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Hamilton Pen Company, St. Charles IL


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#1 marcshiman

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Posted 20 September 2014 - 11:14 AM

I won a cheap pen on Ebay the other night with a clip and nib marked "Hamilton Pen Company, St. Charles, IL". I've never heard of this company and absolutely zero came up searching for it. (Pictures are from the seller, I'll see the pen next week).

 

The pen is a nice looking pen - handsome almost - torpedo shaped with a marble body, black blind cap, section and cap. I like the black cap matching a grey/black marbled barrel, I've seen that on European pens before. It seems to have a nice length (5") big fat girth. Seems like a pretty cool piece for a 3rd tier / noname. 

 

gallery_334_98_85379.jpg

 

Actually, if it IS a third tier, its got a large hunk of gold for a nib sitting there. I'm not 100% sure if its a stub or its broken, but a shot of the bottom side of the nib suggests there's plenty of iridium.

 

gallery_334_98_42311.jpeg

 

The curiousness begins with the filling system. Is that a piston? A plunger? A pump? What third tier manufacturer uses advanced filling systems like that? The seller said she just dumped ink into the cylinder, I guess that worked for her. 

 

gallery_334_98_24142.jpeg

 

The mystery (or the solution) grows with a shot of the feed:

 

gallery_334_98_51328.jpeg

 

A snorkel?? I have no idea. I am interested in learning if anyone knows what we are looking at.

 


Please join the Mabie Todd Swan project where I am trying to sort out the undocumented mess that is American Mabie Todd's from the 1930's. The last pens that MT seemed to advertise were the "Eternal" pens, and then the company put out a wide range of different styles, shapes, sizes and filling systems before eventually closing up shop. I invite you to post your pictures of your American pens

 

The Mabie Todd Swan Project


#2 david i

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Posted 20 September 2014 - 11:42 AM

Never heard of it. Sorry. Nice quality nib at first glance, though traumatized.


David R. Isaacson MD. Website: VACUMANIA.com for quality old pens with full warranty.
Email: isaacson@frontiernet.net

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#3 Rick Krantz

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Posted 21 September 2014 - 04:31 AM

feed looks like a Sager



#4 Richard

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Posted 22 September 2014 - 12:47 PM

Rick is right about the feed. I don't know any companies other than Sager that made feeds like that. This one looks pretty early; I can't see any comb serrations. The blind cap and the threaded boss recessed into the back of the barrel also sort of suggest that Sager might have had something to do with this pen, given Sager's plunger filler design, and the fact that the owner could just put ink into the barrel and use the pen suggests that the barrel is sealed to the section, another point in favor of a pen like Sager's, with the barrel used as a reservoir.

 

There was a Hamilton Pen Company in Chicago in the 1950s. Since St. Charles is a western suburb of Chicago, I'd guess that we're talking about the same company — but I have no further information on it and so don't know when the company was founded. It appears not to have held any patents, so that avenue of research is closed. It's not impossible that Hamilton was merely jobbing pens from Sager (or, not as likely, some other maker). Since Sager was also located in Chicago, this looks to me like the setup for a fairly neat package.

 

Marc, this is all speculation, so if you or any of your IM team are caught or killed, the Secretary will disavow any knowledge of your actions. This tape will self-destruct in five seconds. Good luck, Marc.


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#5 marcshiman

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Posted 22 September 2014 - 01:19 PM

In searching for some Sager posts, I saw that they also did a bulb-filler.

 

As part of my trying to figure out what this brand is, I reached out to the senior Hamilton of the profession: Joel. He said he's only seen on other Hamilton pen before - a bulb-filler. 


Please join the Mabie Todd Swan project where I am trying to sort out the undocumented mess that is American Mabie Todd's from the 1930's. The last pens that MT seemed to advertise were the "Eternal" pens, and then the company put out a wide range of different styles, shapes, sizes and filling systems before eventually closing up shop. I invite you to post your pictures of your American pens

 

The Mabie Todd Swan Project





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