Vintage Pen with Nib by Mauricio

[MarneM]

So, some background history first. A couple months ago, my father called me from an auction to tell me there were some fountain pens there and ask if I thought he should buy them. He sent me a single blurry picture which told me pretty much nothing except that they were some sort of vintage celluloid lever-fills. I told him not to spend too much. He got four of them for $40, and sent them my way.

I ended up with these -- a Universal, a Parkette, an Estie, and a Nassau (this picture is after considerable restoration):



I still have to get a nib for the Parkette, and I gave the other two to someone I felt would would find a place for them. But I really liked the fourth one, even though it was just a little third-tier pen. The celluloid was different from anything else that I owned. I was able to polish it up (it had teeth marks, eek!) and resac it. However, it still needed a nib. Cue the Atlanta pen show!

I left my pen with a nice man named Mauricio, who runs vintagepen.net. He's a wizard when it comes to putting flexible nibs on vintage pens, and I wanted him to do the same for mine. Yesterday, I got it back! I am actually giddy with delight at how well the pen came out. I know have a pen from my father, which is special just in that he thought of me, with an amazing flexible nib that writes beautifully. Mauricio also tweaks and adjusts the feed so that the pen has enough flow to support the flexible nib. I am still learning the limits of the pen, so I haven't pushed it to the max, but here are some example pictures:



The above is my writing. The below is what Mauricio did in the example note. I think it's important to note that when you're not flexing the pen, you can write quickly and easily with a nice smooth fine to medium line.



And here is one more picture, from my journal writing the next day (excuse the inconsistencies in the handwriting please):



This pen is absolutely in my top two pens, now. It's neck and neck with my Waterman Carene for my favorite. I highly recommend Mauricio's work. This is the second pen of his I have tried (a friend of mine had one, which is how I knew about him).

[tytoalba]

Great story! Particularly that your dad was thinking of you went he found them : ) (pure treasure)
I very much enjoyed Mauricio's website essay on how to write with a flex pen.
http://www.vintagepen.net/how-to-use-flex-nibs.html

[cedargirl]

Nice pen and nice penmanship! Lucky you.

[reprieve]

I'm so glad Mauricio found a nice nib for your pen. It turned out perfectly! Hooray!

[Pterodactylus]

(Faber Castell Osmia 223 F ..... Diamine China Blue)

[MarneM]

Thanks! The more I use it, the more I love it. It just flows across the paper so easily, no matter what I'm doing with it. It may well be my new favorite pen!

[Jon Szanto]

Mauricio has to be the flex-lovers best friend! If FPN were to never come back, one of the greatest losses would be his series of images demonstrating inks he likes for shading in flex nibs. The combination of the inks he chose and his drop-dead beautiful penmanship is exquisite. I'm so happy for you that the pen turned out this way, a pen for the rest of your life.