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#43231 NEW IN BOX AURORA 88 FINE NIB

Posted by Rocco P on 23 April 2016 - 04:55 AM in Pens for Sale

To be exact, it's an 88P model, the last iteration of the vintage 88 family. The cap shape is characteristic of this model.



#43139 Interesting article on celluloid

Posted by Rocco P on 06 April 2016 - 11:26 AM in Elements of Collecting: Hunting, Valuing and Polemicizing

I have found an interesting article on the production and conservation of celluloid.

Here's the link.

http://cool.conserva...c30-02-003.html



#43133 More finds at Porta Portese

Posted by Rocco P on 03 April 2016 - 10:31 AM in Post Your Pen Finds

Today I have found only two pens. An Omas Extra Lucens anellata and an aerometric Parker 51 (yet another black one, with rolled gold, five converging lines cap).

 

The Omas is a very nice find and cheap to boot! The 51 came with it and is in fair condition, but has a fossilized sac filled with red ink. It's the first time that I have found an aerometric 51 with an unusable sac. Luckily, PVC replacement are available.

 

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#43132 Omas Extra Lucens anellata

Posted by Rocco P on 03 April 2016 - 10:20 AM in Post Your Pen Finds

Today I have found only two pens, but one of them is a lady sized Omas Extra Lucens.

Omas Extra Lucens were produced starting from 1936, restyled in 1938 and put out of production in 1960. You can find more information here.

They are attractive pens, with a twelve-sided faceted design reminiscent of (and contemporary to) W-E Doric.

 

While it's easy to find Omas Extra pens, the Lucens ones are much more scarce. While plain Extras have an opaque barrel and were piston filled, Lucens pens had a translucent barrel and used a filling system that Omas called "stantuffo tuffante", nearly identical to the Dunn pump filler.

 

It was produced in a wide variety of celluloids. Black ones are somewhat easier to find. My new acquisition has a grey, ringed celluloid, with green undertones.

 

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#43115 More finds at Porta Portese

Posted by Rocco P on 27 March 2016 - 10:47 AM in Post Your Pen Finds

Today has been a lucky day!

 

First group, from top to bottom:

 

1. Omas extra - a nice piston filler in black celluloid

2. Sagitta 89 - a very nicely built piston filler with hooded, flexible nib

3. Parker VS - black good cap, deep posting rings

4. Sheaffer Vacuum-fil - black with abalone shells. What is the name of this model?

5. Tibaldi infrangibile - see this topic for a little more info

 

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Second group, from top to bottom:

 

1. Montblanc 221

2. Kaweco Dia 02G

3. Stipula α-χalegrafica 

4. Montegrappa 302

5. Swan self-filler 6260

 

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#43114 Tibaldi infrangibile

Posted by Rocco P on 27 March 2016 - 10:35 AM in Post Your Pen Finds

I like going to Easter flea markets in Rome, because there's almost no one buying and so you can find more and cheaper pens!

 

Today I have been lucky enough to find a Tibaldi Infrangibile (it's the bottom one in the first photo), a very nice, quite rare, Italian high tier pen, from the late '30s.

 

My pen is an oversize (as identified by the #26 imprinted at the bottom of the blind cap), Serie II, button fill model, in a very nice mottled green-brown celluloid.

 

The cap lib is broken, so I am in the hunt of parts made of similarly colored celluloid, to fuse for reconstruction surgery.

 

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#43016 More finds at Porta Portese

Posted by Rocco P on 21 February 2016 - 12:42 PM in Post Your Pen Finds

This week it's the turn of a lever fill rolled gold Columbus Extra - a lady size pen - with a very nice, very flexible nib. I have also bought another Pelikan 120. For 5 euros (as much as last week) I could not say no!

 

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#42969 More finds at Porta Portese

Posted by Rocco P on 07 February 2016 - 04:51 PM in Post Your Pen Finds

This week I have found a beautiful Aurora Selene - a "Lady" model - a rolled gold Zenith Extra and a lowly Pelikan 120.

 

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#42940 More finds at Porta Portese

Posted by Rocco P on 31 January 2016 - 05:03 PM in Post Your Pen Finds

Today, I have found a nice vacumatic, with incredible transparency, a (cheap) vacumatic P51 and a NOS german piston filler.

 

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#42904 More finds at Porta Portese

Posted by Rocco P on 24 January 2016 - 11:03 AM in Post Your Pen Finds

This week my haul is quite meager: a lonely Pen-Co 53. It's a first generation model, a plunger filler with a conical nib.

 

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#42808 SWAN 3620 - shrinking feeder problem

Posted by Rocco P on 06 January 2016 - 08:54 AM in R & R: (Repair and Restoration)

Thanks, Deb. I'll follow your advice on my next restoration.




#42800 SWAN 3620 - shrinking feeder problem

Posted by Rocco P on 05 January 2016 - 11:50 AM in R & R: (Repair and Restoration)

It seems that your problem is a consequence of soaking. I'd never seen that because I don't soak sections and feeds, partly because of the risk of fading but also because there is no benefit in it. There are better ways of loosening parts and removing dried ink.

I don't know how the "Swan" imprint aligns. It's not something I've ever paid any attention to.


I try to use as little (cold) water as possible, for fear of fading, but I'll be the first to admit that I have little experience. I'd like to learn better techniques. How do you remove ink without soaking at least up to the nib?



#42753 Unusual Aurora Pen

Posted by Rocco P on 20 December 2015 - 09:45 PM in OTHER EUROPEAN and ASIAN PENS

Aurora 98 riserva magica millerighe.



#42713 Gold Covered duofold

Posted by Rocco P on 08 December 2015 - 08:42 PM in PARKER: (USA "Big Five")

Beautiful pen!



#42702 Gold Covered duofold

Posted by Rocco P on 08 December 2015 - 11:55 AM in PARKER: (USA "Big Five")

I've come across a strange, at least to my inexperienced eyes, duofold, fully covered in gold.

Was it a jeweler job or did it come from a Parker factory?


Oggetto: PARKER DUOFOLD 18CT VERY RARE

URL: http://pages.ebay.co...9561284&alt=web



#42698 Soennecken Pony

Posted by Rocco P on 07 December 2015 - 05:20 PM in OTHER EUROPEAN and ASIAN PENS

Thanks. The pen in that ad is exactly like mine (except for better trim and for the color)



#42690 Soennecken Pony

Posted by Rocco P on 06 December 2015 - 12:57 PM in OTHER EUROPEAN and ASIAN PENS

I have found this little gem in Porta Portese, Rome's biggest flea market, held every Sunday.

It is in great shape, except for a few shallow scratches in the barrel and a cracked nib.

The barrel is engraved: "SOENNECKEN Pony" and the nib bears an "SO" mark.
I'd be thankful if anyone could shed some light on this Soennecken model as I have never heard anything about the Pony.

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#42689 More finds at Porta Portese

Posted by Rocco P on 06 December 2015 - 12:48 PM in Post Your Pen Finds

This week I have found an aerometric Parker 51, an Omas Lucens and a Soennecken Pony.

 

The P51 is a run of the mill black aerometric with a gold filled cap. The cap has the converging lines pattern. I have already several such P51s, but the vendor asked only 10 euros and I didn't resist buying it. P51s are the second most common pen to be found on the wild in Rome, the most common being Aurora 88s. By the way, every gold-filled P51 cap I have (and I must have at least a dozen) is of the converging lines kind.

 

The Omas Lucens would have been a great find, were it not for a broken cap (the cap top and lip are partly missing, as is the clip). The barrel is thoroughly scratched, but none of the scratches are deep. The Lucens was a nice pen offered by Omas both in a faceted version (Extra Lucens) and with a round barrel (Lucens). The barrel is semi-transparent, hence the name. Mine has a ringed pattern and I hope that with a good soak I'll be able to restore some transparency to it. The filling mechanism was called: "stantuffo tuffante" and follows the same principle as that used on Dunns.

 

The Soennecken Pony is in great shape, but for a hairline crack in the nib, originating from the vent hole, and a few shallow scratches on the barrel.

 

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I am Italian and not at all at ease with the English language. I'll be thankful if you'll point to me any grammar errors or other mistakes.




#42623 Recent finds at Porta Portese

Posted by Rocco P on 22 November 2015 - 01:32 PM in Post Your Pen Finds

Continues at this post.




#42622 More finds at Porta Portese

Posted by Rocco P on 22 November 2015 - 01:24 PM in Post Your Pen Finds

This week I have found:

  • A Pagliero/Stilnova 22 ring-top button filler with a very nice celluloid. The celluloid has great depth and pearlescence. The blind cap has pretty deep teeth marks, though. I'll have to try and remove or at least reduce them. Also, the pressure bar was thoroughly rusted, to the point that there remained little more than half of it, the rest having been reduced to powder. And, the nib tip is bent. I'll try to address this last issue as soon as Mr. Nishimura nib block, which I ordered recently, reaches my doorstep. I'll appreciate if someone will share his experience in using the block for nib straightening.
  • Two Aurora 88s in good shape. In the photo, the nearest one is a late production first generation while the other is an 88K, a second generation pen, and not an early one as indicated by the black plastic "jewel". These finds bring the grand total of Aurora 88s bought this last month to four, and I have passed over many others, in worse shape or whose vendors asked too much. I have yet to clean and restore the pens, as my seals supply is still boxed away along with my pen collection, after my move a few months ago.
  • A Columbus extra 150 in great shape. It is yet another P51 clone from Italy. Like the Aurora 88, it is a piston filler with a hooded nib. Unlike its more famous cousin, the hood covers a traditional nib and section!

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Edit: formatting and grammar. I'm Italian and I'll appreciate if you'll point to me the grammar mistakes that are undoubtedly still present.




#42507 Recent finds at Porta Portese

Posted by Rocco P on 01 November 2015 - 12:35 PM in Post Your Pen Finds

This week, I have found a Parker 61 in its box. The box is quite dirty. Does anyone have a suggestion on how to clean it?

 

I have also bought two Aurora 88s in fairly good shape. One of them still has the original colored plug (used only on early models) that goes on the end of the piston knob and covers the access screw. In this instance, the plug is white, for an extra fine, flexible nib.

 

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#42397 Recent finds at Porta Portese

Posted by Rocco P on 11 October 2015 - 01:19 PM in Post Your Pen Finds

This week, I've bought a Parker 51 and a Waterman. The 51 has a '50, third quarter, date code and a filler with the "press 6 times" line.

 

There were a lot of other pens. A vendor had what evidently was a whole collection for sale, with several early HR pens, including a very nice 42 in woodgrain. Unfortunately, he asked way more than I was ready to pay and, uncharacteristically, he was not ready to bargain on the price.

 

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Edit: 15 euros for the 51 and 20 for the waterman, Lately, I've been lucky with 51s.




#42391 eBay finds of the week

Posted by Rocco P on 10 October 2015 - 05:51 PM in Post Your Pen Finds

Both Parkers were badly misdescribed. The PFM too. "Sheaffer pen" or something like that. It had a fairly high BIN, I offered a lot less and my offer was accepted.




#42384 eBay finds of the week

Posted by Rocco P on 10 October 2015 - 09:31 AM in Post Your Pen Finds

Two aerometric Parker 51s and a Sheaffer PFM I. One of the 51s is in very nice shape, with a pristine rolled gold cap. The other cap, a lustraloy one, is in need of a polish.

 

I paid very little for the 51s, respectively 15 and 10 euros. On the other hand, I fear I might have overpaid the PFM, at 120 euros. It's my first PFM, though, and I always wanted one.

 

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#42319 Bad day at the flea market

Posted by Rocco P on 04 October 2015 - 09:06 AM in Post Your Pen Finds

For the first time in years, this week I've been able to find only one vintage pen at Porta Portese, Rome's weekly flea market (discounting the ubiquitous Aurora 88s, which I've stopped buying after accumulating way too many).

 

I usually buy a few pens, among the several available. This week there was only one to be had, this USA made waterman in fair condition.

 

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