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

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?

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

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

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

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'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

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.

 

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!

 

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.

 

 

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

 

 

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

 

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.

 

 

 

 

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.

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

 

 

 

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

 

 

 

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!

 

 

 

 

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.

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.

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.

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.

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:

 

 

 

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

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.

Continues at this post.

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.

 

 

 

Aurora 98 riserva magica millerighe.

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.