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. :)

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.

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.

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. :)

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.

Sexy Black Sheaffer

Another little pen arrived at the post office for me yesterday - a very gorgeous Sheaffer 46 Special Short Ringtop. This is a black Radite pen with gold-filled cap band, ring, and lever.


The pen is from around 1925, and I was lucky enough to find it in superb condition, and with a newly fitted sac. The 46 Ringtop measures about 4.5" long capped, and posts to almost 6". I immediately liked this feel of this pen in the hand, and find the simple black and gold combination really striking.

The 14K yellow-gold 'Sheaffer's 46 Special' nib is quite large compared to the size of the pen, and features a heart-shaped vent hole. While the nibs were not marked, I believe this nib is a Extra Fine - an added bonus. When I received the pen, I loupe’d the nib, and found the tines were misaligned, so I carefully corrected them, and now this 46 is a wonderfully smooth writer. I’m really pleased with this pen, and so glad it caught my eye!

More Finds

The past week has been a good one for vintage pens. I picked up a small Sheaffer lever-filler which looked interesting - a black 46 Special Short Ringtop. A nice one for the small pens collection.

I found another Snorkel also, a Fiesta Red Clipper by all accounts! This is very exciting - it was such a bargain too... ;)

Still having very little luck locating Snorkels with EF nibs though...

Aurora Arrived!

This week has been an extremely good week, pen-wise. I went to the Post Office yesterday morning, and got a very pleasant surprise when I discovered that my Aurora Sole Minima from Oscar Braun had arrived - two days before it was expected!

After I opened the package, I set up a camera, took some photos and wrote a fairly comprehensive Review, which I have posted at the Fountain Pen Network. Lots of nice photos are included.

I'm very impressed with the Sole Mini, and very, very pleased that I bought it!


Some Small Pens: Orange Marble Montegrappa Micra, Green/Black Pelikan M300, Aurora Sole Minima LE.

Aurora Update

I had an e-mail from Huy this morning, he has received his Aurora Sole Minima! I raced over to FPN to look at his review, and I'm very pleased - the colour is great and the nib sounds excellent. Pam has confirmed that my Sole Minima has arrived in AU, and that I will have it on Friday!

Overview: Sailor 1911M (Colors)

In my continuing quest for fountain pens with truly extra-fine nibs, I put a Red Sailor 1911M on my wish list, having read many favourable things about 14K Sailor nibs. I purchased the 1911M from the Pear Tree Pen Company, in addition to a handy Write Fill kit. James was very helpful and pleasant to deal with, as well as happy to share his knowledge about fountain pens with fellow enthusiasts.


In the hand, the 1911M feel is comparable to my Pelikan 250, but the Sailor is heavier – a plus, as Pelikans always feel too light to me. I don’t think the 1911M feels cheap; indeed it feels no cheaper than the 250. I did notice that the threads on the Sailor grip feel smoother than the Pelikan grip threads - you don’t seem to notice them so much. The cap posts firmly, and the pen is the same length posted as a M400. Without the cap posted, the 1911M has a perfect balance for me and feels great.

One interesting thing which I don’t remember reading about, is that the conical end caps aren’t actually black, although they do look it – hold them up to the light and they are an incredibly dark, yet translucent red.

The 14K EF nib is the real star of the 1911M and definitely produces a fine line – this was the selling point for me, and it lived up to my expectations perfectly. I find the Sailor nib to be a little springier than the 14K EF nib on my M400. Upside down, the Sailor nib produces a line width almost identical to my Binder 0.2mm XXXF Needlepoint nib, but the Sailor line is marginally thicker, and the nib slightly smoother! Another plus!

The 1911M fills via a small piston-converter, which is included. This will be a downside for some, but I don’t mind – I go through the ink faster, and get to change colours way more often than with my Pelikan’s.

Overall I’m really happy with the 1911M, and would like to get a second one in Yellow. :)