I have a weak spot for the so-called "third tier" pens. Back in
the heyday of fountain pens, those made by the big name makers, like
Sheaffer, Parker, Wahl and Eversharp, were not inexpensive.
Consider the low-end Sheaffer 3-25 of 1925-- in modern terms,
this was about a $40.00 pen. Not a vast expense, but for someone
on minimum wage or some Willie Loman type of salesman who
must have a pen for work, not an amount spent without hesitation.
In come the low-grade makers to fill a market niche.
They're not great, but they work well enough until you can afford
a really good one.
The reason for my soft spot is that once a good one was possible, the
not-so-good one generally got tossed, or given to the children for
destruction. Those that remain intact should get some kind of
reward.
This particular pen has a stamping on the lever, too small for my
camera, reading "No. 5 50¢" Four bits has never been
a pile of money, being somewhere in the region of a modern $7 (about the same as the modern Parker Reflex, a cheap pen if ever was) in
the decade I suspect this pen sprang from. That decade, by the
way, is 1935-1945. 1935 because it's made of plastic, which was a
somewhat exotic material even at that date, and before that no cheap
pen would have been made out of it. 1945 because after that the
styling would be so very dated that even at that low price it's hard to
imagine anyone buying it. Pure guesswork. If I find
evidence one way or another, I'll amend this entry.
For all that it's a cheap pen, it writes well enough. Smooth
enough, with a bit of flex. You can tell it's not a Parker or a
Waterman when you use it, but if you can't afford one of those, it
doesn't embarrass by dribbling.
Specifications:
Medium point, which says it's made of "Special Alloy"-- it's
gold-coloured, at least. Lever filler. 12.9cm long capped,
16.3cm posted.
Condition: Very light wear on all components.
Repairs:
Lever and clip were rather rusty. The clip was polished up
in place, but the lever was dismounted. Feed and point reset,
having become disaligned. Sac still supple and lively, so left in
place. Section had shrunk enough to become loose in the barrel,
so non-permanent section sealant was applied to set it more firmly.
Location: My collection.
For sale: $25. That's got a large component of sentimental evaluation in it. Contact me at :
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