A notable 180

My taste runs to older pens, yet when I saw this Parker 180 I had to buy it! Pity this pattern never made it into production; it's a prototype from Parker's Brazilian factory, with white enamel stripes on what appears to be silver or rhodium plate, with gold plated trim. Spectacular.

 

UPDATE: While the pen reportedly came from Parker Brazil, the existence of a near-identical pen with a solid Parker UK provenance suggests that both pens share a common origin, and that this pen ended up in Brazil as the result of Parker circulating prototypes to its various regional headquarters for evaluation and feedback. Both examples were likely made in France.

Bullet pencil with a difference

Pens and pencils made in the form of (or incorporating) cartridges usually were intended to celebrate military campaigns. This Mordan extending pencil, however, commemorates a very different sort of event: the 1903 Water Riots in Port of Spain -- a key moment in the history of independence for Trinidad. "Moloney" was Sir Alfred Moloney, Governor of Trinidad and Tobago from 1901 to 1904.  

The construction of this pencil is virtually identical to that of the Omdurman bullet pencils, and when I first acquired it, I assumed that it too was made in the same spirit. So it came as a surprise to discover that in fact, it commemorates colonial resistance to imperial rule.

1844 prize pen

This is a prize pen in silver-gilt, presented as an award for penmanship. It is dated by inscription and its London hallmark to 1844. The nib is made in one piece with the rest of the pen, and was made without any harder tipping material.

Eagle filigree overlay pencils

This picture is for pencil maven Jonathan Veley. I showed him this pair of unusual Eagle pencils at the Chicago show, where I had bought them from Peter Miller. Unmarked, black hard rubber, with fine silver filigree overlays. Neither is a catalogued item, so who knows what the backstory might be? Peter said he had owned them for some 25 years.

Chicago Pen Show report

Got back from Chicago late last night. Did some good buying, mostly in dip pens and earlier writing equipment, but also brought home some notable fountain pens.

There were some real steals in the show auction, but also some surprises. Most notable was the Canadian Monroe set, which fetched a totally unexpected $880 ($800 hammer, plus 10%). Though this metal-capped version had never been seen before, most of us expected a final price less than half that. The most expensive lot was the large Parker blue-on-blue set, misdescribed by most as a Duofold Senior, which sold at $2500 hammer. The price was a surprise to many, though not to experienced collectors who realized that pen and pencil alike were much less common versions without any Duofold markings, the pen equipped with a #7 Lucky Curve nib. The pen was also a rare example illustrating factory coloring of the barrel imprint: not the crude filling as often done by collectors nowadays with grease pencils and the like, but just a trace of gold at the very bottom of the imprint, its originality guaranteed by the overlapping paper price band.

Equi-Poised combination set

 Wahl-Eversharp combos are rare, and almost entirely uncatalogued. So it is especially noteworthy when an example turns up in its original box, complete with exchange pieces (which, in this case, permit reconfiguration of the set into a pocket pen and a golf pencil -- more extensive sets are known).

This set came to us from the wild, untouched and with the original (hardened) sac still in place. We've had a number of similar sets over the years, but never one so clean and so demonstrably original.

Waterman Santa Claus Association pen

Sometimes pens tell a story. This mottled hard rubber Waterman #4 straight-cap bears a distinctive imprint: "SANTA CLAUS ASSOCIATION/COMPLIMENTS OF/L. E. WATERMAN COMPANY". The pen lacks the usual Waterman barrel imprints, further indicating that it was a factory special.

From the American Stationer:

"The Santa Claus Association of New York, having received permission from the Postmaster General to obtain from post offices letters addressed to Santa Claus, was organized [in 1914] to distribute such letters as were found to be from worthy children, to people who care to accept one or more of them for the purpose of seeing that the youthful writers were substantially remembered at the Christmas season.
The Santa Claus Association and the members of Waterman's Ideal Ten-Year Club desired to perpetuate the work of the association and at the same time to recognize the many courtesies that Messrs. Muschenheim Brothers, proprietors of the Hotel Astor of New York, extended, because of their liberality in the donating of rooms and light for the handling of the enormous Christmas mail that the association had to investigate and distribute.
As a result, a life size bust of Santa Claus was made out of 5,000 of the Santa Claus letters and mounted upon marble. The bust is probably one of the most unique works of art ever executed in this country. It was made entirely by hand by the famous Belgian sculptor, Kratina, who has worked day and night since Christmas to finish it in time for the presentation, which was made on Thursday, March 18, to Mr. Muschenheim, by F. D. Waterman, president of Waterman's Ideal Ten-Year Club, and John D. Gluck, founder and secretary of the Santa Claus Association. Moving pictures of the occasion were made for the interest of the public generally."

So Frank D. Waterman took an active role in promoting and assisting the association's work -- including, it would appear, donating specially-marked pens for their use.

UPDATE: There is an exhibition now open in Brooklyn devoted to the forgotten history of the Santa Claus Association. Read more about it here (the exhibition runs until February 10, 2013).

Thanksgiving 2011

We had a fine family Thanksgiving this year, and hope that all of our pen friends who celebrate the holiday did so as well!
We will be catching up on orders and correspondence today; if you are awaiting an order acknowledgment or a response to an inquiry, all should be back to normal by the end of the day.

Washington DC pen show

We are back from Washington (Tysons Corner, to be precise) and will be working away to catch up over the next several days. Buying was good, as was overall turnout.

This is one of the few American metropolitan shows that has managed to find the sweet spot as far as location: for many big cities, holding the show right in the middle of town both drives up costs and makes access difficult for those driving in (and especially for exhibitors), yet putting the show too far from the center makes it less accessible for local urbanites and drastically reduces the appeal for those wanting to partake of the city's amenities, whether for dining or for tourism or shopping. All this is less critical in less densely built-up areas, but for venues such as Boston, Chicago, New York, and San Francisco, location is going to be key.

Memorial Day weekend

We've been working nonstop since before the Chicago show a couple of weeks back, so are particularly looking forward to this long holiday weekend and an opportunity to recharge.

Best wishes to all our pen friends -- we'll be back in the shop on Tuesday!