What is this pen or who is the maker/history

[edteach]

I picked this one up at a local flea market. It was only 15 bucks. The spring is in good shape and it works great but the sac was gone. Someone removed the old sac and had it cleaned ready to go. I had a sac that fit and shellac from Anderson's for another project and its up and running. It says Varsity on the clip as far as I can tell but I can not find anything on this pen. Thanks for any help.

[FredRydr]

Richardspens.com is always a good place to start. Enter "Varsity" in his search box, and you get this: http://www.richardspens.com/ref/gloss/V.htm
Scroll down to Varsity for the answer, and then choose the link to National Pen Products Company for the broader picture.

[Yazeh]

From Richard Binder's site:
"A “house brand” of fountain pens produced by the National Pen Products Company for the Walgreens drug store chain during the 1930s. Varsity pens were of poor quality, featuring a mixture of gold-plated and -filled furniture with plated steel nibs. See also National."

[eachan]

It depends how you determine quality, I suppose, but that looks a splendid pen to me and it was robust enough to last until now without damage.

[penwash]

It depends how you determine quality, I suppose, but that looks a splendid pen to me and it was robust enough to last until now without damage.

While I am grateful for the wealth of information that Richard Binder made available to us, I draw the line when I read a comment on the quality of a brand as a general statement.

The fact is, when it comes to vintage pens, the quality varies from individual sample to another.

As you said, this particular Varsity pen looks like it's in very well-preserved condition. It does not look like it was shoddily-made, even the trim is not corroded, and the most important thing is that the new owner was able to restore it to working condition.

That, in my book does not translate to "poor quality" at all.

And don't get me wrong, I've seen a lot of "poor quality" pens, and one of them might have been a Varsity, but this is different than saying *all* Varsity pens are of poor quality.

Anyways, congrats and good job to the OP for a nice pen restored.

[eachan]

It depends how you determine quality, I suppose, but that looks a splendid pen to me and it was robust enough to last until now without damage.

While I am grateful for the wealth of information that Richard Binder made available to us, I draw the line when I read a comment on the quality of a brand as a general statement.

The fact is, when it comes to vintage pens, the quality varies from individual sample to another.

As you said, this particular Varsity pen looks like it's in very well-preserved condition. It does not look like it was shoddily-made, even the trim is not corroded, and the most important thing is that the new owner was able to restore it to working condition.

That, in my book does not translate to "poor quality" at all.

And don't get me wrong, I've seen a lot of "poor quality" pens, and one of them might have been a Varsity, but this is different than saying *all* Varsity pens are of poor quality.

Anyways, congrats and good job to the OP for a nice pen restored.

A fine piece of clarification, Will.