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Thread: What is the most obscure FP brand that you can think of?

  1. #221
    Senior Member eachan's Avatar
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    Default Re: What is the most obscure FP brand that you can think of?



    This early 1920s pen advertises Morrell's ink. Though maybe rather obscure now, these advertising pens were churned out in great quantity, perhaps by one of the well-known older companies like Burnham or Wyvern, perhaps by an un-named manufacturer. The curious thing is that while many expensive pens like Swan or Onoto frequently fade, the black hard rubber in these cheap, made-to-a-price pens remains as black as coal. They're actually quite good pens.



    What is really obscure here is the ink advertised. I have quite a collection of useable vintage inks but I've never been able to find any Morrell's or even a good empty bottle with a label. Competition was fierce in the ink world and Morrell's fell by the wayside a very long time ago and is not remembered now.

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  3. #222
    Senior Member Cyril's Avatar
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    Default Re: What is the most obscure FP brand that you can think of?

    @ Eachan.
    Is this your pen in your collection or a pen for sale??

  4. #223
    Senior Member eachan's Avatar
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    Default Re: What is the most obscure FP brand that you can think of?

    I'm afraid it's long gone, Cyril. All of these pens are from our archive. I finally managed to find a glass flask, the kind known as a Master Bottle, good for storage and pouring, which had the Morrell monogram on it. Pen and flask were bought by a collector.

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  6. #224
    Senior Member Cyril's Avatar
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    Default Re: What is the most obscure FP brand that you can think of?

    Wow this is very appealing Pen eachan !!
    Interesting ink I guess !!

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  8. #225
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    Default Re: What is the most obscure FP brand that you can think of?

    This is the St. George pen. It's a button filler and the celluloid is the same as (or perhaps just very, very similar to) the pattern that Waterman used for their Patrician and called "Turquoise". Though it was made in England I discovered it in eBay Australia. As well as the Waterman colours it bears a fair resemblance to the Duofold, even to the use of the Christmas Tree feed. I would guess it's a late 30s/40s pen. Beyond that, I know nothing about it. This is the only example I have ever seen. Obscure enough?








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  10. #226
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    Default Re: What is the most obscure FP brand that you can think of?

    Quote Originally Posted by eachan View Post
    This is the St. George pen. It's a button filler and the celluloid is the same as (or perhaps just very, very similar to) the pattern that Waterman used for their Patrician and called "Turquoise". Though it was made in England I discovered it in eBay Australia. As well as the Waterman colours it bears a fair resemblance to the Duofold, even to the use of the Christmas Tree feed. I would guess it's a late 30s/40s pen. Beyond that, I know nothing about it. This is the only example I have ever seen. Obscure enough?
    Absolutely, at least to me it is.

    Plus, what a good looking pen. I'd be happy if I ever come across one like that.

    Thank you, Eachan!
    - Will
    Unique and restored vintage pens: Redeem Pens

  11. #227
    Senior Member eachan's Avatar
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    Default Re: What is the most obscure FP brand that you can think of?

    Yes, great colours. Long gone like most of the others I have dredged up from the archive for this thread.

  12. #228
    Senior Member eachan's Avatar
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    Default Re: What is the most obscure FP brand that you can think of?



    The Perry Duragold: not the prettiest or most interesting-looking pen I've shown here but a tale attaches to it. James Perry, a schoolteacher, was dissatisfied with the quills he used at work as they required re-cutting too often. Steel nibs did exist but they were rigid. In 1819 Perry developed a method of slitting the nib which improved ink flow and enabled flexibility. That was the beginning of the dip nib as we know it and he went into business producing them His business grew throughout the nineteenth century and by the 1870s Perry's was the biggest manufacturer of steel nibs in the world.



    A descendant set up the firm of E.S. Perry and it was this company that eventually produced the famous Osmiroid. I believe they also produced the Duragold. This example has a plated steel nib but there was a more expensive version with a 14 carat gold nib and a couple of cap rings. Those two pens were the only Duragolds that came my way. If you see a resemblance between the word Duragold and Duofold you're not wrong. As an attempt to cash in on the popularity of the Parker it failed miserably




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  14. #229
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    Default Re: What is the most obscure FP brand that you can think of?

    PERRY AND COMPANY London is a great pen company. I have some rare dip pens.
    This pen is a special pen for me.
    Recently I have fallen into hunting Vintage Dip pens and I was able to get hold of very amazing rare series of pens.
    I wish I had this pen into my lot!!!

    Nice pick Eachan!!

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    Senior Member eachan's Avatar
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    Default Re: What is the most obscure FP brand that you can think of?

    Sorry to say that one's long gone too. There are some great Perry dip nibs around.

  16. #231
    Senior Member eachan's Avatar
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    Default Re: What is the most obscure FP brand that you can think of?



    This Pento Sydney eyedropper appears quite conventional for the period but it has an additional method of filling. You can unscrew the section in the usual way but there is also a removable plug at the end of the barrel. Otherwise, it's a straightforward eyedropper with an over-and-under feed and chasing on the barrel but not on the cap.



    This pen was made by Maypen Ltd and it has their "Perfect" nib - a real beauty! This image is from a later pen but the Sydney has the same nib. Later Pentos were lever-fillers. The company also made what was probably the first capless pen. Unfortunately it was not a success and the company folded in 1927. It's likely that it was the development costs of the capless pen that caused the insolvency.

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  18. #232
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    Default Re: What is the most obscure FP brand that you can think of?

    What a fascinating thread!

    I have a few that haven't yet made the master list here, though I don't know how obscure they truly are. Here's my latest catch-and-restore, an Underwood lever-filler from (I think) the 1940s. On the short-and-stout side at 124mm uncapped and 13mm wide at the barrel, but light and very comfortable in the hand; the nib looks in rough shape but writes a lovely smooth line, and the feed keeps up. It just needed a new sac and a tightening of the cap band...
    Attached Images Attached Images

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    Default Re: What is the most obscure FP brand that you can think of?

    I vaguely remember Underwood pens being mentioned in an internet article some years ago. The article was a summary of early to mid 20th Century American pen brands. The article listed brand by tier. Don't hold me to this, but I believe Underwood was listed as a third tier brand.

    Again, this is from memory, and I could be completely wrong.

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    Default Re: What is the most obscure FP brand that you can think of?

    Sounds right!

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    Default Re: What is the most obscure FP brand that you can think of?

    Most of the really uncommon pens I've come across over the years attained their obscurity from a lack of commercial success. Several post-war pens are in this category; there were a number of machine shops which had been producing armaments or ammunition which turned to pen production on the cessation of hostilities. None of them made it.



    There is another category among earlier pens: the pens produced for small businesses by well-known pen manufacturers. The Pepys Pen is just such an example. Perhaps it was called that because the diarist was a well-known writer, though in the quill days.

    It's impossible now to discover the company this pen was made for but it's possible to hazard a guess at the manufacturer. It's a good-quality, well-made pen and the sculpted shape of the section suggests Wyvern to me as some of their own-brand pens of the time look like that. There's no certainty about that of course as any pen-maker could make a pen in any style.



    Like all the other pens I have written about in this thread it's long gone and forms part of someone else's collection. I kept it for a while because it was a good writer and a splendid example of mottled hard rubber.

    I'm sure Samuel Pepys would have loved to own such a pen as it would have made his diary so much easier to write!

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    Senior Member FredRydr's Avatar
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    Default Re: What is the most obscure FP brand that you can think of?

    Quote Originally Posted by eachan View Post
    ...splendid example of mottled hard rubber....
    I love that stuff!

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    Default Re: What is the most obscure FP brand that you can think of?

    I imagine that writing with such a long, slender pen would be very pleasant and not unfamiliar to experienced dip pen users.

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  29. #238
    Senior Member Chip's Avatar
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    Default Re: What is the most obscure FP brand that you can think of?

    A few years ago, I got a pretty blue fountain pen in a drawer lot, a brand I'd never seen before: The Lincoln Pen, National Pen Products, Chicago. 1920s at a guess. Medium size and weight, nice-looking but not distinctive. It didn't work, so I cleaned it up and restored the ink sac and filler to working order. A friend had sent me regular packets of old pens she found in junk shops, some of which proved to be rather valuable when restored. So I sent her the blue Lincoln pen as a Christmas gift.

    When I looked for a photo on the web, there were only a few, none of them blue. Here's the only decent example. I recall the floral scroll on the clip.


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  31. #239
    Senior Member eachan's Avatar
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    Default Re: What is the most obscure FP brand that you can think of?

    A handsome pen with good mottled hard rubber.

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    Default Re: What is the most obscure FP brand that you can think of?

    Quote Originally Posted by Chip View Post
    A few years ago, I got a pretty blue fountain pen in a drawer lot, a brand I'd never seen before: The Lincoln Pen, National Pen Products, Chicago. 1920s at a guess. Medium size and weight, nice-looking but not distinctive. It didn't work, so I cleaned it up and restored the ink sac and filler to working order. A friend had sent me regular packets of old pens she found in junk shops, some of which proved to be rather valuable when restored. So I sent her the blue Lincoln pen as a Christmas gift.

    When I looked for a photo on the web, there were only a few, none of them blue. Here's the only decent example. I recall the floral scroll on the clip.
    One of my favorite pen maker and material. This is what mine looks like:



    I am very attracted to vintage mottled / woodgrain ebonite pens, and this Lincoln pretty much has everything that I like in a pen. Plus I put a big Sheaffer nib on it, so it has a lot of "horse-power" under the hood as well.
    - Will
    Unique and restored vintage pens: Redeem Pens

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