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?

Paul Rossi is one of today’s foremost custom pen makers, and when this Rossi “Moon and Stars” almost fell into my lap I couldn’t refuse it a home. The inlaid mother-of-pearl moon and stars are perfectly set, with no visible or tactile break in the surface of the barrel, and the pen is made so that the moon lines up with the nib — and, when the pen is capped, with the clip. The barrel itself is a blue that is slightly different from the cap and blind cap, and that difference adds interest to a pen whose overall color might otherwise be boring and bland. Built on the guts of a Pelikan M800, it’s about the same size as the M800, at 5⁹/₃₂" capped and 6¹⁷/₃₂" posted; but it’s enough shorter capped that it fits into a pocket a little better. And it’s gorgeous!

I know nothing about the Dominator company of France except that they once made a dandy button-filling Art Deco pen called the Globe d’Or (“Golden Globe”). A client sent me this pen in a group from which I was to choose a nib donor for one of the client’s favorite pens. I found a donor (a mediocre pen with a fabulous 18K flexible nib) and offered to take the Dominator in trade for this and other work. The client assented, and here’s the pen in its new home. At 5⁷/₃₂" capped and 5¹¹/₁₆" posted, it’s a pretty nice size (albeit a little fatter than an Eversharp Skyline). Like the aforementioned donor, this baby has a pretty sweet 18K flexie.

One of the more interesting pen companies in the 1920s was the Postal Pen Company. Postal pens were bulb fillers, and they were sold only by mail. They were good pens, but with their transparent celluloid barrels most have become rather fragile. Now, the Gate City Pen and Ink Company has brought this classic back! The New Postal Reservoir Pen is made using the original Postal design, bulb filler and all, but it’s acrylic, and fragile it ain’t. What it is, though, is wicked cool. I have a Ruby-barreled Senior, which is 5¹¹/₁₆" capped and 7¹¹/₃₂" posted. The nib is stock, an excellent JoWo steel medium.

My New Postal Junior, also with a Ruby barrel, is 4²⁷/₃₂" capped and 6⁷/₁₆" posted. This baby is fitted with an 18K JoWo medium.

In 1904, Alfred B. Davis patented a filling system that, even today, remains the quickest and most positive self filler ever invented. Davis’ syringe filler made its commercial appearance on pens branded POST, and for this reason it is sometimes referred to as the Post filler. The Belmont Pen takes its name from one of the brands sold during the Golden Age by the famous Rexall chain of drug stores, but Rexall’s Belmont never used this simple filling system. At 5⁷/₁₆" capped and 6¹⁵/₃₂" posted, the Belmont is a full-sized pen (but not oversize). This pen, in the Claret Stone color, is fitted with a stock JoWo steel fine nib (tuned, of course).

Charles Dunn invented a remarkable pump filler in 1920, and in 1921 the Dunn-Pen Company (in which he wasn’t involved) began making pens that used his system. The New Dunn Pen works the same way as the original, and it’s about the same size as an original Dunn-Pen Camel. It’s 5³/₈" capped, 7" posted, and my New Dunn has a smooth fine steel nib. Interestingly, Dunn’s ingenious breather tube design was also used in the original Postal Pen. Other pens used it, too, including the Parker Vacumatic, but they were made after Dunn’s patent expired and so don’t bear his patent date in their imprints.