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Indestructible Nibs --- What are they made of?


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#1 jbb

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Posted 11 May 2014 - 03:58 PM

Indestructible nibs show up around 1901 on souvenir pens from World’s Fairs and Expositions like the Pan-American Exposition (1901), the  St. Louis World’s Fair (1904) and the  Jamestown Exposition (1907). They are a gold colored metal and imprinted “Indestructible” sometimes they also include a manufacturers name. They’re nice flex writers which is why I started noticing them. They are not magnetic so they do not contain iron and I’ve never seen one with rust on it. They contain some copper as they displayed the characteristic green corrosion of copper after concentrated exposure to vinegar fumes. Beyond that don’t know what they’re made out of. Does anyone know what they are made of or more about their history?

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Edited by jbb, 11 May 2014 - 04:36 PM.

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#2 vintage penman

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Posted 11 May 2014 - 07:33 PM

Brass by any chance ?



#3 matt

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Posted 13 May 2014 - 04:31 AM

Brass would corrode too easily. CuNi alloy will tone to a golden color (and shine up "white") but I don't know how flexible it is.

#4 Smokin

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Posted 13 May 2014 - 08:14 PM

Hmm, how about bronze? But I doubt that it would be very flexible.



#5 LoopBack

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Posted 02 November 2014 - 07:17 PM

Has the nibbed been 'bronzed' a techniqued described in The Steel Pen Trade by A.A.S. Charles. He says the pens produced in Birminham UK were immersed in a 'tempering solution at a controlled temperature.' He says the same process was used, in the same type of barrel as used for tempering, for colouring. He gives a list of centigrade temperatures and what colours they produced.



#6 jbb

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Posted 02 November 2014 - 07:24 PM

Has the nibbed been 'bronzed' a techniqued described in The Steel Pen Trade by A.A.S. Charles. He says the pens produced in Birminham UK were immersed in a 'tempering solution at a controlled temperature.' He says the same process was used, in the same type of barrel as used for tempering, for colouring. He gives a list of centigrade temperatures and what colours they produced.

Is there any way I can test one? Oh, and welcome to Fountain Pen Board LoopBack, it looks like this is your first post. :)


Edited by jbb, 02 November 2014 - 07:25 PM.

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#7 jkingrph

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Posted 10 April 2015 - 10:01 PM

I honestly do not know of anything made by or used by man that is indestructible.


Regards


Jeff

#8 David Nishimura

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Posted 11 April 2015 - 04:08 PM

There are so many alloys of brass and bronze. This nib is surely made from one of them.

Might be interesting to run an analysis.



#9 Greg Minuskin

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Posted 14 April 2015 - 02:45 AM

I think my wife would have to weigh in on this nib; she uses steel nibs exclusively for the work she does for Tiffany & Co here on the West Coast. I will have to ask her about this nib.

 

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