Unusual Moores

I've been collecting Moores in my typically unsystematic way for quite a few years, putting away pre-lever-filler examples that catch my attention as interesting and unusual (OK, so it isn't as unsystematic as all that). This week two such pens turned up, shown above.

The top pen is doubly unusual, in that it is an eyedropper-filling stylographic. Many fountain pen makers also offered stylos, which are typically far less common than nibbed pens. Moore stylographics are rare indeed, with most made in the form of safety pens, the stylo tip retracting into the barrel in the same manner as in Moore's regular safeties (photo here).

A distinguishing feature of Moore stylographic safety pens is the orange dome on their caps -- just as is seen on the second recently-received pen. In this case, however, the pen is neither a stylo nor converted from one, for inside the cap there is the central safety post -- a feature lacking in Moore stylos, for obvious reasons. Aside from the orange dome, the pen is a normal Midget safety from the late 'teens or early 1920s, with a Moore rather than an American Fountain Pen Co. nib.