Fun obscure pen (The Tower Queen)

[tandaina]

So back in the FPN days I posted the sad saga of my Tower pen. Here's a short summary.

I came across a pen called "The Tower Queen." Did some research and discovered it was produced by Soenneckenn for their "The Tower" brand marketed entirely in Norway/Finland/Sweden. (Whether it was for all three of those countries or just one wasn't clear to me.) I got it for a song from Europe. But when it arrived... The seller had put it into a bubble mailing ENVELOPE and sent it across the ocean. Unsurprisingly it had been abused en route and was cracked, the ink window was half separated from the section. I was CRUSHED. I'd found ONE other guy who collected these things and he'd never seen the Queen. He had a Lady, Knight, and a few others (Duke I think) but no Queen.

So in desperation I emailed Ron Zorn of Main Street Pens, sent photos and hoped. He said to send it and he'd TRY to fix it. No promises, but when he sees a challenge...

Their repair que is LONG, but finally my pens (had two already there waiting for repair) were shipped back...

FIXED!

Here she is ladies and gents: The Tower Queen!

Simple looking gal:

Untitled by JoAndRoses, on Flickr


Untitled by JoAndRoses, on Flickr

Quiet German elegance:

Untitled by JoAndRoses, on Flickr

If you accidently flick the pen while fighting with its backdrop you can get some fun patterns. Nib is hard to photo but is engraved "Tower 14ct 1 qual"

Untitled by JoAndRoses, on Flickr

A closeup of the ink window (should have done this uninked) with its hash pattern. Ron wasn't sure he'd be able to save this, so glad he could as the pen would lose a lot of its zing without that patterned ink window:

Untitled by JoAndRoses, on Flickr

All around great job! Repair price was VERY reasonable for such fiddly work, and he also did a full restoration job on the pen as well. So the piston will be good to go for a long time as well. I now officially have WAY too many pens inked. Oh well.

[snedwos]

Could you post the pictures of the damage, out of interest? Just to see the extent of Ron's miracle-working.

[dr.grace]

Nice pen! But aren't you afraid of staining the ink window with that ink?

[jbb]

Nice!

[tandaina]

Staining? This pen is 50+ years old... The ink window is gold with black hatches... If its survived 50 years I think it can handle a J Herbin ink!

My pens all get used, so staining happens, but is rare.

[tandaina]

Pictures capture it badly, but here they are:

What you are seeing: there was a crescent moon shaped crack. It started in the ink window, curved up to the threads and ran through the threads half way round the pen and then ran back down into the ink window. As you can see the ink window is a light gold withe black markings. Quite attractive (to me at least.) Frankly I can hardly see where Ron fixed it. He fused the ink window crack that ran up into the threads that much I'm pretty sure of, how he actually seems to have fused the crack in the ink window is ANYONE's guess.

But it holds a seal, and it doesn't even LOOK like it was broken in the past.


IMG_0681 by JoAndRoses, on Flickr


IMG_0682 by JoAndRoses, on Flickr


IMG_0683 by JoAndRoses, on Flickr

[MisterBoll]

Very nice pen. Glad you got it working nicely.

[Jon Szanto]

Mr. Zorn is definitely one of the good guys, in all senses of the phrase. I remember when you got the pen, back on FPN, and I'm very happy at the resolution.

[dr.grace]

Staining? This pen is 50+ years old... The ink window is gold with black hatches... If its survived 50 years I think it can handle a J Herbin ink!

My pens all get used, so staining happens, but is rare.

Even vintage pens can get stained, especially by some red and purple inks. Herbin might be OK, however, especially if you find that it doesn't stain your other pens.

[whych]

You are slipping - a medium nib
Great that you got it repaired.
My feelings are the same as yours with the staining - the pen has probably had years of being left with iron gall and other ink and has had no damage, so why would it change now.
The pen materials were made of almost bulletproof material.

[earthdawn]

Looks great !

Ron did a super job repairing the pen.

I hate reading stories about pens that are ruined by poor shipping. Such a preventable issue especially when it comes to something that has survivved decades of use yet gets destroyed in a few days of travel because someone wanted to save a few minutes and dollars.

Congrats on getting it back and looking like new again.

PS.. Love the unique ink window

[AndyT]

That's a really attractive pen, so glad to hear that it's in use again.

[snedwos]

The ink window is fantastic...

[jacksterp]

A very handsome pen!

Ron Zorn is truly a miracle worker.

Long live the Queen!

[KrazyIvan]

I love that ink window!

[tandaina]

I know, what was I thinking, medium nib. :P

[Uncle Red]

Wow, that's amazing. Good work Ron.