from New York until 1931.   The slightly more rounded-off Swans began in 1931 but the truly streamlined versions went into production around 1949.  John Brindle's Mabie Todd Pen Listings may help.

[marcshiman]

Deb,

 

That pretty much lines up with what little I know - I have images of print ads from British pens in the early 30's, but not Americans. I've been through John Brindle's site, and there are a number of other ETNs he doesn't have listed (although he may only mean British ETN pens)

 

Here is an example of a slightly rounded pen and a much more streamlined pen, likely both from the early 30's (both are Americans). The smaller red one is probably a later pen by the change in the clip

 

[Deb]

Thanks for the sight of the pens - wonderful plastic.  I know little about the Mabie Todd USA and in fact I haven't seen many examples of their work.  John's site is almost entirely British Mabie Todd, though I think there are one or two imports there as well.

[Wardok]

Have you tried David Moak's book "Mabie in America"?

[marcshiman]

I found a second hand copy recently, I hope it arrives in the next few days.

[penmanila]

okay, so the pens have arrived at my sister's place in virginia, and she's taken some good photos of them. some ups and downs, but on the whole i'm pleased, and my investment should be covered. no great sumgai finds here, but a decent collection, i think, of some early and mid-century pens and pencils.

 

here's the lot:

 

 

and here are the pens, uncapped:

 

 

after consulting with my sister and having her examine the pens more closely, i've established that the pens are:

 

1. a green sheaffer snorkel

2. a platignum ensign (aerometric filler)

3. a conway stewart dinkie 550 set

4. a swan eternal 44 (E644B) in RMHR with a #6 nib

5. a black UK duofold missing its clip and cap jewel

6. a GF sheaffer snorkel

7. a UK parker 61 with an aerometric filler

8. a black UK duofold, aerometric, with a 25 nib

9. a blue parker 51 aerometric with a broad nib

 

further comments and observations:

 

the big swan is of course the piece de resistance; maybe a bit of a letdown in that it's only a 44 instead of a 48, but still in fairly good shape--all there, no chips or missing parts, with some brassing on the gold plating. 

 

 

i'd been hoping for at least a 46, but the E644B is a nice variant of the 44, about which you can read more here.

 

the two sheaffer snorkels seem to be in very good shape; the snorkels come out and retract smoothly, although of course i'll need to check if they fill up properly. no nicks or dings, should clean up nicely.

 

the CS dinkie set is a sweetie. very clean. the parker 61 is also very clean and something of a novelty for me. i hadn't expected an aerometric filler:

 

 

the 61 seems to have a broad nib so that's good, but there's a small chip in the section of the 51 near the nib so i might have to look for another section or whole casing for this.

 

i'll get all these when i see my sister next month; can't wait to see and to clean and fix them up! will probably be reselling some pens to help recover costs, but will surely hold on to the swan eternal and the 61, and maybe the GF snorkel.

Edited by penmanila, 30 March 2014 - 12:23 AM.

[Widget]

The 61 ia a CC filler..  That's the older style Convertor.

[penmanila]

Ah, okay, thanks for the info!

[Widget]

The broad nib 61's are a dream to write with but the arrow is a pain in the butt when trying to flush.  I don't lose them since I've stared to use masking tape but re-attaching is no fun.