3 replies to this topic

[Procyon]

Recently, there was a pen offered on eBay by Al Kahn (Penmansantiques).  I thought the plastic was quite unusual, so I bid on it.  I didn't win it - didn't come close to the pen's final auction closing, in fact.  Anyway, the pen went for $565, considerably more than I would have guessed. I really know nothing about Diamond Point, so I was wondering if it was more than a 2nd or 3rd tier pen.  Is this price simply an outlier?  It is a cool pen.

 

 

[david i]

Hi Allan,

 

Diamond Point has a couple things going for it. It was big enough that pens do turn up and it used some really pretty and sometimes exotic colors.  The pens are not high quality. The nibs tend to be small and the trim finish fragile.  Had these been done in the same quality as another smaller-make, funky-color company-- Leboeuf-- the DPs would be awe inspiring critters highly sought by collectors of quality pens.

Alas. The big contour and pretty plastic is about all going for the Diamond Points. But, as collectors have branched out from pursuing just the best from the big guys and a few of the small guys, 2nd and 3rd tier pens in some cases have developed a following.   We certainly have seen interest grow in generally lower-tier Sheaffer sub-brands for example.

 

Diamond Points occasionally go nuts. Of course if this pattern repeats enough the situation will no longer be "nuts" and will be then "routine", though serious  and longtime collectors might still wonder why low quality pens are pulling Duofold/Leboeuf/Waterman OS prices.  So it goes.

 

Auctions sometimes get hot because two people (perhaps wrongly in the view of the cognoscenti) won't let go.  Or, given there are some people who do pursue DP aggressively (which is fine), perhaps this one was a color they had not seen (though there are many funky color DP's and so few pens show up that most funky colors do not come on market very often) prompting "I must expand my collection" thinking. 
 

I do hope the bidders are not mixing this sort with quality OS pens by major makers, Lebouef, and other good pens.

 

regards

 

david

[marcshiman]

I'm far from a Diamond Point expert, but I've bought a few over the past couple of years. I didn't even realize that one was available, or I would have bid too - but not $300+!!

 

That cap band pattern - stacked coin on the bottom and the top - tends to be on a much higher quality product. At least the two I have that share those bands are much nicer than the other ones I have - much bigger nibs, much better construction quality. Maybe it was a deluxe line?

 

I hunted for Diamond Point advertising without much luck. There was a series of articles in Pennant a few years back written by a descendant of the found of the company, but didn't really get into the catalog of pens they made.

[penpalace]

I had the pen on my watch list but backed out when it reached north of $250. The colour is one of the more uncommon ones but I have seen two in the last two years and passed on both, (one because of condition, one because of price). What this pen did have though that should not be discounted is a great nib, something you don't normally find on most DP pens. The trim was fairly clean and there was more gold in the marble then some others I have come across in the same colour. To David's point this seems to just be the case of two collectors that really liked the pen but routinely I would expect it to go in the $250-300 range, maybe a tad more with a good nib which this pen had.

 

Nice catch on that one Allan, certainly one of those auctions that if your not entirely familiar with the brand it might make for some head scratching.

 

Pearce.