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Scrawler
March 12th, 2013, 07:26 AM
This pen was recently purchased by a friend and I have no clue what it is. Never seen one before. Do any of you wise and experienced people have any ideas what it might be.


http://i751.photobucket.com/albums/xx153/FPWriter/id-pen_zpsc978090e.jpg

KrazyIvan
March 12th, 2013, 08:46 AM
Wow, looks very Omas Paragon but not.

Scrawler
March 12th, 2013, 09:03 AM
Wow, looks very Omas Paragon but not.

Yes as soon as I saw the band I thought Omas too. But there are all sorts of clues that it is not. I am guessing that this is a pre-1950 pen. The clip looks sort of third tier-ish. Yet the body looks octagonal and it is a complex celluloid. I hope that someone can give me a clue. I have not actually seen it in person, so I cannot give any more information about it.

KrazyIvan
March 12th, 2013, 09:45 AM
No real idea but I'm leaning third tier. I have a third tier 40's or 50's pen that looks like the same material. I don't know Omas that well. Maybe a picture of the nib would reveal more info.

Scrawler
March 12th, 2013, 09:58 AM
I do not think the nib is original, it is a Mabie Todd. I think someone put a nice nib in an interesting looking third tier pen.

KrazyIvan
March 12th, 2013, 10:45 AM
It would make a nice addition to anyone's collection, assuming the price is right.

Scrawler
March 12th, 2013, 11:01 AM
It would make a nice addition to anyone's collection, assuming the price is right.
It belongs to a friend in the US. He paid $48.00 for it. I have no idea if that represents good value or not.

jar
March 12th, 2013, 11:57 AM
It belongs to a friend in the US. He paid $48.00 for it. I have no idea if that represents good value or not.

The answer to that depends on one question; "Does you friend know of any other pen that would give more joy for $48.00?"

Scrawler
March 12th, 2013, 12:11 PM
The answer to that depends on one question; "Does you friend know of any other pen that would give more joy for $48.00?"

I guess you are right. It certainly is attractive from the pictures and if the Mabie Todd nib is in good condition, it has the potential to be a very good writer. I still would like to be able to tell him what he has bought though.

KrazyIvan
March 12th, 2013, 12:51 PM
I could not think of it earlier but the clip looks a bit Levenger. Yes, I know they were not making pens in the 50's but it might not be original to the pen. I mean the nib was swapped, maybe the clip was also.

KrazyIvan
March 12th, 2013, 02:01 PM
Okay, I may be getting somewhere. I found a brand called Wyvern that looks really similar when it comes to the greek key cap band. Trying to see if there is an octagonal or faceted version.

Wahl/Eversharp also has a faceted pen with a greek key cap band that looks similar. I am just using google to search for "vintage faceted fountain pen Greek Key"

Scrawler
March 12th, 2013, 04:04 PM
I have looked at a few with that search term. This is not really a Greek Key. It is more a bunch of S shapes around the ring. I cannot think how to describe that.

fountainpenkid
March 12th, 2013, 04:56 PM
Not any top-tier vintage american brand I think. Maybe some obscured brand...really interesting whatever it is.

Scrawler
March 12th, 2013, 07:03 PM
Not any top-tier vintage american brand I think. Maybe some obscured brand...really interesting whatever it is.

So far not any top tier brand from anywhere that I can identify. The lever is shaped like some Blackbirds. It has elements reminiscent of Omas. The clip is not quite like anything I have seen, but seems to suggest a lower tier pen, but the celluloid is a nice mixture. The mixture has elements that seem like an "End of Day" pen, but those are usually multi-coloured because the workers would take all the left over celluloid and mix it together. Also the craftsmen who made "End of Day" pens usually went for plain cylinder shapes. The more I look the more confusing it is.

snedwos
March 13th, 2013, 06:34 AM
I don't know what it is. I don't think I'd care, it's rather pretty. $48 is TWSBI price. It's not a huge amount of money to pay for a fountain pen, and if it writes anywhere near as well as it looks, it sounds like it's fair.

Scrawler
March 13th, 2013, 07:20 AM
I don't know what it is. I don't think I'd care, it's rather pretty. $48 is TWSBI price. It's not a huge amount of money to pay for a fountain pen, and if it writes anywhere near as well as it looks, it sounds like it's fair.
I agree, but my friend asked me what I thought it was and I am now really curious because I simply do not have a clue. This is not about "value for money" it is about irritating curiosity. I will not get to see this pen in person for several months. It has aspects of both a higher end pen and a third tier pen. It is not like a simple "end of day" pen, which can be dismissed as such, regardless of factory that it was produced in. It seems unlikely that it is a one off, privately made, item, yet I know no one who has ever seen anything similar.

KrazyIvan
March 13th, 2013, 08:31 AM
There's no imprint at all? Maybe something on the cap or jewel, if it has one?

Scrawler
March 13th, 2013, 08:59 AM
There's no imprint at all? Maybe something on the cap or jewel, if it has one?

I am going to have to wait till I see it in person. I doubt whether my friend has the photographic skills to image them and send them to me.

Scrawler
March 16th, 2013, 06:11 PM
I have just seen an Eclipse pen that has the same body shape, art deco cap ring and similar looking celluloid but it is green where this is grey. However the clip is quite different as is the cap top and barrel end. So I am going to search Eclipse pens to see what else I can find.

Scrawler
March 26th, 2013, 02:50 PM
Well folks, I have finally seen this pen in person. It is very attractive, actually nicer than the images I was sent, show it to be. It is small, about the size of an Esterbrook SJ. It has a semiflexible Mabie Todd 14K nib. It is not faceted as the image appears to make it, but round in cross section. The appearance of being faceted is an artifact of the stuff it is made of. There are no markings on the body to indicate who made it.

Maja
March 27th, 2013, 01:53 AM
I have just seen an Eclipse pen that has the same body shape, art deco cap ring and similar looking celluloid but it is green where this is grey. However the clip is quite different as is the cap top and barrel end. So I am going to search Eclipse pens to see what else I can find.

I have an Eclipse "Vis-O-Ray" model made of the same material (but different cap and barrel styling)

Someone on FPN was trying to ID a pen that was the same as my Vis-O-Ray but in reddish-brown. He did some research and said his was an American-made Swan in red marble & lizardskin, ca. the late 1930's. I couldn't find that pattern in a Swan pen when I used Google, although I know that different pen companies sourced their celluloid material from some common manufacturers....

Whatever it is, it's a very nice-looking pen :D

KrazyIvan
August 12th, 2013, 08:44 AM
Holy resurrected threads Batman!

The original picture is not available anymore so I cannot compare the photo, but this thread popped in my head when I saw this blog post today: http://goodwriterspens.com/2013/08/12/wyvern-no-60c38-pen-pencil-set/

Scrawler
August 12th, 2013, 09:10 AM
Holy resurrected threads Batman!

The original picture is not available anymore so I cannot compare the photo, but this thread popped in my head when I saw this blog post today: http://goodwriterspens.com/2013/08/12/wyvern-no-60c38-pen-pencil-set/

Sorry I cleaned out my picture files and was just a bit too enthusiastic. I will go look for it and try to repost it later. That is the same Greek Key band, but it is a small pen about the size of an Esterbrook SJ and the pen pictured here is described as large. The nib on mine is a Mabie Todd.

KrazyIvan
August 12th, 2013, 09:13 AM
Well, if it is the same band (and that's what struck me as being the same) it may at least be the same manufacturer.

peterpen53
August 12th, 2013, 11:02 AM
Obviously I cannot see the picture but did you check out AltecGreen's thread on vintage Italian pens? In the 30's and 40's there were several brands, including lower tier, that used a Greek key band similar to the Omas one.