I'd be interested in a copy of that disc. Will you ship internationally?

I've bought a small jar of the rosin based sealant sold by a famous member of the community. It went for a few dollars, works beautifully and the jar it's still half full after several restorations, numbering probably around a hundred.

I'd say it's worth the piece of mind of knowing that a little heat it's all it would take to open pens sealed with it.

Just my 2 cents

Hi Paolino. Yes, but international shipping alone bumps the cost a bit.

I've had the files ready for months. Just need to get the copies done.

regards

david

Great. Count me in, and thanks.

I've seen before pens like this. Eversharp clones made in Italy.

I'm moving to a new house, nearer to office.

 

I've spent three days packing, filling, among others, a large box and two smaller ones with nothing but pens.

 

I hope I've packed my collection with sufficient care. Here's a photo of the first box (mostly parkers, sheaffers and auroras).

 

 

Edited for grammar

I made a habit of hunting for pens at "Porta Portese", a flea market held every sunday in Rome (Rome's largest flea market, as a matter of fact).

 

Today I have found a Pelikan 400N in fair condition, stickered in box:

 

 

 

I am only casual with Pelikans, but even I know the 400N is uncommon compared to the plain 400 or the 400nn.

 

Nice find.

 

-d

 

Actually, I'm not an expert on Pelikans. My pen may very well be a 400. Next to my 400 it seems a tiny bit longer and has a more rounded blind cap, which should be telltale signs of a 400n.

 

Anyway, since I'm moving, the pen will go with the others in a box. No more pen hunts for me, for a while.

Thanks for the precious info. All my pens are inside a box, waiting to be unpacked, as I've moved into a new (for me) house, so I can't do any checks.

I do remember, though, that the box carries a price sticker of 50.000 Lire, the equivalent of 25 euros or 22 dollars, so the box, at least, is quite old.

The Logo on your case is 1968 or later. Have a look at here:

 

https://www.grafik.n...orm/pelican-ink

 

C.

 

 

Then M400 it is. Thanks for the info. I have much to learn about pelikans.

I've found a strange pen at the most prominent Rome's flea market.

It's in bad shape: it lacks the clip and the piston is broken, as the metal screw rusted and broke the remainder of the piston in pieces.

It doesn't have any markings on the barrel or cap. The nib is marked Soennecken, but it could be a replacement.

Does anyone know the maker and model of the pen?

 

 

 

Edited to put images inline

Here's a 61 I purchased recently. Photos taken when I still had to clean it. And no, I don't know whether it is a Signet, Insignia or else.

 

 

There are only the following imprints on the cap: "Parker", "made in England", and a small cartouche inside which is specified that the cap (and presumably the barrel) is 1/10 12k rolled gold.

The vast majority of Parkers of any vintage found in the wild here in Italy is made in England.

Porta Portese - Rome's biggest flea market - is good for italian pens, particurarly vintage Aurora 88s. I've bought way too many before enforcing a strict "no more 88s" rule for my small collection.

It's much more difficult to find american pens, but in the last couple of weeks I've managed to find a few: a cf parker 61 (I think it's an insignia); a waterman taperite; a wahl eversharp (gold seal?); a sheaffer touchdown. I've also found an italian clone of the sheaffer touchdown :-) and a Columbus 65 in good condition.

 

Here's the P61. It's very clean and required nothing more than a very light polish (the photo it's from before any cleaning was made):

 

 

The Waterman taperite is very dirty, but it should clean nicely as the plastic has no damage (the cap will require more extensive work):

 

 

The W-E gold seal is in nice condition, apart from a few plier scuffs on the section. As I've bought it 30 mins ago, I've still to do any work on it:

 

 

The Sheaffer touchdown is nothing to write home about, but it's a workhorse, and I needed a new user pen to bring to the office:

 

 

 

The PenCo 53 is a good quality italian pen that brought a lot of legal troubles to the PenCo firm. The first version was a near identical copy of the Sheaffer touchdown. The pen went through three different revisions, with the last one (the one I got) being a piston filler (the crud on the nib was nothing more than old ink):

 

 

Lastly, I've also bought a Columbus 65 in very good condition, were it not for a few scratches on the cap lip. It's a very well made piston filler:

 

 

Edited for grammar

Today, I've been lucky enough to find something different from the usual Italian pens. The find of the day is a Wahl Eversharp in what seems to be a pretty good condition, were it not for a few plier scuffs on the section. Does anybody know which model it is?

 

Here's a photo:

 

I'm trying to remove the section of a Wahl personal point from the barrel, but it won't budge under moderate force.

 

I've read in the Wahl 1929 catalog that the barrel is lined with metal "for easy placement of section into barrel for sac renewals".

May I safely use a little heat to aid in the removal of the section, or would the expanding metal sleeve put enough pressure on the barrel to risk a breakage?

 

I hope that replying to one's own question is not in bad taste.

 

I've read the 1929 wahl catalog available in the PCA library, and it would seem that my pen is a No. 84 Personal Point, more specifically a N. 8404C black and pearl model. Back then, it had a $6.00 list price

It's generally safe. The plastic warms up enough to become (ahem) plastic before the aluminum expands much. The interior metal sleeve actually does a very good job of reinforcing the plastic barrel. This is one case where some very gentle rocking motion, as well as twisting, can help.

 

The problem is most often that there is some oxidation of the metal, which tightens everything up. Just be sure you leave the nib unit in place before putting much pressure on the section; without the interior support it can crack quite easily.

 

Thanks!

Hi

 

I've recently acquired this fountain pen with its accompanying mechanical pencil.

 

 

The pencil does not work. The nose cone rotates freely, without anything happening. It does not seem that the ebonite crown was intended to be removable.

 

Where can I find instructions on how to repair such a pencil? Are there books like the Marshall&Oldfield one, but for pencils?

 

Thanks in advance

 

Regards

I tried to use dry heat, and it turned out that the ebonite crown is actually removable, hiding a lead reservoir.

 

The bottom of the reservoir is solid ebonite, so that leaves no option but to try somehow to remove the nose cone. Since it rotates freely, I'll try pulling. I was after the pen anyway, so even if I break the pencil it won't be that big of a deal.

 

Here's the photo from your gallery.

 

Beautiful pen. Are they difficult to find? I'll have to keep an eye out for these.

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.

 

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.

 

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.

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.

 

 

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