restoration / antiquing find / Eclipse

[gwgtaylor]

Hello everyone!

I wanted to share my latest accomplishment and also see if I could get a little info.

A few weeks back a trip to a tree farm brought us by an antiques market so my girlfriend and I went hunting for the first time and I found this pen. It was totally tarnished and dirty and was something like 25 dollars plus tax. I didn't have my loupe but my girlfriend who has better eyes than me assured me it said 14k on the nib and Eclipse Canada. For that price I bought it and was excited to get it restored. I had the week before completed my first sac change on a Swan SM100/60.

I got the pen cleaned up and the nib shining but when I got the full and totally ossified sac out, the jbar came out in two pieces. I didn't have replacements so I ordered them.

Jbars and talc came today from fountainpensacs.com. The jbar was the large size and the sac needed was a snug fitting #22. It almost didn't fit. Really tight. So this pen is pretty big. Heavy for a plastic/celluloid and very substantial.

From what I can gather, eclipse is a Canadian/American brand. Canadian offices in Toronto. The nib on this pen is marked Eclipse Canada. On the cap though it has Eclipse USA. It also has eclipse marked on the lever. I've read that they often used warranted nibs so I I'm happy mine is branded.

I feel like this was a pretty good find. Just wondering if anyone can tell me anything about this pen. Is it ok to have Canada nib and USA clip? Can anyone date this? Material? Model? It's smooth and a little flexy. I like it.

Thank you for any info!
-Gerald

[fountainpenkid]

What a beauty!

[FP_GaF]

Is it ok to have Canada nib and USA clip? [...] It's smooth and a little flexy. I like it.

This is a really nice looking pen. Great find.

To answer your question above. Why do you care? You said yourself you like the pen. You restored it and gave it a new life. You have done a great job. The time you spent on that pen and the way it came into your possession created a history that links the pen to you forever. The successful restoration is a big achievement. Why then is it important that the clip is marked USA and the nib is marked Canada.

In absolute terms this is likely a third tier pen with limited marked value (I guess). If your goal is to make money of your find then the mix and match will probably reduce its market value. There are surely dozens of similar models from other companies out there (I myself own a pen very similar to yours from Moore) with many thousands of pens to be had.

But I would argue that is not the point. The pen you found and repaired is now unique. There is no other in the whole world of its kind. Surely its Okay, even if nib and clip don't match entirely on the face of it. Who cares.

Enjoy your wonderful find and great achievement and don't worry too much about these superficial details. At least that is my personal view.

Cheers

Gerd

[gwgtaylor]

Gerd, I totally agree with you. I only ask because I'm curious and know little about the brand. I don't care about the value as I'm somewhat of a hoarder with pens. If its nothing it's nothing. I still like it. Just curious is all.

[gwgtaylor]

Sorry, prematurely posted. Just wanted to learn is all. My experience with vintage pens is limited. While it's nice to collect pens that have value simply because I like them, it's also nice to find out that your pen is generally desirable or collectible.

All that said, I thought third tier pens from Eclipse were branded with other names and also that generally speaking, among vintage pens anyway, second and third tier pens were usually smaller as most pens of the time were anyway.

I also thought first tier pens could mix and match nibs and pens. For example, my sterling Cross Townsend has a body made in the USA but a nib made by pelikan in Germany. Maybe I don't understand what makes something first or third tier. I'll read some more.

New info is always good. Thanks for it.
-Gerald

[KrazyIvan]

I don't know anything about the pen but it looks awesome. Congratulations on your restoration! I see your point though, I like to know everything I can about the pens I own. I am curious and like to have that kind of non-essential trivia floating around in my brain. Kind of like the thread count of IDF issue socks.

[Bogon07]

Interesting looking pen. The pattern is similar to the Pelikan M620 Chicago with the bonus of having a matching cap.
The nib seems to give some nice line variation when pushed. The heart shaped hole on the nib looks good too.

Congratulations on your restoration.

[gwgtaylor]

Thanks guys. I'm really liking this pen.

[Bogon07]

I think I should have said Pelikan M620 NewYork, the black and white Friesian cow pattern.

[Carole]

Amazing find, great job w/ restoration, too! I have a red marble Eclipse that I love, tho I don't know anything much about the brand. But do you know Teri Morris at Peyton Street pens? Super knowledgeable and nice. She has a green oversize Eclipse listed on her site right now ( I've been trying to teleport it to myself for xmas, no luck yet . I think she may be able to give you some background and info. Lovely person to talk with anyway. Enjoy!

[gwgtaylor]

Amazing find, great job w/ restoration, too! I have a red marble Eclipse that I love, tho I don't know anything much about the brand. But do you know Teri Morris at Peyton Street pens? Super knowledgeable and nice. She has a green oversize Eclipse listed on her site right now ( I've been trying to teleport it to myself for xmas, no luck yet . I think she may be able to give you some background and info. Lovely person to talk with anyway. Enjoy!

Wow Carole, thanks for the tip. I may just write Ms Morris an email to see if she can give any additional info. She has a great site and I got off it pretty quickly for fear of making too msny impulse purchases. She has very nice stuff.

Thanks again! That overdize on her site looks really nice. Hope Santa is good to you!
-gerald

[Bogon07]

That green Ecilpse is really pretty you could spend a lot of time just staring at the marble pattern.
Carole, Peyton Street pens is a dangerous site. I think I strained a a muscle in my mouse finger trying to refrain from Paypal-ing the Azure Parker Vacumatic.

[Carole]

Happy to hear you all liked the site, I agree, it's dangerous! But it's a learning experience too, right? Right?

I think I strained a a muscle in my mouse finger trying to refrain from Paypal-ing

LOL! I think we need that on a t-shirt! Hope Santa was watching. Also, I'm pretty sure the Azure Parker is kind of a cultural artifact, so you're not just buying a pen, you're buying a moment in time! A reallllly nice one.

And since I'm over the line for a while, guys, please feel free to pick up the Eclipse, I've been hoping someone would take it away! Along with those flexilicious Watermans. A person can only take so much.
Cheerio for now....

[DanDeM]

Eclipse is a NYC based maker that goes back to the 1910's. Often dismissed by pen snobs as third tier, they made well built, attractive pens, but fitted them with undersized, mostly Warranted 14k nibs -- hence the sneers. (A few nibs carry the Eclipse imprint, but that's not the rule) Not at all innovative in function or materials, mostly lever fill with shapes and colors that followed the bigger pace setters.

Sometime in the Forties they opened a plant in Toronto and soon after closed the domestic facility. Canada continued making increasingly cheesy pens into the Fifties, until it finally gave in to the ball point. The eclipse of Eclipse. All of the Canadian pens I've seen have gold plated nibs, which makes the OP's pen very interesting.

gygtaylor's Black & Pearl cigar, a 1940's shape, uses the same celluloid as this American made c. 1925 Flat Top, but reflects the declining workmanship of the brand's later years. Note the glued on end-caps separated by a knurled band.



Fascinating pen.

P.S.
This background is very superficial. A search will bring up lots of interesting detail.

[gwgtaylor]

Eclipse is a NYC based maker that goes back to the 1910's. Often dismissed by pen snobs as third tier, they made well built, attractive pens, but fitted them with undersized, mostly Warranted 14k nibs -- hence the sneers. (A few nibs carry the Eclipse imprint, but that's not the rule) Not at all innovative in function or materials, mostly lever fill with shapes and colors that followed the bigger pace setters.

Sometime in the Forties they opened a plant in Toronto and soon after closed the domestic facility. Canada continued making increasingly cheesy pens into the Fifties, until it finally gave in to the ball point. The eclipse of Eclipse. All of the Canadian pens I've seen have gold plated nibs, which makes the OP's pen very interesting.

gygtaylor's Black & Pearl cigar, a 1940's shape, uses the same celluloid as this American made c. 1925 Flat Top, but reflects the declining workmanship of the brand's later years. Note the glued on end-caps separated by a knurled band.



Fascinating pen.

P.S.
This background is very superficial. A search will bring up lots of interesting detail.

Thank you very much for this added info! I thought It was celluloid. Smells really weird when I uncap it. The nib doesn't seem undersized for the pen. It's approximately #6 size.

Cheers!
-gerald

[david i]

Nice shot

I assert that to those who know, Eclipse is considered a 2nd tier maker, for a variety of sound reasons. I would not call it third tier, lumping it thus with Wearever, Arnold and the like. Eclipse had a connection with the vaunted (if niche) Monroe pen. Here is an Eclipse thread, showing a fair number of pens, over at FPnuts/Fountain Pen Board. Note that the late Jon Roede put an article about Monroe (connecting it to Eclipse) in Pen World International a few years ago. Eclipse definitely has its followers.

ECLIPSE THREAD with IMAGES at FPB/FPnuts

regards

david

[DanDeM]

George:
Beware that snug, almost too tight #22 sac. When fully filled body heat from your hand or carrying it in a shirt pocket will cause the ink to expand; ultimately leak. A properly sized sac should not touch the interior wall of the barrel.

[tytoalba]

I just pulled out my Eclipse ring top.. The nib is somewhat small for the size of the ringtop. That said, the overall quality appears very high next to the variety of ringtops in my small collection. The metal accents are more refined, jewelry-like, than the Conklin or Carters I have. It's quite a handsome pen imho. I'm not your expert here. This is just my personal observation via my examples.

[DanDeM]

I just pulled out my Eclipse ring top.. The nib is somewhat small for the size of the ringtop. That said, the overall quality appears very high next to the variety of ringtops in my small collection. The metal accents are more refined, jewelry-like, than the Conklin or Carters I have. It's quite a handsome pen imho. I'm not your expert here. This is just my personal observation via my examples.

Haven't handled enough Conklins or Carters to compare, but couldn't agree more about Eclipse quality, particularly pre-1930, but like so many other makers, their declining years weren't pretty.

Here's a nice set from the '20s.



By the way, I'm no expert either, but they're easy to spot. They're often pompous, pedantic, patronizing, prone to stilted language and self serving..

[david i]

A very special bit of Eclipse info. A pen with original barrel band, supporting the correctness of generic seeming "warranted" nibs turning up in Eclipse. Eclipse pens also are found with branded nibs.

This ad also demonstrates some of the classic objective findings of "2nd tier" status for this likely 1920's pen, including a disproportionately small nib (oversized pen with non oversized nib) and pretentious numbering with a "#8" on a nib well smaller than what a #8 meant for the premier manufactuers.

This stuff can be learned...

Note, too, that a pen's tier is but part of what contributes to collector cachet. There are many examples of pens that might not have been first tier in their day, which nonetheless are highly and appropriately cherished today.




regards

David