Wahl Ringtop Sterling Silver

[Okami]

Please go to my blog: Whatever to see the complete post and all the photos.



This is going to be a post very heavy in photos, so I will try to keep the narrative to a minimum. The photos above are from the eBay listing for this lovely pen.

The photos below are before, during and after restoration of this pen.



Partially polished up.



A corroded pressure bar, but a little elbow grease and very fine sand paper cleaned it up. Reinstalling the pressure bar was interesting since those lips on the side have to slide over corresponding posts on the lever.



The nib section of this pen screws on. A reminder to always try to unscrew the section before just pulling it out.



A comparision with the sac in my Waterman 52, obviously this is not a pen that is going to hold a LOT of ink.



The only true problem with this pen. The nib is damaged. If you click on the photo below you can see the crinkled tip. I ended up buying a new Wahl #2 flexible nib from Robert at Five Star Pens. I still have the old nib and trimmed the tip and have ground it to a smooth, extremely broad stub. I just don't know what to do with it at this point.



All polished up and new nib installed this is a lovely little pen. I have discovered that I have a fondness for these little ringtops, this is one of four that I own.

My research indicates that this pen may date from as far back as 1921 since it appears in the Wahl catalog for that year (which I was fortunate enough to be able to access through the Pen Collectors of America website). The model number is 520C, Telegraph Word Welkin. This pen is described as "Very richly hand engraved. An unusually handsome pen. 3-5/8 inches long when closed." The catalog lists the price of the pen as $10. From all the places I looked that is the equivalent of about $105 today.

But this pen carries so much more than a monetary value, I think of the history... who might have used it? Were letters writter to a lover? Were letters written to a son away at war? Yes, I'm a romantic and everytime I use this pen I think of the things that might have been written and the history that has passed in the 80 odd years since it was created...*SIGH*




This pen measures 3-58 inches long capped, you can see below a comparision with a Lamy Safari and a Pelikan M200.





Writing sample:

[penspouse]

Very nice, I have several ringtops. They are addicting. The last one I found was A Wahl in white gold.