Wednesday, August 30, 2006

Pen Arrivals + Omas!

It's been a nice couple of weeks for pens! My Parker Petite Pastel is gorgeous, as is my Waterman Lady Patrician. I will have to take some pictures to post this weekend.

Yesterday while I was in the city I encountered, by sheer luck, an Omas Princess. This long-discontinued ladies fountain pen is quite collectable, and to find a NOS one is superb. The store I found it in also had an Omas Dama - both pens were gorgeous. These were the last two pens the store had from Omas, as there has not been an Omas distributor for Australia for a couple of years now. I bought the Princess at about 60% off its original tag price - very sweet. :)

Monday, August 21, 2006

Yet More Small Pens

I added three more nice pens to my collection in the last few days: a Parker 'Petite Pastel' in Apple Green, a Sheaffer Flat Top Junior in Jade Green, and a Waterman Lady Patricia in Onyx. The Waterman is especially nice, as it has an attractive red hard rubber section and nib feed.

Sunday, August 20, 2006

Ring Tops & Odd Lever-Fillers

I picked up half a dozen small ring top fountain pens in the last week, most are from the 1940’s and were priced from $6 to $40, with only the cheapest one needing to be restored. Amongst these is a very nice 1926 Parker Lady Duofold, in Red Permanite plastic with a wide gold cap-band - at last I have a Lady Duofold!

The other ring top pens I bought are from ‘third tier’ manufacturers – Majestic, Arnold etc. The pens are in excellent condition, they have barely been used, and some have 14K nibs, so I’m sure a couple will be very sweet little writers.

This week I also overspent a little on a weird lever-filler which had captured my interest. As a fountain pen collector I have no brand preferences. I will buy a pen because it appeals to me – the purchase is usually based on the shape, colour or size. A pen may be complete tat, but if I think the colour or finish is great, I’ll buy it.

When I saw the weird lever-filler, the latent ‘organized collector/accumulator’ in me must have surfaced. I sometimes get a bit fixated on an object, and even though it may be of little use/importance/value, I must have it. I'm not sure who made the lever-filler, but I think it's an early model from a German brand. The pen does have quite a bit of gold Toledo decoration, but bits are broken and missing and the overall condition is poor. So while it is old, funky and fairly unappealing, the history of the pen interested me.

Tuesday, August 15, 2006

Morton Pen & Pencil Set

In my search for vintage flat top and ring top pens, I picked up this cute set over the weekend:


A Morton (sub-brand of Morrison) 'Duet' set, which looks just like a 1920's Mandarin Yellow Parker Lady Duofold... minus the third cap band. Hope it's a nice writer. :)

Friday, August 04, 2006

Fiesta Red

Today my last eBay Mystery Snorkel arrived, and it has turned out to be Fiesta Red Clipper. It's in good condition, but the best thing is that it has a beautiful PdAg "A4" Triumph nib - a true Accountant (Needlepoint) nib, which is scarce in itself.