6 replies to this topic

[BrianMcQueen]

I recently acquired a nice little nib, though I don't really have a use for it at the moment.  The tines on this thing are just so short, and it makes the nib look really really strange.  The pen it's in is a large imprint with Lucky Curve banner Sr. Duofold.   You can just barely make out the remaining traces of the imprint.  It is well worn.

 

Anyway, does this nib look strange to you guys?  Do we expect to see nibs with this imprint in early Duofolds?

 

 

Edited by BrianMcQueen, 19 December 2014 - 03:10 PM.

[david i]

I've seen some somewhat snub-nosed nibs when emphasizing  the manifold element, but also when retipping has been done. Would need to play a bit more closely with this one. I would not expect this nib in a Duofold. Maybe in the green non-Duofold Lucky Curve that preceded green gaining the Duofold name. Not sure the original Duofold (Ornge, with Jack Knife cap imprint) had a Duofold marked nib, but a #6 Lucky Curve nib from *that* era has a different look.

 

regards

 

d

[BrianMcQueen]

I'm going to go ahead and say this is not a re-tip based mostly on the fact that this came out of a crappy eBay listing and the pen is in terrible shape (no clip, completely brassed band, discolored hard rubber, cracked cap lip, etc) and the fact that there is actually little tipping left.  I'll also call the nib manifold, though it isn't so much emphasized.  It's actually rather thin gold that has a tiny bit of spring in it, quite unlike the very manifold nibs of the Sheaffer era, which are probably twice gold as thick as this one.

 

Where would this nib be expected, then?  It's not marked with a size or anything, but is definitely Sr Duofold sized.

[John Danza]

The nib imprint looks late-'20s / early-'30s to me, especially because of the little "B". There were Duofold-sized Lucky Curves in the product line at that time that would use a nib of this size. So I go with it being a replacement nib, but I couldn't guess as to why a Duofold nib or a 10-feather arrow nib wasn't used. Perhaps not a factory replacement?

 

As for the shortness of the tines, it's only a touch shorter than some Duofold nibs from that era. The tipping material looks original.

[David Nishimura]

That is what an old retip looks like -- the one that you would get back in the day when you sent a nib back for repair.

They would just grind it down and pop a new tip on it, no fancy stuff, no choice of tip grade.

If you cared about that, you'd plop for a new nib, which is what the penmakers wanted you to do anyway.

 

You'll never see a nib proportioned like that new from the factory.

[BrianMcQueen]

David, how do we know this?

[Wardok]

I'm not sure this is entirely relevant but I got this this nib last week so I thought I would chip in. 

 

 

This nib is on an English Parker Aerometric Duofold Senior which normally come with a standard size 35 nib - the comparison in the picture - but this one is an M (presumably manifold) 35 and has a similar profile to the Lucky Curve nib. It's the proverbial nail, which I suppose it must be as a manifold nib, but definitely as it left the factory. 

 

Edited by Wardok, 23 December 2014 - 12:51 AM.