Mabie Todd Swan Leverless L206/62

https://images108.fotki.com/v1221/ph...MGP9435-vi.jpg

This is the Swan L206/62. It's a Leverless, the filling system unique to Swan. An internal paddle is rotated by the knurled turn-button and this compresses the sac.

https://images108.fotki.com/v1221/ph...MGP9436-vi.jpg

The Leverless has suffered a poor reputation in recent years because people have been re-sacking it as if it were a lever filler, using too small a sac. To work efficiently the Leverless needs a sac that will fill the barrel completely. A pen of this size takes a No 20 sac; the bigger ones take a 22.

https://images44.fotki.com/v1644/pho...MGP9439-vi.jpg

The /62 pattern is known as Wine & Silver and it's probably the most colourful celluloid in the range. There is a rich wine red, greenish silver, black and gold. Mabie Todd excelled themselves with the Leverless pens of that era.

(My apologies. My photographs do not do justice to the pattern. The colours are deeper and richer than they appear here.)

Dear Deb,

thanks for presenting this beauty! :-)
I love colored and black leverless Swans a lot.

Best
Jens

Deb's no longer in this forum, Jens, but as her husband I may be permitted to respond :-) We both like Leverlesses. I have a 1060 on the desk that is constantly re-inked and a beautiful no-number postwar pen and pencil set arrived this morning. I wish I could find more of the lovely marbled Leverlesses in Steve Hull's book!

For a while I collected Mabie Todds. Went in a different direction and sold/gave them away. Now they are much more difficult to find in good condition and much more expensive. Nibs, other than the Eternals, were usually nice and soft, although finding precise EF or F sizes was and is a crapshoot. Lots of mediums if you like that sort of thing. :)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by eachan

Deb's no longer in this forum, Jens, but as her husband I may be permitted to respond :-) We both like Leverlesses. I have a 1060 on the desk that is constantly re-inked and a beautiful no-number postwar pen and pencil set arrived this morning. I wish I could find more of the lovely marbled Leverlesses in Steve Hull's book!

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Hi,

I see...
Indeed they feel and look great, my favourite is a lapis L205/52 here.

Best wishes and greetings
Jens

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Empty_of_Clouds

For a while I collected Mabie Todds. Went in a different direction and sold/gave them away. Now they are much more difficult to find in good condition and much more expensive. Nibs, other than the Eternals, were usually nice and soft, although finding precise EF or F sizes was and is a crapshoot. Lots of mediums if you like that sort of thing. :)

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Hi,

oh, yes, finding nibs in the EEF to EF range with the flex you want is a challange.
With poor descriptions by sellers it often is:

The Swan Game:
I was looking for a pen, flexy and fine -
A week later something totally different was mine! ;-)

On the other side I wouldn't have bought a medium posting nib (lucky find) -
it looks like a long F one from the distance.

Best wishes
Jens

Quote:

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Originally Posted by SchaumburgSwan

Quote:

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Originally Posted by eachan

Deb's no longer in this forum, Jens, but as her husband I may be permitted to respond :-) We both like Leverlesses. I have a 1060 on the desk that is constantly re-inked and a beautiful no-number postwar pen and pencil set arrived this morning. I wish I could find more of the lovely marbled Leverlesses in Steve Hull's book!

---

Hi,

I see...
Indeed they feel and look great, my favourite is a lapis L205/52 here.

Best wishes and greetings
Jens

---

*Envy*

Quote:

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Originally Posted by eachan

Quote:

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Originally Posted by SchaumburgSwan

Quote:

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Originally Posted by eachan

Deb's no longer in this forum, Jens, but as her husband I may be permitted to respond :-) We both like Leverlesses. I have a 1060 on the desk that is constantly re-inked and a beautiful no-number postwar pen and pencil set arrived this morning. I wish I could find more of the lovely marbled Leverlesses in Steve Hull's book!

---

Hi,

I see...
Indeed they feel and look great, my favourite is a lapis L205/52 here.

Best wishes and greetings
Jens

---

*Envy*

---

Thanks Eachan, but come on, what I have seen on Deb's bloc... lovely 66 colored celluloids...
I'm not a collector looking for all variants here, just want to have some pens i really like and
a wide range of those fantastic nibs.
No snake skins here and only one very rotten lizard skin.

Greetings to the north
Jens

Yes, me too. Of all the variants I've seen I wouldn't mind just one of the flat top versions with a reasonable nib. These days though I believe you have to know certain people (assuming you're not just dead lucky). Kind of kills the chase a bit.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by SchaumburgSwan

Quote:

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Originally Posted by eachan

Quote:

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Originally Posted by SchaumburgSwan

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by eachan

Deb's no longer in this forum, Jens, but as her husband I may be permitted to respond :-) We both like Leverlesses. I have a 1060 on the desk that is constantly re-inked and a beautiful no-number postwar pen and pencil set arrived this morning. I wish I could find more of the lovely marbled Leverlesses in Steve Hull's book!

---

Hi,

I see...
Indeed they feel and look great, my favourite is a lapis L205/52 here.

Best wishes and greetings
Jens

---

*Envy*

---

Thanks Eachan, but come on, what I have seen on Deb's bloc... lovely 66 colored celluloids...
I'm not a collector looking for all variants here, just want to have some pens i really like and
a wide range of those fantastic nibs.
No snake skins here and only one very rotten lizard skin.

Greetings to the north
Jens

---

Aw, poor you! The /66 is a very special pattern. Unfortunately those colourful pens that you see are ones that pass through our hands on the way to someone else. Here's the poor me bit: until recently the only Swan I owned was a Leverless 1060 which was unsaleable because of a cracked cap. I have now been able to add an SF230/61. I may manage to hang onto a few more...