Swan 3160 cleaning

[MarcoA64]

Good day everyone. At an auction I managed to get this Swan that apart from the sac to replace it also needs cleaning.
The cap, photo attached, gives you an idea of the state the body is in. Any ideas on which cleaning products I can use to remove the gunk/dirt?

pen dirt.jpeg

The body also has an imprint, Calligraph Prefect, is this pen made for Calligraphy ?
Thank you
Marco

[eachan]

There's certainly a suggestion of calligraphy in the name but most of them have perfectly ordinary nibs. To clean it try a damp cloth - dipped in soapy water and well wrung out - followed by a polish with a Sunshine Cloth.

[MarcoA64]

Eachan, thank you very much. It all came off and now the pen looks much cleaner, it still has the aura of a used pen that has lived.
Marco

[Jon Szanto]

Eachan, thank you very much. It all came off and now the pen looks much cleaner, it still has the aura of a used pen that has lived.
Marco

Oh, those beautiful words just made my day! There is a new crew of young pen restorers that are polishing old pens until they shine like a mirror. Ick!

[KBeezie]

Eachan, thank you very much. It all came off and now the pen looks much cleaner, it still has the aura of a used pen that has lived.
Marco

Oh, those beautiful words just made my day! There is a new crew of young pen restorers that are polishing old pens until they shine like a mirror. Ick!

I mean I'll polish mine a little bit, but only enough that it doesn't look like it has seen the civil war and back, so that the texture isn't so rough if it's that badly worn.

I do see a lot of those mirror finish ones on Instagram particularly from paperlikesapen , just weird seeing something that old look brand new, almost fake.

[Jon Szanto]

I do see a lot of those mirror finish ones on Instagram particularly from paperlikesapen , just weird seeing something that old look brand new, almost fake.

I do want to say that Stacy (paperwantsapen) and I have talked about this and diverged, but he isn't one of the criminals. Why? Because his restorations are absolutely top notch, both mechanically perfect and with attention to inner detail like few I've ever seen. What I'm referring to is a growing number of Sac n' Shine charlatans, who don't know much about repair, get parts mixed on pens, over-polish and do bad restorations and then charge high prices to n00b buyers who get sucked in by "Oooh, shiny!"

Just to be clear.

[MarcoA64]

If the pen is 60-70 years old and if it has been used this has to show. At the time these pens were used on a daily basis. I can't stand shiny old pens that are sold as new at exorbitant prices. It kills the sould of the pen IMO

[KBeezie]

I do see a lot of those mirror finish ones on Instagram particularly from paperlikesapen , just weird seeing something that old look brand new, almost fake.

I do want to say that Stacy (paperwantsapen) and I have talked about this and diverged, but he isn't one of the criminals. Why? Because his restorations are absolutely top notch, both mechanically perfect and with attention to inner detail like few I've ever seen. What I'm referring to is a growing number of Sac n' Shine charlatans, who don't know much about repair, get parts mixed on pens, over-polish and do bad restorations and then charge high prices to n00b buyers who get sucked in by "Oooh, shiny!"

Just to be clear.

Makes sense, ie: if you're going to 'restore' its look as well, actually restore it completely. I saw the cap repair timelapse of his (Completely cracked in half) , sounds like he's getting more into celluloid repair now from the video description.

[KBeezie]

If the pen is 60-70 years old and if it has been used this has to show. At the time these pens were used on a daily basis. I can't stand shiny old pens that are sold as new at exorbitant prices. It kills the soul of the pen IMO

I think this is the biggest part here, What I'm noticing from most of the people that fit the description that Jon pointed out is that when they do just a sac and shine-job, they're pricing them like they were mint and never used or restored. Basically charging collector's prices on something that only got a cosmetic facelift and was not what a collector would have considered a never used mint. If they priced accordingly (ish) with better detail on what exactly was restored it would make a little more sense.

Far as the 'soul' of the pen, I usually detest personalized names engraved especially deep ones and I wouldn't have any issues having them filled/hidden if not for a matter of money time lol. But I guess that depends on how you define its soul, to me if I picked it up at say an antique store or some consignment shop, it's ready to shed that old connection vs an estate sale or passing down where you have an easier time least knowing where it came from. If they're subtle or well done like on my OS Sheaffer Balance being a light well done cursive with a little flourish, then I don't mind it. I do know some people will sometimes use the engraving to name the pen itself, like "Today I'm taking out John" or some other personification.

[MarcoA64]

@eachan you mention using a sunshine cloth, it looks like it is a brand as well. I checked online to see what they are and they are mainly used to clean jewellery. So I ask, I already have such a jeweller's cloth, not this brand though, would there be a big difference between them? Not that I want to save £5, let me be clear. Just trying to understand. Thank you for your explanations.
Marco

[KBeezie]

@eachan you mention using a sunshine cloth, it looks like it is a brand as well. I checked online to see what they are and they are mainly used to clean jewellery. So I ask, I already have such a jeweller's cloth, not this brand though, would there be a big difference between them? Not that I want to save £5, let me be clear. Just trying to understand. Thank you for your explanations.
Marco

Sunshine cloth consistently is a lot less abrasive than say the rouge jewelers cloth and doesn't leave behind as much extra stuff, they make two , the common yellow one and the lighter blue one. I use the yellow one with just about everything I have for gold solid or plated or sterling silver caps and bands and to some parts of well tarnished gold nibs. They work well on taking off some tarnish/film from vintage materials too without scratching them up like a brillo pad.

[MarcoA64]

Karl, as a matter of fact the cloth I have is reddish, I checked. Didn't know about the different colours and roughnesses of these cloths. Will get a yellow one. Learned something today as well. Thank you
Marco

[eachan]

The red cloth is likely to be a rouge cloth. Abrasive and not a Sunshine Cloth.

[Jon Szanto]

[MarcoA64]

It was given to me by a jeweller a few months ago. It works nicely on gold overlay pens as well as gold nibs too.
I have ordered the Sunshine :-)

[KBeezie]

It was given to me by a jeweller a few months ago. It works nicely on gold overlay pens as well as gold nibs too.
I have ordered the Sunshine :-)

I'd keep the rouge away from the nib at least. Don't want that stuff to get between the tines or near the tip, and it'll take the engraving off easier than the sunshine cloth. They do work well for polishing up gold, and usually comes with a yellow part sewn in as kind of a luster coat (I forget what exactly they called that part).

What I'll usually do is wipe down with the sunshine, then follow up with a microfiber rag (which you'll see some dark marks coming off onto the rag as you clean up any residue/sediments left behind).