Isaac Pitman's pen

How did I miss this, back in 2004?

The gold-nibbed pen used by shorthand pioneer Sir Isaac Pitman has been sold at auction in Bath for more than £700.

The pen belonging to Sir Isaac, who lived in city, was valued at between £80 and £120 by Bonhams auctioneers.

 It was part of a sale of items from his home in Bath's Royal Crescent and the Pitman family home of Eastcourt House near Malmesbury, Wiltshire.

From the BBC, which provides only a very small image of the pen, taken from the Bonhams catalog entry ("An F. Mordans pen with turned wooden body and gold nib"), still available online with a zoomable picture. The Trowbridge Museum was reportedly unsuccessful in their attempt to acquire the pen for their collection, but as of 2007 the pen had found another and equally appropriate home:

A 170-year-old pen which belonged to Sir Isaac Pitman, the creator of the revolutionary method of shorthand, is now on display in Wetherby.

The gold-nibbed pen he used to create the system is set to inspire a new generation of Pitman students in the town's Pitman Training Group headquarters.

The wooden ink pen, which has a solid gold nib, was bought by the managing director of the group so it can join a small collection of Pitman artefacts on display at the Wetherby headquarters.

The Pitman Wetherby website is here, but it seems to be devoted strictly to business, with no mention of the pen or the other Pitman relics noted in the article.