8 replies to this topic

[MxMJ]

I went to the Texas Antique Weekend again and came away with a bunch of pen and pencils, here are some of the more interesting ones plus some random eBay and flea market finds. I also have a couple questions but they may need to go in different subforums.

 

Imgur Album

1. Waterman Safety Pen
2. Dunn Pen - 5 1/2" capped
3. Sheaffer OS Balance
4. Parker Vacumatic
5. Conway Stewart 84 with a stub nib
6. Autopoint 52G - I usually dismiss autopoints as junk but this one is really nice
7. WASP FineLine Pencil - Brings my WASP/Vacuum-Fil collection up to 5 pens and 3 pencils, this is a pattern I haven't seen before though.
8. Very tiny sterling pencil made by Cross - All the other examples I have seen have been ringtops, I thought this one was pretty cool.

The questions I have are

1. The Waterman is not marked with a model number, does anyone know how to tell what it is? Also, the nib is bent and I can't figure out how to remove it to fix/replace it.
2. Where can I send the Dunn pen for restoration? It's a bit over my head. The clip needs to be adjusted, the filler needs to be restored and it needs some general body work.
3. I can't quite pin down what model the Vac is. It is 5 3/8" capped, 5" uncapped and 6 1/4" posted. It has a two-tone with a '1' date code but the body's date code is '.2.'. The filler is plastic, not a speedline and the blind-cap's coloration doesn't seem to match up with the body/cap so I'm wondering if it is a bit of a franken-pen.

[david i]

Nice haul. Good to know the pens still are out there.

The Dunn appears to be a lofty Dreadnought.   Other restorers of course may volunteer, but I know Ron Zorn does great work with these.

 

The Vac appears to be a Major, probably the "long" Major that did make it into the first year of the 3rd generation, 1942.  The Waterman is a bit odd seeming for typical Waterman Safety. Some bells ring about late Waterman safeties, dating to the 1930's, maybe made of Celluloid instead of HR.   Will see if I can ping some of our collectors who hunt that sort.

That gray/red WASP pencil is interesting to me.

 

regards

 

david

[MxMJ]

Thanks!

 

I'm not sure the Dunn is a dreadnaught, the cap is just one piece, I thought dreadnaughts had 2 part caps. I think the Waterman is HR, its got some discoloration like I have seen on other HR pens. I found some similar ones but they didnt have model numbers listed either.

 

I hadn't seen a FineLine marked WASP before, I googled it and found an ad but wasn't able to find any other examples. Apparently the eraser is supposed to extend (this one is hard as a rock and doesn't move though).

 

Imprint reads:

 

FineLine

The WASP Pen Co. Inc.

Fort Madison Iowa, USA

Made in USA

[sloegin]

Waterman is an artist safety.

[david i]

Thanks!

 

I'm not sure the Dunn is a dreadnaught, the cap is just one piece, I thought dreadnaughts had 2 part caps. I think the Waterman is HR, its got some discoloration like I have seen on other HR pens. I found some similar ones but they didnt have model numbers listed either.

 

I hadn't seen a FineLine marked WASP before, I googled it and found an ad but wasn't able to find any other examples. Apparently the eraser is supposed to extend (this one is hard as a rock and doesn't move though).

 

Imprint reads:

 

FineLine

The WASP Pen Co. Inc.

Fort Madison Iowa, USA

Made in USA

 

Hi,

 

Dreadnoughts don't have to have the two piece caps. Believe it's a size thing.

 

I might want to examine that pencil one day.

 

regards

 

d

[George]

Waterman is an artist safety.

 

Yes, the safety is a Waterman's artist safety pen. IIRC it was advertised up until the 40's for special use by artists and musicians. The pen has a screw in inner cap that held in place the chrome waterman washer clip.

 

Regards,

George

[matt]

The WASP Fineline also comes in a silvery green pearly color. You don't remove the cap to access the eraser elevating screw; rather you unscrew the piece above the clip. The clue to those are the vertical gripping grooves. Jonathan's online pencil museum also shows one in black and one with a pearl center section.

[David Nishimura]

The Waterman *may* be an artist's model, but no guarantee: from the pictures, we can only say it is a late-production safety -- late '30s to 1940s.

Because a safety can be used with india ink, Waterman continued to offer them as a special-purpose item with special nibs, but many were also sold with quite ordinary nibs.

 

Although one would think "Dreadnaught" would denote a large pen, Dunn Dreadnaughts came in all different sizes, including small ringtop models.

[david i]

Some visual context for Dunn.

 

 

regards

 

-d