Do you use a fountain pen?

[C&C]

ClockworkCupcake said:

The heart on the nib, and the clip, both remind me a little of the Mabie Todd "Swan" that I posted about earlier.

Which is also a really lovely looking pen. In fact after reading your post, and Rob's comments about the flex nib, I've been keeping an eye out for a "Swan" myself. Was outbid on one a couple of days ago (although nowhere near as nice as your gold example).

Although it may not seem like it, I'm getting more conservative with bids, so will tend to bid pretty low compared to what I think it's probably worth these days - e.g. picked up a slightly rough (but working and will look fine after a bit of TLC) Parker 51 Aerometric the other day for £21 incl postage. Will end up selling it when cleaned up to help fund other "interesting" pens.

[ClockworkCupcake]

C+C said:

Although it may not seem like it, I'm getting more conservative with bids, so will tend to bid pretty low compared to what I think it's probably worth these days

Yes, I know what you mean. I had a bid on an unnamed Sheaffer with the long inlaid nib, which with 3 hours to go was still at £7. I put in a bid of £20 but it ended up going for £51 + £4.50 P&P.

[C&C]

ClockworkCupcake said:

C+C said:

Although it may not seem like it, I'm getting more conservative with bids, so will tend to bid pretty low compared to what I think it's probably worth these days

Yes, I know what you mean. I had a bid on an unnamed Sheaffer with the long inlaid nib, which with 3 hours to go was still at £7. I put in a bid of £20 but it ended up going for £51 + £4.50 P&P.

I'll tend to search for "fountain pen" excluding ballpoints etc in the search, then sort by ending soonest and scan the next 24 hours or so, maybe a bit longer if I've got more time.

Any that seem interesting, I'll enter a max bid into the sniper site I use (in this case Gixen.com) and forget about them - very rarely do I end up watching the actual end of the auction (too tempting to increase your bid). I like the idea of sniper sites as it doesn't give away your hand, whereas if say you've put on a max bid of £20 on ebay itself on something that's at £5, if someone else puts a bid of £6 on, yours will immediately bid £7 giving away the fact that you're going to bid higher. They then have time to modify their bid. If it's all done at the last minute, there's a chance the price may stay lower.

[Robbo 27]

Firstly, do you know about this reference site?

http://conwaystewart.wesonline.org.uk/csbook/page1...

also David Wells is a Conway Stewart expert and a good source for any parts, not that I think you will need them.

http://www.old-pens.co.uk/


The pen is mottled hard rubber, posh name Vulcanite, you may also see it abbreviated as RHR.

If the nib and feed look okay you can do quite a lot of cleaning up in situ, the last thing you want to do is to break that feed.


The nib looks a bit worn although there never was much tipping on CS pens even when ne and some gentle smoothing will work wonders. This pen was made at a time when flexible nibs and ornate long letters were king, it took the Parker 51 to unlearn a style of writing that is almost forgotten today. You will find that this nib will flex almost as much as Mabie Todd nibs.

I have been looking hard at the pen and its in amazing condition, no cracks or bad scratches, it will not take much effort to turn the clock back to the state when it was new.

Stephen Hull wrote a book on Conway Stewart in 2009, this link explains more and if you scroll down you will see some sample pages.

http://www.mvburke.com/fountainpensforthemillion.h...

Edited by Robbo 27 on Thursday 13th July 16:38

[C&C]

Robbo 27 said:

Firstly, do you know about this reference site?

http://conwaystewart.wesonline.org.uk/csbook/page1...

The pen is mottled hard rubber, posh name Vulcanite, you may also see it abbreviated as RHR.

If the nib and feed look akay you can do quite a lot of cleaning up in situ, the last thing tou want to do is to break that feed

Hi Rob,

Yes, I've looked at that one and also http://conway-stewart.old-pens.co.uk/associated1.h... which has pretty similar info.

Re. the cleaning.. I agree, if I can get away without taking out the nib, then that would be best as no way I want to damage the feed.
So what's the best approach to cleaning in situ? Short bursts in the ultrasonic cleaner? Last thing I want is to discolour the rubber.

[ClockworkCupcake]

C+C said:

Any that seem interesting, I'll enter a max bid into the sniper site I use (in this case Gixen.com) and forget about them - very rarely do I end up watching the actual end of the auction (too tempting to increase your bid). I like the idea of sniper sites as it doesn't give away your hand, whereas if say you've put on a max bid of £20 on ebay itself on something that's at £5, if someone else puts a bid of £6 on, yours will immediately bid £7 giving away the fact that you're going to bid higher. They then have time to modify their bid. If it's all done at the last minute, there's a chance the price may stay lower.

Indeed.

Someone on PH posted a very good explanation of why sniping is worth doing, which in a nutshell is what you have said, and I rehosted it on my blog for posterity. https://datahamster.com/2014/07/22/sniping-on-ebay...

[Robbo 27]

CandC said:

Hi Rob,

Yes, I've looked at that one and also http://conway-stewart.old-pens.co.uk/associated1.h... which has pretty similar info.

Re. the cleaning.. I agree, if I can get away without taking out the nib, then that would be best as no way I want to damage the feed.
So what's the best approach to cleaning in situ? Short bursts in the ultrasonic cleaner? Last thing I want is to discolour the rubber.

A direct link to your pen

http://conwaystewart.wesonline.org.uk/csbook/page6...

I am assuming that the nib is not blocked. I really wouldnt do much more than a light polish, I use a metal wadding polish called Silvo, but being solid gold the nib is going to shine up so easily with just a tissue, same with the back of the feed, looks pretty good now.

I wouldnt put a ruber or a casein pen anywhere near water, even for a moment.

There is a debate going on at FPN as to whether an old pen should look its age or look like it was made yesterday, and everyone has their own opinion. CC has a Sheaffer from his father that is heavily worn and looks wonderful, other people with black hard rubber pens find that they turn a greenish brown over the last 90 years but want them to be shiny black. Each to their own. I used to do some trading in old wine for the Japanese and Chinese markets, they want to buy pre 1940 wine with lables that look like new, as if they have never been in a cellar, some people have the same view of old pens, each to their own.

What I would do with your pen is a light polish to bring out the mottling, shine up the clip and not much more.

Edited by Robbo 27 on Thursday 13th July 17:02

[Robbo 27]

Its a neat thing to do but when you put a new sac in the pen to have the lever in line with the nib, i.e. running along the top of the pen and also to have the clip lined up with the lever when the cap is in place, all depends on whether the finial can unscrew.

[C&C]

Robbo 27 said:

Its a neat thing to do but when you put a new sac in the pen to have the lever in line with the nib, i.e. running along the top of the pen and also to have the clip lined up with the lever when the cap is in place, all depends on whether the finial can unscrew.

I get that lining up the lever with the nib would be good, and I'll do that when replacing the sac - I'm assuming the section is friction fit rather than a screw fit?

What I don't understand is how I could line up the lever with the clip, and not sure what the finial is, which might be the problem!

It seems to me that the slot in the barrel for the lever is fixed, the screw thread on the barrel is fixed, the screw thread in the cap is fixed (as it's part of the hard rubber cap), and the point that the clip is attached to the cap is fixed. The screw thread appears to be made of 5 parallel threads, which gives 5 positions for the lever in relation to the clip when the cap is screwed on. None of these lines the lever up with the clip - nearest of the 5 positions is about 10 degrees out.

Happy to be corrected if I'm missing something.

[ClockworkCupcake]

Robbo 27 said:

CC has a Sheaffer from his father that is heavily worn and looks wonderful

Yes, I love the patina and wear on it. There is no way I would ever have that changed.

[Robbo 27]

CandC said:

I get that lining up the lever with the nib would be good, and I'll do that when replacing the sac - I'm assuming the section is friction fit rather than a screw fit?

What I don't understand is how I could line up the lever with the clip, and not sure what the finial is, which might be the problem!

It seems to me that the slot in the barrel for the lever is fixed, the screw thread on the barrel is fixed, the screw thread in the cap is fixed (as it's part of the hard rubber cap), and the point that the clip is attached to the cap is fixed. The screw thread appears to be made of 5 parallel threads, which gives 5 positions for the lever in relation to the clip when the cap is screwed on. None of these lines the lever up with the clip - nearest of the 5 positions is about 10 degrees out.

Happy to be corrected if I'm missing something.

I was really thinking about this finessing in general rather than your specific pen, easier with some 30s Parkers which has an end cap that simply clamps down on the clip. As you say, the 479 has its clip fixed in place.

The section into the barrel is a push fit, suggest a little shellac when you are putting the two together.

Edited by Robbo 27 on Friday 14th July 06:24

[E24man]

[quote=C&C] Stuff

CS_Scolastic_Rubber_1 by conradsphotos, on Flickr


CS_Scolastic_Rubber_2 by conradsphotos, on Flickr


CS_Scolastic_Rubber_3 by conradsphotos, on Flickr

[/quote]

Stunning.

Simply stunning to the point of envy.

[Robbo 27]

ClockworkCupcake said:

Yes, I know what you mean. I had a bid on an unnamed Sheaffer with the long inlaid nib, which with 3 hours to go was still at £7. I put in a bid of £20 but it ended up going for £51 + £4.50 P&P.

Best time for ebay bargains is friday afternoon, the worst time is a sunday evening, especially if its wintry and raining and Poldark is on TV.

[ClockworkCupcake]

Robbo 27 said:

Best time for ebay bargains is friday afternoon, the worst time is a sunday evening, especially if its wintry and raining and Poldark is on TV.

Did anyone here pick up the two Parker 17s that went for a tenner just now on eBay? I should have bid more but I wasn't sure how much I wanted them and then it was too late.

[Robbo 27]

ClockworkCupcake said:

Did anyone here pick up the two Parker 17s that went for a tenner just now on eBay? I should have bid more but I wasn't sure how much I wanted them and then it was too late.

Not me, £10 for two Parkers cannot be bad, as long as no cracks, they are prone to that.

You are in a difficult position now, you have (at least) two pens that are close to being the most desirable that you can think of, A Parker 17 simply doesnt compare. I reached the situation a few years ago of having obtained my grail pens, then i got to thinking of why do I want any more, starting selling, got down to 30 of my all time favourites and then started buying again, this thread did a lot of good in rekindling that enthusiasm.

[Snails]

Robbo 27 said:

ClockworkCupcake said:

Yes, I know what you mean. I had a bid on an unnamed Sheaffer with the long inlaid nib, which with 3 hours to go was still at £7. I put in a bid of £20 but it ended up going for £51 + £4.50 P&P.

Best time for ebay bargains is friday afternoon, the worst time is a sunday evening, especially if its wintry and raining and Poldark is on TV.

There was a Sheaffer Targa earlier in the week marked just as Sheaffer fountain pen. It was also described as unsued, it certainly looked it. Alas, ~£20 with a few minutes to go, 'brilliant!' Ended up at £67.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Excellent-Unused-Vintage...

Edited by Snails on Friday 14th July 19:02

[Robbo 27]

Snails said:

There was a Sheaffer Targa earlier in the week marked just as Sheaffer fountain pen. It was also described as unsued, it certainly looked it. Alas, £15 with a few minutes to go, 'brilliant!' Ended up at £67.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Excellent-Unused-Vintage...

That Sheaffer looks new, still a little bit cheap at £67.

Best bargain I had on ebay was in the middle of the night, felt ill, got up at 2.30, went on ebay so as not to make a noise for the rest of the household, saw a 1930s Conway Stewart for £1.30. Admittedly not as nice as C and Cs. Couldnt understand why the (English) seller posted it at that time and why others stayed away, turned out there was a listing error which made the pen for UK only.

[ClockworkCupcake]

Robbo 27 said:

You are in a difficult position now, you have (at least) two pens that are close to being the most desirable that you can think of

I know the Swan is one, but what is the other?

I mean, I love my worn Targa but I don't know how desirable that is to other people.

Robbo 27 said:

Not me, £10 for two Parkers cannot be bad, as long as no cracks, they are prone to that.

Yes. I think I should have bid more on them.

But, as I said, I wasn't sure how much I wanted them. But with hindsight I should have put in a better bid even if I was semi-serious.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Vintage-Parker-17-and-La...

Edited by ClockworkCupcake on Friday 14th July 19:36

[ClockworkCupcake]

I also missed out on a Dickinson Croxley pen and pencil set. I bid £40.67 (I always put a random number of pence on my bids) and it went for £40.78

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/NO-RESERVE-Croxley-Fount...

[Robbo 27]

ClockworkCupcake said:

I also missed out on a Dickinson Croxley pen and pencil set. I bid £40.67 (I always put a random number of pence on my bids) and it went for £40.78

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/NO-RESERVE-Croxley-Fount...

The nibs are very good on these pens, that one looked in good condition.

The other great pen is the Waterman CF, even an ordinary Waterman CF is worth having but you have the top of the line version, worth a lot of money.