An unusual Waterman feed

I posted a picture of this feed on our Facebook page back on May 9th. It was found in an early Waterman 20 made for the French market (in itself exceptional), and to date, no other examples have come to light.

Unlike a normal Waterman spoon feed, this nib has two side channels flanking the central channel, the side channels vented both out the front end and through the feed's bottom by means of two slits.

Another apparently unique feed design related to this one was found on an 8-size Waterman that was clearly being used to test all sorts of experimental features (belatedly described here). That feed is shown above. As I noted in a comment added to the Facebook post:

"The other, 8-sized example was actually quite different, in that it was proportioned more like the early narrow feeds, widened just enough to fit in the two side channels. The side channels were also vented below via slots, but did not extend out the front as here. The feed tail was similar. Note that vents extending from the side channels to the underside of the feed are a standard feature of many production Waterman feeds for their larger pens (8 and 10-size), but in the form of a pair of small round holes." [pictures now added below -- D.]

The most puzzling thing about both of the slit-vent feeds was that they do not appear to correspond with any Waterman patent or patent application. Then Olle Hjort wrote to suggest I take a look at Weidlich's US patent 760,829 of 1904. I think he's on target, and that the two slit-vent feeds are connected to Weidlich's design in some way which remains to be clarified. The Waterman versions do differ in design from the feeds shown in the patent diagrams, but clearly incorporate their key features. Could Waterman have been evaluating the design with an eye to licensing or buying the patent?

When is a Duofold not a Duofold?

They aren't common, but Parker did make Duofolds that didn't bear the Duofold name (we discussed another in our post on the Chicago pen show auction). This example bears the imprint "WISCONSIN LEGISLATURE 1937", so it is likely that it was not sold through normal retail channels.

It came from a parts lot and its condition is, frankly, terrible. No clip, broken barrel, cracks in the cap -- but unusual enough to be worth documenting.

While in most respects it is a standard Duofold Senior Deluxe, it lacks the expected Duofold imprint, instead bearing a generic Parker imprint with a date code indicating production in the first quarter of 1935.
 

The nib is also not a Duofold nib, though it is of the same size. Instead, it is a #7 Lucky Curve -- the usual nib found on these uncommon non-Duofold Duofolds. The feed is a comb feed, of the type factory-fitted to later-production Duofolds.

ADDENDA: In the picture of the barrel imprint above, one can just see a "ghost imprint" at the top of the image -- traces of what appears to have been a standard Duofold imprint, polished away.

Parker continued to provide unusual variants to the Wisconsin Legislature into the 1940s, with examples noted in Facebook posts here and here.

Caw's trade card

The heyday of trade cards was the last couple of decades of the 19th century, so examples advertising fountain pens are rare. This one is a die-cut, but the "Caw's" seems to have been cut off!

For more on die-cut trade cards, see Burt Purmell's article here. Since this card lists the Caw's safety, it must have been printed no earlier than 1896.

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).