28 replies to this topic

[John Danza]

But,  in my view-- and I speak as one who would not at all mind owning the pen in question--  a pen that represents a quirky mix of well-known technique and well known (and not really that rare) model/color is not worthy of the iconic status of Aztec, etc.

 

 

Very good post David, which I've only highlighted your summary. Even if this pen was painted back in the 1930s by some entity that painted pens back then (to note David N's comment on FPN), my response on that is "so what?".

 

As David noted above, it's a one-off oddity worth some small premium to someone who likes painted pens. Frankly, I think the market would be broader without the painting and the selling price higher as an early Senior Madarin without any cap lip cracks. The painting drives away a lot of those folks.

 

If you could substantiate the provenance to a Parker executive from the 1930s, then you're talking a different matter. But to get anywhere near the numbers the OP is looking for, the provenance would have to tie itself back to Kenneth Parker himself. The provenance shouldn't be that hard to come up with, since the original story was that the pen came out of a storage locker owned by a Parker executive. If that much is known, then the name of that executive would also be known and could be shared. Given that it's not being shared, I suspect this part of the story is all BS.

 

Then you've got the piling on on FPN, with the supposed authentication by the Parker archives. Many of us who specialize in Parkers know how hard this would be these days, with the way that things been moved around. You can't just flip them an email with a couple of photos and get a response back. So start sticking with facts.

[david i]

Hi John,

 

I do favor a solid bonus for this pen.  And I find it to be a great pen. A painted Mandarin Duofold Senior is a nifty thing, and it is quite fair to contemplates its rarity and indeed it etiology.  I just want to keep those notions away from unduly inflating it's significance.

 

regards

 

david

[jonro]

When I first saw that auction, I wondered what the pen is actually worth. It's eye-catching, but what if the embellishment is the product of an artist who owned the pen, rather than a factory-produced variety. Would that add to or detract from the value? If it isn't a factory-original paint job, I don't feel it would be worth a premium, unless there was provenance from a collectable artist.

[david i]

Hi  Jon,

 

The added value largely derives from era-correct, known Chicago pen painting done for multiple manufacturers.  The painting was not done in-house by the manufacturers.  But, this is still different from a random "I think i'll paint my pen" sort.

 

regards

 

david

[John Danza]

Hi John,

 

I do favor a solid bonus for this pen.  And I find it to be a great pen. A painted Mandarin Duofold Senior is a nifty thing, and it is quite fair to contemplates its rarity and indeed it etiology.  I just want to keep those notions away from unduly inflating it's significance.

 

regards

 

david

 

To an extent, that's one of the points I made in my post as well. The painting will give it a bonus to those that collect based on the painting. But that's the only place a bonus would come from. To the serious Duofold collector, unless the painting can truly be attributed to the factory or this Chicago source, I think the value goes down because of the painting.

 

The rarity on the other hand is directly tied to the etiology. If I had one of my pens painted, even if it looked great, it would wouldn't be rare just because it was now a one-of-one. Well, I guess it would be rare, but no one would care because I had it done. Same for this pen, unless we know specifically who did it.

 

Which reminds me - who or what exactly is this mysterious Chicago pen painting group from the 1920s/1930s that keeps getting mentioned?

[david i]

Hi John,

 

To me the painting looks to be of the correct sort. How do we know any painted pen was painted properly?  PENnant had article few years back on the painted pens.

 

regards

 

david

[david i]

OK. Spring/Summer 2005 PENnant. "Holland Painted Pens" by Leone and Fultz.

 

The Holland brothers have decided to join the plastic revolution and order stocks of colored Pyralin plastic parts from Dupont Viscoloid Co., located in Arlington, N.J.

Still, they have a large inventory of black hard rubber pens and parts, which are now almost impossible to sell. What to do, what to do?

 

Enter the salesman from the Modern Art Guild of Chicago. He has a great idea! His firm will paint colorful, artsy designs on your hard rubber pens, thereby making them saleable. The price, while not inexpensive, is acceptable, so the John Holland Company starts by shipping a few hundred pens and pencils to Chicago to be decorated.

The Modern Art Guild had its office at 63 West Ontario Street in Chicago

 

SNIP

 

However, Holland continued to market painted pens into the 1930s. The company’s dealer catalog “130”, believed to have been issued in the spring of 1930, contains a line of plastic

pens and pencils with a hand painted flower & vine motif (Fig. 5). These pens and pencils were all ring top lever filling style, available in coral, green, or blue. Metal trim was gold filled. The fountain pen had a #2 size nib and was priced at $5, the pencil was priced at $3.50, and a set of matching pen and pencil was $8.50. Ribbons in matching colors were available for $1 each. We noted that these “Hand Painted” pens, pencils, and sets were more expensive than Holland’s #3 size nib ring tops.

During this era, a number of manufacturers produced pens with painted decoration on hard rubber, plastic and metal. Conklin, Greishaber, Holland, and Sheaffer appear to have produced the greatest number of painted pens. From a stylistic standpoint, it appears that M.A.G. decorated pens for more manufacturers than just John Holland. However, some of the designs from other manufacturers are quite different, suggesting the possibility of another source for decorating their pens.

[David Nishimura]

Thanks for providing the citation, David -- I simply haven't had the time.

 

As for effect on value, the painted decoration is desirable, but the added premium would be additive, not multiplicative. And from what I've seen over the years, that premium tops out in the hundreds. Cannot recall any instance, even with a full-sized pen with really splashy paint in top condition, where the premium hit a thousand.

[david i]

Yep. Though, scenarios vary.  No doubt the "Only Mandarin DF Sr known with paint" describes, by definition, a unique case.  But, whether additive or multiplicative, I doubt the added value is $13k or that the multiple is 11

 

Though, again, the advert suggests a fishing trip.   Who knows...

 

regards

 

-d