Richard’s Pen Collection : Other Pens

Writing instruments on this page are part of my personal collection and are not for sale. Click the magnifying-glass symbol () next to any pen to view a zoomed image for more detail.

What pens am I carrying today?

That appellation is mine, but it coincides with the opinion of Russ Stutler, who lives in Japan and darn well ought to know. Compact, attractive, frighteningly durable, and as reliable as the sunset, that’s the Pilot Murex. Introduced in 1971 as the MYU, Pilot’s integral-nib pen morphed slightly in 1977 from its original long-short design to the all-over longer Murex that I prefer. The Murex MR-500SS here, which was made in December 1979, came into my hands by surprise — but I’m keepin’ it anyway! I like “smaller” pens — the Parker “51” is my ideal size — so the Murex is a great size for me, 5¹/₄" capped, 5⁵/₈" posted. When I got it, it had a badly flattened nib, but a little work restored an elegant Japanese fine point, and this altogether elegant pen has a permanent home in my collection.

A prelude is an introduction, and the Sheaffer Prelude is a great first pen. Its almost-bulletproof all-metal body gives it just enough heft to feel solid, and at 5¹/₄" capped and 6" posted it’s a great size. The White Dot has been a symbol of Sheaffer quality since 1923, and it sits proudly atop the Prelude’s clip to tell you that this is one remarkably good pen. Mine is a prototype dressed in a rich cadmium yellow lacquer, and its medium nib came out of the box surprisingly nice for a pen in the Prelude’s price range. (It’s since been tuned to my hand, of course.) I acquired this pen free of charge; it was given to me by the head of repairs at Sheaffer’s factory in Fort Madison, Iowa, about a month before Sheaffer completed relocating its manufacturing facilities and closed that factory. Only five cadmium yellow Prelude fountain pens made it out of the factory before somebody had the brilliant idea to scrap the rest, and this pen is one of those five — that makes it one of the rarest Sheaffers in existence!

Innumerable companies, worldwide, copied the Parker “51”. One of the less commonly seen “51” copies had its birth in the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. The Soyuz (“Union”) factory in Leningrad (now St. Petersburg) produced a series of models, most with plastic caps that the average comrade could afford but also some with metal for the few who were better off. This one came with an elegant gold-plated cap and was probably made for Party officers and Politburo members. The band represents the stone wall of the Kremlin, with a very pretty spire (topped with the Red Star) over the arched entrance on the band’s back side. The star is inset with a small garnet, and there’s a larger garnet in lieu of Parker’s conical celluloid jewel on the cap crown. Both jewels are faceted. The pen came in a set with a matching pencil; they live in a nice red pasteboard box labeled Комплект „МОСКВА“ Авторучка с золотым пером — which means Complete set of “Moscow” fountain pen with gold nib. At 5⁹/₁₆" capped and 6⁵/₁₆" posted, the pen is almost exactly the same size as a “51”, and the pencil is 4¹⁵/₁₆" long. And surprise — they’re built like Russian tanks! The pen, by the way, is an accordion filler.

In 1936, JiF Waterman began producing a line of cartridge-filling pens. These weren’t the first cartridge fillers; that honor probably goes to Eagle, before the turn of the 20th century. But the Watermans, like the Eagle pens, did use glass cartridges that sealed into the pen by fitting tightly into a neck-gasket of rubber. In January 2008, at the request of its then owner, I adapted this Waterman’s Duo 7, from the immediate postwar years, by fitting a modern converter into it to create, in effect, a piston filler. Not quite a year later, the pen returned to me, this time as a gift — it was ousted from its former home by the advent of a better specimen. The client’s generosity made my day and has continued to give me a warm glow ever since. At 5⁷/₁₆" capped and 6³/₆₄" posted, the Duo 7 is very much the size of a “51” — and it handles remarkably like one until you realize that this nib, a lovely “throwback” keyhole specimen, is pleasantly flexible!

The Duo 7 was far from Waterman’s only postwar glass cartridge pen. I discovered this next pen, 5³/₈" capped and 6¹³/₆₄" posted, at a pen show auction and had to have it. After considerable cleanup and the installation of a cut section of sac to mimic the original rubber seal, it works perfectly with the original cartridge that was in it when I bought it. This model was also offered with a more traditional flared section that exposed more of the nib, but I find the streamlined section — in fact the whole pen — so thoroughly Streamlined Moderne in style that I wouldn’t even consider a trade for the other version. This pen, like the one above, has a very nice flexible nib, and this one is even a little stubbish in shape.

I keep stumbling across these fascinating Waterman glass-cartridge pens. This next one, shown here with a full glass cartridge, came to me as a potential nib donor for another of the client’s pens. (The nib in it wasn’t the original Waterman nib, but the client kept it anyway.) The cap and barrel were seriously cracked, as if the pen had somehow been crushed. I did some fusing and cosmetic restoration; the pen isn’t perfect, but it certainly turned out well enough to use and enjoy. Seal replacement with a bit of a sac turned it into a very nice writer, now fitted with an English Waterman flexie. This one I can identify; it’s a Commando. (The Commando name is imprinted on the clip.) It’s 5⁹/₃₂" long capped, 6¹/₈" posted, and it really is a pleasant addition to the collection.