PEN NEWS for February 2017
The theme for FEB is stripes. I have been working on pens with stripes, not the vertical Vacumatic ones, but the lateral kind. It's a kind of rough status thing, vertical stripes represent the Vacumatic line. Not exclusively as there are other patterns. But Parker kept that design exclusive to that one model. Some of the pens I have been restoring are striped Duofolds. These are quickly spotted by the striped celluloid transparent and coloured layers going the length of the pen. I also have a more traditional black body duofold, but held up to the light you can see it's more a dark brown when you contrast the transparency stripes in the body.
This first example are some photos as the pen is being restored. It's a Blue Diamond Duofold in green pearl celluloid. Sometimes called a Duovac, as the filler system is a speedline Vacumatic filler. This dates the pen age to 1940-1941, based on the various clues in the details This Duofold size was called an Ingenue. (Smaller like a Debutante.) The blind cap has a Tassie style jewel, the speedline filler system, being a Blue Diamond model and it has the PARKER V style nib. This nib has an engraved V under the breather and the lower part of that nib was contrast silvered. This pen's nib only has a trace of that at it's bottom length. The photos show some modern owner damage on this pen. They went and filled the stamping and used a solvent based paint, which as you can see, marked the body barrel. It's not uncommon to find these old pens survive the ages only to get damage when people mess around with them. That kind of mark can be polished off, but it would have been better to not have gone and done it! (I polish these old soft plastics with a nice bit of leather. Nothing more abrasive than that.
I first noticed the paint on the body when I photographed the pen. The camera brought it out because the paint was a silver reflective type and in real life, it didn't show up as much to the eye. It did all polish away ...
This pen is a 2nd tier brand made during the second world war era as well. The brand is ESSEX which was a sub-brand of the American Lead Pencil Company, who went on to become Venus. They started to make fountain pens during the war years and created this pen in a variety of unique brand names. ESSEX is probably the most uncommon, PRESIDENT, I could at least find more information ... these pens suffered a particular construction method where the section was permanently glued to the body. No amount of heat would release the section from the pen. This was my first pen to restore and became the most problematic! Because there was no safe way to remove the section to repair the pen. In the end, I had to find a replacement section. The pen itself has a very nice parti colour design. No transparency. Level filled and a steel nib that is flexible in design and imprinted as such. It was gilded at one point, but with only the faintest layer. A very nice pen that would have sold under a dollar in it's time. This pen is now in almost mint condition with a new silicon sac and a new section.
The third striper here is a Sheaffer's Lifetime White Dot. A lever filled Sheaffer, cucumber/watermelon striped green celluloid, this pen has the very distinct Military Clip style which was designed to fit into pockets that had a top closing flap. So the pen rode all the way down into the pocket. This pen has an ink window transparency to the section and the Vigilant model LIFETIME nib that is two toned and bedecked in a descriptive imprint. It also sports the Lifetime White Dot on the cap below the clip on this model. This particular pen had a mummified and solid ink filled sac that has now been replace with a new clear silicon one. It's an attractive and unique design. This was a war era pen, the Military clip was called, "Over-The-Top" and it was marketed toward use my those in uniform.
Watch for these and more vintage pens to go up for sale. As they are completed.
