Welcome, and enjoy the great experience using a fountain pen.

Cool process, makes me want to make a pen now

Thank you.

Now all you need are all the pre-production colors.

Regards,
George

I was confused until i looked into it;

http://www.parker51.com/gpage8.html

Man that raspberry P51 with that gold filled band on the barrel looks great. Reminds me of early Waterman's with bands on the barrel

Wow,

What a collection, and they are in beautiful condition. I love the top two sets of pens, and the molted pen is stunning! Whats the history of the Kraker company?

Stopped at an antique shop that I forget to go to often enough. Passed on a $65 black and yellow enameled metal Eversharp box containing a green Doric P&P set and a red Doric P&P set - all 4 pieces were fluorescing, the box was very neat, but the pens were sad - and a $255 plain black Waterman's with a loose cap band and a 100 Yr nib. I don't make an effort to collect Balances, but couldn't resist this:



Also bought a Waterman's mailing tube containing a service envelope and a 1948 invoice for 35 cents service fee on an "875 Jet", posted with a 1-1/2 cent Martha Washington - I should probably pass that on to a Waterman's fan.

Hi Matt,

Not sure how much you are into Balances, but I will be happy to add that greeny to my own collection if you are in inclined to part with it. Seriously

regards

david

, very nice Jade pen. I hope you add 'it' to your growing mint Jade collection.

Nice pen!

I just recently heard about the book Waterman Safety: The Art of Overlay in Italy 1900-1940, and id like to purchase a copy.

Welcome Tony,

What vintage pens do you have?

Hello Norman,

Welcome, and i love your site.

Hi Brando, nothing too special. Couple of Esterbrooks, a Sheaffer TouchDown, a couple of Imperials (I think more from the 60s or 70s), and a Parker 45 (from the same time period). I find myself buying more modern pens mainly because I'm afraid of spending too much money on vintage pens that might or might not write. But I'm planning on buying at least a few this year, like an old Pelikan (I like the 100nn), Parker 51, a Waterman 52, Sheaffer Balance, and maybe a few Snorkel pens. I also want to get a Parker Vac and an old Duofold (the ones with the Christmas tree feeds). So I do have a wish list for vintage, lol, I just get nervous about purchasing vintage because I'm not a repair person and not sure how much repairs would be on such old pens.

Dont be too afraid of vintage pens, only vintage pens can you get true flex, and that flex is not something you'll find on modern pens. An average repair is $35, and more complicated repairs can be $50, $75 to $500. But those last few number you can forget about, because i doubt you'll be sending in a repair of something that's broken.

Beautiful pen, and its a 'phone dialer' if i remember correctly. Referencing the thread below;

http://fountainpenbo...h__1#entry16316

Here is a great pen i bought, and is at the top at the most expensive pens ive bought. I wanted to expand my MT/Swan collection so i did...

http://penspensandmo...s.blogspot.com/

Im going to ventue out and say its a replacement. Couldn't really find much on this, here is something that would of helped you

http://www.fountainp...s/page__st__100

While browsing one of the few decent selections of vintage pens in Sydney ( run by Bill Newman who may be known to some here) I came across an aluminium pen, warranted nib , generic straight clip attached with screw in (?) peaked plastic end , lever fill etc. Was marked on the barrel "Home (lite?)" , should have written that bit down...pat. pending and made in England. My first thought was a late 40's pen but Bill places it in the 30's and I guess the general shape ( Summit style? to give a basic idea S175 size, a fairly big pen ) would enforce Bill's view. In general appeared well made and in this case also excellent condition appearing dent free ( which would be rare for an aluminium I would think).

Haven't seen one before , any thoughts?

Regards
Hugh

Hugh,

I can give you some help, courtesy of my friend Steve Hull's book 'The English Fountain Pen Industry 1875 - 1975' - and for anybody interested in English pens, especially the more obscure brands, you must have this book, most of the information it contains is not to be found anywhere else! It is a limited edition of 100 and there aren't that many left.

The pen you are referring to is the Homelink, made by Kagan & Co. of Edgware (probably better known for their pre-war glass nibbed Tip-Toe Stylo). Trust your own instincts, you were absolutely right about the date, the Homelink was first advertised in 1947. As well as the plain aluminium finish you refer to, it was also supposedly available in 'brilliant anodised gold, ruby, green, blue, jet black and many other attractive colours'. I have certainly never seen one (though that doesn't mean anything) but the 1947 advertisement referred to is probably the last appearance of Kagans in the trade press, so I would assume that it wasn't produced for very long and is hence fairly rare, though of course not necessarily valuable. From the way you phrased your query, I guess you didn't snap it up at the time. Shame!

Andy

I actually just got in a Homelink, but sadly its missing the clip and nib. I have another aluminum pen though, with no barrel markings, and ill have to check the nib, but it has a rounded finial, and is very similar is style to the Homelink.

Had a whole bunch of them back in the '90s, all new old stock. Wish I had hung on to a few of them.

Note that these should actually be called Mabie Todd Blackbird demonstrators: "Blackbird" and "Swan" were two different lines, so a pen that was a Blackbird was not a Swan.

Thank you very much David,

What did you sell them for back than, and what are they worth now (nos NOS and NOS)?

Hey, at least we're organized when it comes to pens

Welcome!

We all left FPN because on the moderator's attitudes, and their rudeness towards its members. What pens do you favorite?

Welcome,

Make yourself comfortable.

Ralph at Prather Pens can make many different types of jewels and bands...

http://www.pratherpe...om/Welcome.html

Very nice! Ive been wanting a vintage Pelikan tortoise for a long time, and $50 is a price ill pay, not $400+.

Very nice silver overlays! A sleeve filler ad a 412...?

Sounds like a stylograph. http://www.vintagepe...om/stylos.shtml

I agree. Ive owned a few of these, but i dont know how to write/use them.

Hi Gang,

I really think I must be missing something...

http://www.ebay.com/...=item27ca6c5eb9

It's the "well worn and scuffed" box, duhh

So i was talking to a certain pen repairer, one who has very rare pens ever month, and i was refereed to im by another pen person as he'd be able to do it. Lets just say the pen i need is very,very,very small and needs a new cap (there's a crack) a section, and feed. Well after a half dozen emails from the both of us, he stated a price which was just under $1000, which as a teenager wont be able to afford, and had this too say; "I now have an hour of my time into the job, going back and forth with the machinist and between you and I. I had estimated a total of about 1.5 hours of my time for the job (email exchange; receiving the pen; bringing it to the machinist; providing detailed instructions; answering his questions along the way; picking it up; calculating shipping and insurance costs; billing; PayPal or credit card fees; accounting activities; packing; getting the package to the shipping carrier). Because I didn't anticipate the breadth of email exchanges in which we would engage, the estimate of the time I would personally spend is already low."