Hey, I got Darth Vader's
pen! In person, the hood and clip of this pen are a good deal
shinier, but given the general air of efficient menace that hangs about
this pen, I decided to stick with this picture. Designed for Lamy
in 1966 by a Bauhaus bigwig, the whole idea of this pen is to be as PEN as possible
in modern materials. The body is made mainly of Makrolon, which was
a rather new acrylic at the time, and has the advantage of having an
even cooler science-fiction name than Lucite, and it is apparently very
durable. The point is actually made of gold, but to keep things
as monotone as possible, it's been plated with palladium (when seen
properly, it's actually quite a shiny silver). The only marking
on the thing is the maker's name in very small letters which you can't
quite see on the side of the shoulder of the clip.
This is very far from my usual line of vintage interest, although any
model that has been in production without real amendment for over forty
years gets my respect. I was drawn into curiosity by people
ranting about it regularly over at the Fountain Pen
Network, and of course wanting to be able to say I own something
made of Makrolon. I am not at all disappointed-- this is very
much like a Parker "51" taken in
by German engineers who look at it and say, "Oh, that's what they're trying to
achieve! We can do that!" much as they'd done with French
efforts to mount machine guns on aircraft in World War I. The
shape is similar, the function-leads-form approach is much the same,
but this has an partially exposed point which allows for free movement
of the tines-- not flex as in early vintage pens, but certainly some
springiness.
On the down side, there are two little metal "ears" that hold the cap
(one can be seen to the rear of the steel hood above). The are
fantastic from a function aspect, likely to work properly for a century
or more, but if you aren't careful about how you hold the pen, they
kind of dig into your fingers. For my part, I'm willing to
accommodate myself to the pen in this small thing, but for some it
might be a large issue-- it certain appears as one in occasional FPN
outbursts. It also has a reputation for writing a grade or two
more broadly than the point is rated-- I think this is wetness of feed,
necessary to supply the point at full "flex", but the effect is there.
Specifications: Extra-fine gold
point. Piston filler. Spring-loaded clip. 13.7 cm
long capped, 14.9 cm
posted.
Condition: Mint up until 2 May 2009. Thus far, I've
avoided doing anything dumb with it, so it's still very good.
Repairs: Gosh, I hope not.
Location: My collection.
For sale?:
Not this one. They're available at many fine retail
outlets, like the one at which I got mine.
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