Well this sounds like a plan!
C.
Printable View
Ferrari da Varese
The Progress fountain pen was made at Newhaven by Valentine. It's a close relative of the Osmia and was made only for a few months in 1932.
https://images44.fotki.com/v1644/pho...ogressa-vi.gif
A huge variety of button and lever fillers were produced.
https://images41.fotki.com/v1673/pho...ogressb-vi.gif
This pen is very rare now and has faded from memory, known only by a few determined collectors.
I agree. The button fillers have more than a hint of Duofold.
https://images42.fotki.com/v903/phot...ogressc-vi.gif
I was conflicted whether to post this here or on the sketches thread.
But learning together wins out in the end. So here we are.
Universal Pen Co. from New York. This particular pen is called Uni-Flow, it's even engraved on the barrel.
The celluloid is very cool, it's brown/orange with dapper white stripes. So of course I had to match it with Diamine Ancient Copper.
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...2064cd59_b.jpg
That sleek-looking 14K I believe is original, ample tipping (literally a ball, which is rare for vintage nibs), writing in Fine.
But it turns out to be a perfect segue, Will. I was going to put a link back here after you made your recent sketch with the nice Moore pen, because I've had an 'obscure' pen to share for a while... hoping to get to it tonight! And here we go...
I've been fascinated by the sub-category of longitudinal striped/striated celluloid from the period. It probably started with the ubiquitous Sheaffer stripes, but a few years ago I ran across the Moores (not the moors...). While they only have a couple of colorways, they really are lovely materials, and I've looked for similar products, often in the lesser-known market. This first photo combines most of that.
The top pen is an Essex, not a giant among pens, but they were either a sub-brand of Moore or they purchased the material from the same maker, as this pen is the identical material to one Moore used (when I find reference to the name I'll edit here). The pen is fairly well made, decent nib, and an interesting feature I'll show in the second photo.
The bottom pen is how we link to the previous post: another Universal. This material has the exact same characteristics as the silver/grey/brown stuff, but in reds/violets/silvers. Really attractive. Will described the construction and appointments of his pen well, and this one is very similar. I didn't capture it in this quick photo session, but it has a particularly florid imprint. Lovely pen, I thought I would have been the first to post one, but Will got there first!
Last little bit: one of the really fun things about chasing the lesser-known brands is that they can surprise you with little elements of difference. Here I've tried to capture the ends of the barrel and cap of the Essex pen, which don't have either metal or other separate-piece finials, but instead a step is machined into the celluloid and is the only time I've seen the pattern on both ends of the pen. I think it is a nice feature to include in a lower-cost instrument.
Jon, thanks for the two additions. If I recall, think the Essex brand is somehow related to the Venus pens.
Also, I have seen those stepped finials on a few Parker pens made during the great depression era.
ADDED: Forgot to mention that I love the cap band on the Essex, and the fact that it has ink window.
The Corona was produced for only a few years between 1916 and the early 1920s. The pens were innovative and of the highest quality.
https://images42.fotki.com/v903/phot...bsbcopy-vi.jpg
These exceptional overfeeds were produced only for exhibition purposes.
https://images42.fotki.com/v1416/pho...tedcopy-vi.jpg
The chasing on these pens was quite unlike anything else at the time.
https://images41.fotki.com/v868/phot...ickcopy-vi.jpg
This splendid matchstick filler is also beautifully chased. No matchstick was actually required. The turned spigot on the cap fitted the aperture exactly.
https://images46.fotki.com/v1645/pho...boxcopy-vi.jpg
With thanks to Andy Russell.
Right - though on the Parkettes I have (and have had), the stepped finials were made out of a different material, and what caught my eye was the simple (simplistic?) choice on the Essex to just turn the decoration out of the barrel/cap itself. Cheap and innovative.
Really nice - the overfeeds are eye-catching and that chasing almost looks like what I know as knurling on tool parts (for added grip).
What I had in mind wasn't the Parkette, instead, the "thrift" or some called them "moderne" models.
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...f02193c9_z.jpg
It's this pen right here:
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...63889366_z.jpg
Despite the model name, it's one of the prettiest Parker I have.
NOTE: I apologize beforehand for posting a non-obscure pen here in this thread. This is for illustrations only.
Here comes the pen of the most obscure brand (at least to me) of my collwection:
The Brand is called "Golsil" and the pen was obviously made in Englang. So this is something for the English people here:
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...95d4fc80_k.jpg
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...2c08ceac_k.jpg
This pens desing and guilloche is rather humble, but the manufacturing quality is fine. The lever looks kind of SWAN-ish to me, but the most obscure thing about this pen is the nib! Unfortunately it is defect and lost one of the tippings, that's why I changed it with a warranted of the same geometry (short and stubby).
The original nib is made of gold platet silver(!)
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...686334a3_k.jpg
I am quite curious about this pen and would love to hear some informations of the British experts.
Thanks in advance
Christof
I'm sorry that I can't add any information on this pen. New to me and not mentioned in any of my reference works, so truly obscure. The hard rubber hasn't faded and it's quite a handsome flat top. I agree about the long lever looking like those on 1920s Swans. The gilded silver nib is unique in my experience.
Somewhat related to the above, a friend reminded me:
"Apparently during the war, the Waterman company made their pen fittings from silver as brass was a strategic material and this limited. The silver was gold-plated. I understand that over the years he silver "leaches" into the gold causing a gradual fading of the colour."
With thanks to Paul Leclercq
Being stamped on the barrel and engraved on the nib, I take it to be the brand.
How can silver leach into gold?
My two cents on this fabulous thread. This seems to be a vintage pen with no name. The nib is a "warranted" Made in Germany.
Although it is a rigid Nib but EF and it suits for my cursive writing.
Lovely pens and I also have some antique pens to show you all. No one has seen them anywhere but the seller and me. No fighting over that point !!!!!
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