Fountain Pen Database

Sailor King of Pen

Sailor King of Pen – Ebonite

 

 

Weight 34 grams

Length Closed 153.3 mm

Length Uncapped 131.8 mm

Barrel Width 15.3 mm

Section Width 12.6 mm

Nib – 21k Gold

at section 7.4 mm

shoulders 10.2 mm

section to tip 25.9 mm

Graf Von Faber Castell Classic

CLASSIC

Feeling and intellect

The feeling conveyed by a noble fountain pen with a gold nib remains incomparable. The slender shape and  good balance of the Classic propelling pencil and ball pen mean that they sit comfortably in the hand. Well engineered mechanisms and robust details, such as the spring-loaded clip made of solid metal, ensure that the joy of using them is as timeless as the design.

The Classic writing implements come in platinum-plated versions, in ebony, in pernambuco or in grenadilla wood, each combined with platinized fittings and a finely ribbed barrel. The natural differences in grain and colour mean that every writing instrument made from them is unique.

Shown below – Ebony Fluted and Platinum Plated Fluted

 

 

Weight 42 grams

Length Closed 137.9 mm

Length Uncapped 131.1 mm

Barrel Width 10.9 mm

Section Width 8.7 mm

Nib – 18k Gold

at section 5.4 mm

shoulders 7.2 mm

section to tip 18.6 mm

Sources Graf Von Faber Castell, Penrealm

 

 

Vintage Kaweco Sport

The Kaweco Sport is small sized pocket pen introduced in 1913. It was a BCHR small short safety pen that was marketed to officers and sportsmen to carry in their pockets. In 1929, Kaweco went bankrupt but in 1930 the company’s name and design was bought and Kaweco was reborn. During this time, Kaweco produced other pens like the Cadet, Dia and Student. The Sport became an ebonite piston filler.

 

Fig. 1 BCHR Kaweco Sports, the second has a gold overlay.

 

Fig. 2. Available models of the Kaweco Sport, around 1920.

 

Fig. 3. Kaweco Sport piston filler from the 1940’s.

 

Fig. 4 1940’s Kaweco Sport disassembly.

 

Parker Duofold

Vintage Duofold

The iconic Parker Duofold was introduced in 1921. The first models were large at 5.5 inches capped and was made of orange hard rubber. The pen was quite expensive at $7 or about $100 counting for inflation.

The Duofolds of the time came in the standard size, Junior, Special and Lady. The Lady featured a Chatelaine, also known as a ring top was used to hang the pen around the neck. As time went on, other sizes and variants were produced. The were filled by a button filler mechanism.

Production stopped for the Duofold in 1933 but continued on well into the 40’s in the European market.

 

Fig. 1 Parker Duofold exploded view illustrating the various parts of the pen. Source. 

 

Fig. 2 An Advertisement from the 1920’s that show the various types of Parker Duofold pens and pencils.

 

The Parker Duofold was an innovative design that was often imitated but never bested by anyone else.

A great resource that has a lot of great historical information on the Parker Duofold already exists. Tony Fischier of parker collector.com has put together a wonderful resource, referenced here:

Parker Duofold

 

Fig. 3 1926 Senior Parker Duofold “Lucky Curve” Big Red. 

 

English Duofold

In 1946, the Duofold design was changed for the UK market. By the end of the 70’s they were no longer produced. There are a lot of variations of the models that were produced in this time frame. The UK Duofolds featured a Aerometic filling system and gold nibs.

Please see the excellent reference by Tony Fischier:

UK Duofold

 

Fig. 4 Blue Duofold Maxima, Top. Red Duofold Demi, 2nd from Top. Black Duofold Maxima, 3rd from Top. Red Duofold Standard, 4th from Top.

 

Modern Duofold

In 1988, the Parker Duofold was revived to celebrate the companies centennial. Called the Duofold Centennial, it featured a series of Fountain Pens, Rollerballs, and Pencils. Later on, they introduced the International line which also took up the Duofold design but were smaller than the Centennial models. These new Duofolds made use of cartridge converters instead of the button filler mechanism of the vintage models.

 

Fig. 5 Modern Parker Duofold Big Red Centennial.

 

Fig. 6 Duofold International Orange, Top. Duofold Centennial Orange, Bottom. Source.

 

 

Parker Vacumatic

Launched in 1933, the Parker Vacumatic featured a vacuum filler and beautiful alternating laminated pearlescent and clear celluloid. This allowed you to see the ink level in the pen. The models produced in the 30’s were the highlight of the Vacumatic series, they featured all metal filling units, 2 tone nibs and double jewels (one at the top of the clip and one at the bottom of the barrel).

 

Fig1. 1938 Emerald Double Jewel Parker Vacumatic with Lockdown Filler.

 

Fig. 2 1937 Double Jewel Maxima Vacumatic.

 

Fig. 3 1940 Vacumatic Imperial. These are rare as only a few were produced. 

 

Parker also offered a junior line of these pens that were simpler and smaller. They did not feature two tone nibs and the jewels were black. However, the juniors were available in more pattern and color options. Near the end of the 30’s, the line was simplified and there were four configurations available:

  • Debutante – this was the smallest configuration.
  • Standard – this was the midsize configuration.
  • Maxima (1937 to the end of production) – this was the largest configuration.
  • Maxima Slender – this had the thickness of the standard configuration and had the length of the Maxima.

 

 

Fig. 4 Left: Lockdown Filler. Right: Speedline Filler. Source

The Speedline filler was introduced in 1933 and the Lockdown filler was introduced in 1937. In 1939, metal parts we replaced with plastic. The Vacumatic ended production in 1948.

 

Fig. 5 Green Vacumatic Debutante.

 

 

 

 

Parker 51

The Parker 51 made its debut in 1941. The pen featured a hooded, tubular nib and used a multi-finned collector that was designed to work with the “Superchrome” fast drying ink to give the user a consistent wet line that dried very fast. The pen originally came with a Vaccumatic filling system and in 1948, was upgraded, which is debatable, to a Aerometric filling system.

Fig.1 Parker 51 Vaccumatic, disassembled.

Fig. 2 Parker 51 with Aerometric filling system.

 

The “Superchrome” ink that was introduced with the pen was highly alkaline and was to only be used with the Parker 51 and its smaller variant, the Parker 21.

Fig. 3 Parker Superchrome ink in blue black.

 

Production of the Parker 51 stopped in 1971. However, it was reintroduced in 2002 in a lookalike model called the Parker 51 Special Edition. Also, in 2004 a larger lookalike, the Parker 100 was released.

 

Simplo and Rouge Et Noir

Montblanc first produced safety and eyedropper fountain pens in 1909. At that time they had three different types of pens, a round capped safety pen, a flat top safety pen and a round capped eye dropper pen. They also came in short and long variants.

Tony Fischier at parkercollector.com has a wonderful section on the history of Montblanc pens, especially the earlier years. Instead of rewriting this information, we proudly link to his site here:

Parker Pen Collector – Montblanc

Fig.1 Rouge Et Noir No. 7 Safety Pen nibs, from a short and long models.

Fig.2 Rouge Et Noir Safety Pens, long and short models. 

Another great resource is a German website fountainpen.de. It has a lot of information on Montblanc pens, including the vintage ones. It also has information on the Astoria Pens that Montblanc bought out in the 1932.

Fountainpen.de

Fig. 3 Montblanc Simplo Safety Pen. This pen is why the name Montblanc was chosen. The black ebonite and the white star cap represents the tallest peak in the Alps, Mont Blanc. 

Nettuno 1911 Limited Edition

 

The Nettuno 1911 is a Limited Edition Pen

Limited to 911 specimens

Features:

#6 Size – 18k Nib with Nettuno logo (Bock) – friction fit

Ebonite Feed

Sterling Silver Trim

Cartridge/Converter – uses threaded converter

Weight – 37 g

Length Closed

Length Open – 137.8 mm

Barred Width – 15.0 mm

Section Width – 12.2 mm

 

 

Pelikan Vintage Models

Pelikan was the first company to implement the differential piston mechanism that allowed the piston to move faster than rate in which the piston knob was turned. This allowed for faster, more efficient filling. This piston mechanism was introduced in 1929 and is still used in all of its Souveran series fountain pens.

In the 1950’s, Pelikan introduced the model 400 which had green and transparent stripes on the barrel that looked like the striped pants of a Stressmann style suit, and thus this model was nicknamed the Stressmann. All Pelikan pens that feature that striping pattern are referred as such. In the 1980’s they introduced additional Souveran series pens.

There is already a great resource out there that gives excellent information about vintage Pelikan models, Pelikan_collectibles.com, which we reference here:

Vintage Models:

100 Model

Pelikan collectibles Pelikan 100

Fig.1 100 Model in green celluloid

 

100N Model

Pelikan collectibles Pelikan 100N

Fig.2 100N in Lizard finish.

 

400 Model

Pelikan collectibles Pelikan 400

Fig. 3 Pelikan 400

 

400N Model

Pelikan collectibles Pelikan 400N

Fig. 4 Pelikan 400N

 

400NN Model

Pelikan collectibles Pelikan 400NN

Fig. 5 Pelikan 400NN

Pelikan Modern Series

 

Available Modern Models:

Souveran Series

The souveran series are top tier current production of Pelikan fountain pens. Many models have special editions. The basic colors are the same for all models.

Model Length with cap closed in cm Length with cap posted in cm Weight in gram without ink
M 1000 14.6 17.4 34.1
M 800 14.1 16.4 29.3
M 600 13.3 15.4 18.0
M 400 12.5 14.6 15.3
M 300 11.0 12.9 11.0

 

Fig.1 – M800 Stone Garden

 

Fig.2 M1000 Raden Sunrise

 

Fig. 3 M800 Green Stripe

 

Toledo Series

Model Size/Length in cm Weight in g
M 900 16,3 38,6
M 700 14,4 23,4

 

Fig. 4 M900 Toledo

 

Fig. 6 M900 Toledo with presentation box.

 

Classic Series (Piston)

Model Size/Length in cm Weight in g
M 205 12,5 14,0

 

Classic Series (Cartridge)

Model Size/Length in cm Weight in g
P 205 12,2 12,0