Brand Name "American"

[RayCornett]

2014-06-17 23.42.26.jpgI haven't found much of anything on this company other than some pens made by them. Anyone have any good information the "American" fountain pen company?

The brand name is on the clip. Made in USA on the lever. American, Made in USA on the nib with the number 6 inside of a circle. The nib is bent at the tip but it almost looks on purpose instead of like it was dropped.....I will try to get a good shot showing that.2014-06-17 23.16.55.jpg

[Jon Szanto]

One of the first things I do when I come across a pen/brand that I'm not familiar with is look at a table in Paul Erano's book "Fountain Pens: Past and Present", where he places a 'collectibility rating' of low/med/high on brands. If I don't even see it listed, well...

I don't see American. That doesn't mean it doesn't have some form of value, but also that it may be hard to find any documentation because it is probably a 4th tier or lower pen. Just a guess on my part, but there you go. Great book, worth looking for a used copy (2nd ed).

[RayCornett]

All I have found is that there was a company called The American Pen Company that was bought by The Moore Pen Company in the early 1900s. I see no pictures of any pens with American in the name or on the clip, etc.

[scrivelry]

I did a quick search on Google Books, and found a 1905 reference to two companies by that name in Manhattan, here. By 1913 I am seeing ads for Moore Pens being made by the American Pen Man. Co.

Another place to look would be newspapers. The Library of Congress has some - a site called FultonHistory.com has more, but with a sort of quirky interface, so read the faq. (This site has literally millions of pages of mostly NYS newspapers, put up by ONE guy as his hobby... so I never complain about the quirkyness, I just use it and am grateful - I do family history research and if you have family in NYS it is invaluable, but of course you can research anything in old newspapers that they might have printed, including ads.)

One strange hint - if you do use newspapers to research things, whether on this site I mentioned or through ProQuest at your local library, you may get better results than you'd expect by putting in the address of whatever you are looking for, companies, individuals, whatever. There is usually some way to limit dates, so you might start by looking in whatever decade you think the pen was from. Whether this is due to OCR quirks or something else I can't say, but it has worked for me.

[Jon Szanto]

The material that the pen is made from looks way too late to be pre-Moore. Jade - type celluloid didn't appear until at least the 1920's, I believe.

[SteveE]

The ripple at the tip of the nib looks too regular and smooth to be an accident. This looks like an inexpensive untipped nib that has a "rolled" area to give a smooth writing surface. Esterbrook accomplished a similar result by folding the tip of their lesser steel nibs back onto itself.

[scrivelry]

The ripple at the tip of the nib looks too regular and smooth to be an accident. This looks like an inexpensive untipped nib that has a "rolled" area to give a smooth writing surface. Esterbrook accomplished a similar result by folding the tip of their lesser steel nibs back onto itself.

I have a number of nibs like this on inexpensive pens - they look like they have a sort of dimple near the end. I've been wondering if there is a name for this sort of nib. Does anyone know?

[Scrawler]

This kind of nib is a "spoon nib". They were found on the lowest end pens in the 1920/30s. The dimple in the nib provides the writing surface, in the absence of iridium or a fold. It made for a decently smooth, but very short lived nib. These spoon nibs were found in what were effectively disposable and give away pens. I have examples that came from a bar and were used to keep bar tabs, and did not matter if the customers walked off with them. These types of nib tend to be poorly plated and usually have signs of corrosion.

[Jon Szanto]

Thanks, Scrawler. Some other detailed info can be found in Richard Binder's Pen Glossopedia right here (you'll need to scroll down to "spoon nib").

[RayCornett]

The material that the pen is made from looks way too late to be pre-Moore. Jade - type celluloid didn't appear until at least the 1920's, I believe.

So, an old clip on a newer pen ?

[Jon Szanto]

The material that the pen is made from looks way too late to be pre-Moore. Jade - type celluloid didn't appear until at least the 1920's, I believe.

So, an old clip on a newer pen ?

That would not be my assumption. Doesn't look like any Moore's I've seen. I believe David I pretty well nailed it over on FPB.

[RayCornett]

Unfortunately, the tip of one of the tines is now gone. It was there when I put the cap on last night. There was what I thought to be a scratch on the top of the tine which is where it broke off but apparently it was a crack. I'll be doing a regrind sometime as I do like the pen itself. I doubt I would find the same nib as a replacement.

[Scrawler]

Unfortunately, the tip of one of the tines is now gone. It was there when I put the cap on last night. There was what I thought to be a scratch on the top of the tine which is where it broke off but apparently it was a crack. I'll be doing a regrind sometime as I do like the pen itself. I doubt I would find the same nib as a replacement.

A nice pen like that should have a nicer nib than that spoon nib. There was sufficient standardization of sizes during that period that you should be able to find a nib to fit. You could probably find a 3rd tier nib that is gold plated and with iridium that would be a match.

[welch]

I think it's after WW2, judging from the wide tassie...if we can call that a tassie. I've had a few third-tier pens -- maybe Stratford or Arnold -- that looked like this pen. Companies reduced the marbling, which looked old-fashioned. Everything was going jet-powered and stream-lined by about 1950.

I had one of these, maybe a Stratford, made from a type of plastic that stretched as I heated it. Could not get the section off but I was able to make a nifty pretzel-shaped pen. If yours writes, I wouldn't test it's pretzel-ability, however.

[Jon Szanto]

Unfortunately, the tip of one of the tines is now gone. It was there when I put the cap on last night. There was what I thought to be a scratch on the top of the tine which is where it broke off but apparently it was a crack. I'll be doing a regrind sometime as I do like the pen itself. I doubt I would find the same nib as a replacement.

A nice pen like that should have a nicer nib than that spoon nib. There was sufficient standardization of sizes during that period that you should be able to find a nib to fit. You could probably find a 3rd tier nib that is gold plated and with iridium that would be a match.

If you are just keeping costs down, you can pick up 30 NOS gp iridium tip nibs from juddperl on eBay for 21.00. Ray, if you want to see what one of these is like, PM me your contact info and I'll mail you one.

[welch]

I suggest "American Pencil Company", maker of the Venus Velvet pencil. Also made fountain pens in the '30s and '40s. Later absorbed Esterbrook, which is why we sometimes see Venus nibs for Esterbrook pens. Quit the pen business by 1970; ;ater sold their pencil business to Faber-Castell, which sold to Newell Rubermaid's Sanford Office products devision.

[RayCornett]

Just checked back in and saw the new replies. Thanks for the info!. Ron, I will be sending my info shortly.
I now have one other question. On the section nipple there is sort of a thin plastic piece that comes out from inside the nipple. It is actually part of it, not a separate piece and extends about 1/4 inch from the nipple edge. The one on the other side is gone.

I would assume these went down into the sac to draw ink into the feed better through capillary action? The one that is left is pretty banged up. Should I just snip it off so it doesn't end up floating loosely inside the sac someday?

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