Brown Crusader Taperite?

[RayCornett]

I looked around and although this matches everything about a Crusader Taperite RichardsPens.com does not list brown as one of the colors this pen was available in. Does the fact it was made in Canada change that?12255

[Jon Szanto]

It might. I have a demi-sized maroon (maybe yours faded, or...?) Canadian Taperite with a very deluxe cap (chrome, with chasing, and GF trim) that appears on no other pens that I've found. I like what Canada did with pens!

[Ernst Bitterman]

I've run into some brown Watermans of this period, and it had never occurred to me to check the catalogues. My sources for this period are pretty scant; a few ads and the 1947 catalogues for both the US and UK production. The latter are silent on brown. A 1951 magazine ad lists "beige" as a colour for Crusaders, and shows the Ball Pointer in the same brown as your pen while suggesting it's "tan". An ad for 1950 actually shows this very Crusader (available Standard or Taperite, same price!) and also calls it "beige." We might imagine that Waterman didn't offer brown in certain years.

...all of which supports my contention that Waterman's main goal from 1930 to the sell-off in 1954 was less "make good pens" than "cause misery for pen collectors around the next turn of the century."

[Scrawler]

A while ago, when I did not know much and this was just an ugly pen, I passed up the opportunity to buy one in a clam shell, along with its ball point partner. It was Canadian pen, and it was this same brown. If I had known that people sought after these pens, I would have coughed up the $12 the flea market proprietor was asking.

[pajaro]

The trouble is that you go to a flea market, and you see more interesting items than you have cash for.

It's more than ten years ago now, but I have seen this pen in brown in a junktiques place in Fort Myers, Florida. My parents lived their last years there, and I used to scope out all the used stuff stores with my brother (gun collector for WWI reenactments) and my sister (kitchen junktiques). I was almost ready to buy the pen, but I found Parker 51s that ate up the funds.

[philm]

As covered well above, the tan color was available, though either not produced in great quantities, or not a hot seller, thus limited in production. A nice find, as they are rare in comparison to the black, grey, and blue. Keep an eye out for these as well as the green and red variants.

Phil