FS "The Varsity Pen" XF to B vintage flex

**00Photo** · July 27th, 2013, 11:54 PM

THIS PEN IS SOLD!!!

Another Antique store rescue. When I found this pen it was dull brownish spotted with a gunked up nib. It had bite marks and scratches galore. Holy Cow! I was not expecting to find this amount of color and depth when restoring it! It is red, brown, beige, black, pink, silver, pearl and has a crazy amount of depth when light hits it. The imprint says "The Varsity Pen". I do not see that brand very often. The clip, cap band and lever are pretty brassed but polished up nicely. I left the little section of the cap under the band unpolished because there weren't that many marks there. Many, many, hours went into hand polishing the color and depth back into this pen. I wasn't going to sell this one at all and have been using it and there are a couple new micro scratches in the tail where I've posted the cap. Sorry. The nib is a warranted 14k extra fine to broad semi-flex to flex in size 3. It's not a wet noodle but it's just a hair stiffer than my Mabie Todd Swan flex nib. The widest line as measured on R by Rhodia paper and Montblanc Winter Glow ink is exactly 1.0mm. The hairlines this throws down is AMAZING. I was this close to not even posting this for sale because those hairlines are killer. This is hands down the finest (narrowest? hairliniest?) writing flex pen I have even held in my hands.

I completely dis-assembled the pen, cleaned out the old sac, shellac'd in a new sac. talc'd the new sac. Removed the nib and feed. Cleaned the feed. Cleaned and polished the nib. The nib was way down in there when I found it so you couldn't see the 3 on the nib. After re-assembly I GENTLY re-insert the nib and feed until snug. I took the photos and started the writing sample and noticed the nib moved a bit. I gave it another gentle push and the nib and feed re-seated itself to it's former position covering the 3. I just wanted to point that out because the photos are all with the 3 showing on the nib.

The pen is 4.75" closed. 5.25" Posted. The body alone is 3.25" It is roughly the size of a plastic Mabie Todd Swan self filler. I like bigger pens but this one is long enough for me once posted.

If this had come with any other nib I would be selling this for a FRACTION of what it's worth. This killer XF-B vintage flex nib alone is setting the price:

$200 shipped

Photos!

**00Photo** · July 27th, 2013, 11:56 PM

Photos!

**00Photo** · July 28th, 2013, 12:31 AM

Reasonable offers, and trade offers will be entertained, but I'm not taking a Noodler's Ahab and a half eaten crab salad sandwich for this beauty.

**caribbean_skye** · July 30th, 2013, 04:43 PM

Wow that is a gorgeous pen. Happy selling.

**firstpancake** · July 30th, 2013, 05:58 PM

Beautiful pen, and lovely handwriting. Hope the pen finds a good home.

**00Photo** · February 5th, 2014, 11:03 AM

I didn't bump this for the longest time because we moved and it was packed away. I am somewhat unpacked in my new mancave and this pen is for sale yet again.

I have been using this pen to write thank you letters to customers at work. I just bought a Edison/Binder XXF flex pen which fits my hand much better so this pen is for sale again. I know I won't be using it now that I have the larger Edison and it's just going to sit in a drawer. I would rather someone enjoy this great pen than relegate it to a drawer.

Price is now $150 OBO.