ever-rite

this micropen is a weird little one.  i think it is silver plated iron.  there is nothing to indicate what the metal used is except that i have found a bit of rust inside.  the rust is stable now and i have resacked the pen but out of fear i will mess up the pen i dont really use it.   the most unusual thing about the pen is that except for the feed and the section this pen is entirely metal.  the other unusual thing for a metal pen is that nothing screws together.  the cap is a slip fit cap and the section slip fits into the metal body.  i think its unusual to see slip fit caps on a lever filler as well.

  as far as i can tell ever rite made the smallest lever fillers out there.  mine is 2 3/4" long capped but i have heard of another one that was 2 1/2" long

here is the ever rite side by side with the diamond point.  the nibs are about the same size and style on both pens but the diamond point is 3/8ths of an inch shorter when capped

cutey

this black hard rubber pen is called cutey and its made buy the iridium point pen co n.y.
this is the small pen that originally got me into small pens and remains one of my most functional micro pens.  it has a rolled gold floral band with a little plating loss.  the lever and nib are new replacements i put in and not original to the pen.  it measures 3 1/2" long when capped.  the warranted nib makes a nice broad wet line and the pen writes very well for a hard rubber pen.

sanford's penit inks

Sanford's Penit fountain pen inks.  the peacock blue looks like a diluted phthalo blue and the ink is high enough that it could be unopened.  i think it was likely used for one or two refills.  the washable royal blue is more of an ultramarine blue and looks to be about 2/3rds full.  both can be yours for $10 plus shipping.

Diamond Point gold filled micro pen

I picked up this little treasure the other day.  its in about as good condition as you could hope for. the only thing i could hope for that this pen does not have is some paperwork in the hidden compartment in the case.

  the pen and pencil are unmarked but the original box is marked diamond point so its safe to assume that they are the maker.

 the other thing thats weird about this pen and pencil set is that the lead in the pencil is a rectangle like a carpenters pencil.

 when using these small eyedroppers i always drop a drop of ink onto the nib to help get the pen started.   diamond point pens of this era have a bad reputation but this pen is a wonderfully smooth writer with a flexible nib.  the line variation is ok but its springiness and the snap back is why i like it.  

i think the best flex pens work effortlessly.  some flex pens you really have to focus on when you are using them and put a lot of thought and intent into what you are doing.  this pen is just nice and smooth and effortless.  if it was not for its small size this would be a very comfortable pen to use.

the most surprising thing about this pen however is how efficiently it uses the ink.  i have larger eyedroppers that can write two words before they dry up.  this one can easily write a paragraph on two drops of ink.

capped the pen is 2 3/8" long

french waterman 45 safety

the french loved watermans hard rubber pens, they made a ton of nock offs.  i believe hard rubber pens were popular there into the 30's.  they seemed to have especially loved safety pens.  this safety pen is an especially nice one.  like all my good pens it has some condition issues but it also has a lot of cool bits of history.

the color is not perfect but its pretty good.  i think the cap may have come from another watermans safety as the color on the cap is a little darker and it fits a little oddly.  

the good news is that the clip is definitely a gold watermans clip.  the double eagles which are the french halmark for 18k gold are present on the other side and the pen weighs a ton.  the weight of the clip throws off the balance of the pen.  

 the box is a french watermans box from the right time period and its in great condition.  the seal is from the shop it originally came from, i have not looked into it any further than that.

i have some concerns that the box may have originally been for a lever filling waterman because it has the p.s.f. on the side indicating pump self filler.  

the feed is one of the patented spoon feeds.  from what i understand its less common to find the feeds with patent dates.  again there are condition issues here, the inscription is heavily worn.

the nib is a watermans new york number 5.  the tipping is in great shape but the inscription is significantly worn.  before this i have not seen a nib that was worn down this much.  all i can think is that the owner routinely polished the nib during use.

waterman 412 gothic

this is my waterman 412 gothic lec.  its missing the clip and the lower cover but it was the first really nice fountain pen i got.

 412 lec  this indicates that its a silver overlay eyedropper with a number 2 nib and that the part of the barrel in the photo should have a silver overlay that says the same.

 this is the patent date on the spoon feed.  from what i understand it is less common to see the patent date on the feed.  the nib on this was the first nib i really fell in love with.  it had some small cracks on the breather hole and after they were repaired the pen never flexed the same.

 this is the nib after repair looking gorgeous.

the top inscription is far to worn to read but i am almost positive that the bottom inscription says "family heirloom" in spanish.

bear inkwell

i have been told that this is a black forest inkwell.  i dont care where its from, i love it!

early patent dates

this is such a useful resource for dating early pens.  the only thing that would make it better if they said when the patents expired


http://www.fountainpen.it/Patent_list

peacock's fountain pen

this french pen looks to be a waterman nock off comprised of parts from various different makers.  its interesting to me, and i am seeing this more and more with french pens, that french pens were also made up of many parts from many manufacturers.  the unusual part is that all the different parts are stamped with its own makers mark.









this nib was entirely black when i originally found it in the pen.  after soaking it in lemon juice for a couple hours the tarnish came right off.  after writing with a brown ink the un plated metal discolored again and the nib became legible 

W. M ²
GOLD
PLATED
No 85

WW
(drawing of a pen)
MM

WM
DOUBLE




its surprising to me that the nib was gold plated when the band on the screw cap has the double eagle indicating that its 18K gold. i switched out the old nib with a waterman #2 with some flex.  the feed for the pen is an exact replica of watermans spoon feed so it writes well.

the leaver box is also done in the waterman style with "idole" inscribed in the globe.  idole is french for idol.

the pen body is inscribed

PEACOCK'S        FOUNTAIN PEN

29 MAY 1925            No 1529

MARQUE          DEPOSEE

the triangle in the middle is surrounded by the words 

PEA COCK PEN

and there is a drawing of a peacock within the triangle

the pen is 5 3/8" long capped

gold starry

this french safety pen is a beautiful writer.  the pen had no tipping but by some stroke of luck i hold the pen exactly the same way as the original writer   sadly the clip is in poor shape and there is a crack in the bottom turning mechanism that causes the pen to leak ever so slightly.

the pen measures 4 1/2" long capped

unknown eyedropper

an unknown BCHR eyedropper.  it has a generic 14k warranted nib.  the color is as good as i could ever hope for a pen that is likely over 100 years old but i suspect it might be closer to 110 - 120 years old.  the feed has a strait U channel so the pen burps out ink at least once per word.  the cap is a strait slip cap.  the indica bears no personalization.  the clip has a little bit of green and some black spots but is also in pretty good shape.

the length of the pen capped is 5 3/8" long

wirt infant pen

this wirt infant pen is an old BCHR pen with a gold overlay.  wirt was making fountian pens before waterman.  he was quite an early inovator but by the time he made this pen he was already falling behind the times.  it dates from somewhere between 1908-1920.  watermans spoon feed had been around for years and wirt was still using a strait channel feed.
its length capped is exactly 3" counting the first fixed ring on the cap.

the feed sadly is broken.  the pen still works fine but i am thinking about making a new one for it. 

i managed to dig up the patent date on here.

http://www.fountainpen.it/images/2/2e/Patent-US-978420.pdf

this was another wirt i found on ebay.  this one also has the V monogram