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Thread: Swan Leverless 1041

  1. #1
    Senior Member eachan's Avatar
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    Default Swan Leverless 1041

    This pen does not have the dramatic beauty of some of the others Deb and I have posted before but it has a quieter beauty and a lot of history.



    This is a World War Two pen. Those were difficult years for Mabie Todd. Like all pen manufacturers fountain pen production was limited to a few models and the skills and equipment were turned over to armament production. Then the company's headquarters and production facilities were bombed. They recovered and continued to produce their much-demanded pens but those events had their effects.

    At 13.3cm capped, this pen is the green marbled equivalent of the black 1060. It has no number stamped on the barrel but if it had one it would be 1041, the 41 indicating the pattern. Why did it have no number? We don't know. We suspect that the numbers guy took a lot of time off work, or maybe he was more interested in the girls in the nib department. Anyway during this period and subsequently many pens were issued without model numbers.



    Pens of this size formed a large part of wartime output. The size of the pen suggests that it should be fitted with a No. 4 nib but I have seen them with everything from No. 2 to No. 4 with the appropriate sections and feeds. I think Mabie Todd used whatever stocks were to hand to continue issuing pens.



    Quality, however, did not suffer. These pens are as well made as their pre-war predecessors. World War Two was the last great period of mass production of fountain pens. Every serviceman overseas and everyone left at home needed to communicate with each other, so pens like these are commonly found today. After the war Swan Leverlesses and Self-Fillers took on a more tapered, almost torpedo shape. For myself, I prefer these more restrained lines.



    The barrel imprint shows the Swan in a central position whereas previously it had always sat to the left of the text. Over the years the depiction of the swan has changed a lot. Andreas Lambrou believes that the pens can be dated by the Swan image.



    The No. 3 nib is fine and semi-flexible, a lovely writer. It looks a little small in a pen of this girth but it's better than those that come with a No. 2 nib! Other pen restorers will be familiar with the old sac that welds itself to the interior of the barrel and has to be picked off, fragment by fragment. This one took about half an hour for that alone and it isn't the most entertaining work...

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  3. #2
    Member Schaumburg_Swan's Avatar
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    Default Re: Swan Leverless 1041

    Dear Eachan,

    very nice Swan, I have one of them, too...

    Best wishes
    Jens
    Schaumburg_Swan aka SchaumburgSwan
    https://www.flickr.com/photos/136145166@N02/albums

  4. #3
    Senior Member eachan's Avatar
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    Default Re: Swan Leverless 1041

    Hi Jens! They are good pens. Very comfortable in the hand.

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    Default Re: Swan Leverless 1041

    I've had several Mabie Todd pens over the years, and enjoyed them all for one aspect or another. I also disposed of them all, most often in a refunding exercise, though I did regrettably give one away to an ingrate in London. A mistake I've learned from.

    Lately I've looked into the market again, but (channeling the eBay price thread) there does seem to be a dwindling supply for this brand. To top it all, at any time I've looked it's been very difficult to source good examples with nice fine flexible nibs, instead of the ever common mediums. Shame really.

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    Senior Member eachan's Avatar
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    Default Re: Swan Leverless 1041

    I agree. Many of the more colourful thirties examples are becoming thin on the ground. There were never that many fine flexes to begin with. Mediums have always been the most popular and that's probably still true. The greatest demand is for the very flexible fine, the wet noodle that people speak about. Somewhere between 3-500 pens will pass through my hands in an average year nowadays. Years can pass without me seeing one of those.

    The difficulty in obtaining flexible nibs is that you can't tell by looking how a nib will behave. It needs someone to sift through what appears on the market and that's part of what retailers of vintage pens do.

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    Default Re: Swan Leverless 1041

    Understood. Never really been in the hunt for a noodle nib, as I can get that kind of performance and better from my dip pens. A fine nib with some flex would be nice though, for that bouncy feel with a little espressivo. Then I again I do wonder about the prevalence of medium width nibs. Is that really the most commonly chosen width? Apart from stubs/italics I don't own any normal medium nibs.

    Anyway, it would be great to have an reasonable example of a MT pen in my collection, but without a sensible avenue to such an event... not very likely in the current climate. My favourite models are those with flat ends and the stepped clip that is set down a bit from the cap top. eBay is a bit of a crap shoot for amateurs like me, perhaps I should just take a swing and hope for the best?
    Last edited by Empty_of_Clouds; December 10th, 2020 at 12:08 AM.

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    Senior Member eachan's Avatar
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    Default Re: Swan Leverless 1041

    Taking a swing and hoping for the best is what I do but I can afford to do that; many of my customers like firm nibs. And yes, across the spectrum of British pens, medium is the most common nib. There's more variety of nib types in Swans though mediums are still most common even in that brand.

    I would say that if you want a good Swan that suits your needs go to a retailer. Not necessarily mine - there are many out there and most are very helpful.

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    Senior Member penwash's Avatar
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    Default Re: Swan Leverless 1041

    I love British pens, and I prefer flat instead of tapered ends. So this pen checks both.

    Added to that, the background and history.

    Thank you Eachan for sharing this pen with us.
    - Will
    Unique and restored vintage pens: Redeem Pens

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    Default Re: Swan Leverless 1041

    My pleasure, Will. This pen appears in this shape before and during WWII. Restyled, but essentially the same, it becomes torpedo-shaped in 1946. I, too, would prefer the earlier one with the flat ends and straighter sides. One of the pens that is rarely off my desk is a later 1060 torpedo. I'm very glad to have it, it writes beautifully and sits in the hand very well but I would swap it for its predecessor at the drop of a hat.

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    Default Re: Swan Leverless 1041

    Quote Originally Posted by eachan View Post
    Taking a swing and hoping for the best is what I do but I can afford to do that; many of my customers like firm nibs. And yes, across the spectrum of British pens, medium is the most common nib. There's more variety of nib types in Swans though mediums are still most common even in that brand.

    I would say that if you want a good Swan that suits your needs go to a retailer. Not necessarily mine - there are many out there and most are very helpful.
    As noted, semiflex would suit me well. Do have some suggestions for other recommended retailers/specialists for this brand (I understand your shop is off limits to me)? Would be appreciated.

  14. #11
    Senior Member eachan's Avatar
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    Default Re: Swan Leverless 1041

    I'm not sure why you think Deb's shop is off limits to you. Perhaps I have missed something here.

    As you will understand, being in the business of selling pens myself I don't have wide experience of other sellers but I have had some transactions with
    www.writetime.co.uk. Barry Rose is a very nice, friendly person and the site has good prices. www.heritagecollectables.com have reasonable prices but I haven't dealt with them. www.penamie.co.uk has a large stock of Mabie Todd and other pens. Perhaps a little pricey. That's just a small selection. A search for UK vintage pens will turn up many more, some quite small and others with prices far too high for me to suggest them.

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    Default Re: Swan Leverless 1041

    Nice pens Eachan!!
    I recently got a Black Bird and it is a nice pen. This pen is too smooth for me and it is very different from all of my Mabie pens.
    I did a little tune up for having a little feed back and get the original type quality. Need more patience and time to get what I want.

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  18. #13
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    Default Re: Swan Leverless 1041

    A good Blackbird is a very fine pen. I hope your are successful in tuning the nib to your requirement.

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