Pens on this page are part of my personal collection and are not for sale. If there is a magnifying-glass symbol () next to a pen, click the magnifying glass to view a zoomed version for more detail.

X Marks the Spot

Profile

In 1956, Parker introduced the radical capillary-filling 61, a pen that actually does fill itself without user assistance. Very few of the competition decided to follow Parker along the capillary road, but one that did was Waterman. Then in its death throes in the U.S.A., the company looked to JiF Waterman, its French licensee, and the result in 1957 was the X-Pen. The filling system of the X-pen is amazingly simple and economical; althought Waterman rang a couple of changes along the way, the basics of the system rely on a piece of gauze or muslin rolled into a cigarette shape in the barrel and, instead of an ordinary feed, a strip of material resenbling blotter paper to convey the ink to the nib. The barrel is not removable; to fill the pen, you immerse the nib. The major disadvantage of this filler is that you can’t allow an X-Pen to dry out; you must ensure that you keep the pen filled “forever.”

The original X-Pen, represented by the pens here, bears a strong resemblance to the Taperite, with the same reliable “military’” clip that had made its first appearance on the Hundred Year Pen in the 1930s. At 5¹/8" capped and 5⁹/16" posted, my first X-Pen is black with a gold-filled cap, and if features a remarkably smooth fine 14K gold nib. The logo shown to the left is the imprint that Waterman used on the clips of early X-Pens, as you can see on the pen shown here.

As it had done with many models for decades, Waterman designed versions of the X-Pen at various price levels and in several sizes. The X-Pen Junior is a little thinner and a little lighter than its larger sibling, with a steel nib and a ribbed anodized aluminum cap. My brown Junior is 5⁷/32" capped and 5⁵/8" posted, and its F steel nib is very nice.

Things were changing at the end of the 1930s, most especially styles. Wahl-Eversharp found the Art Deco elegance of its Coronet, Doric, and Pacemaker models suddenly going out of fashion, and as the company scrambled to produce pens that the public wanted, it came up with this inexpensive Gold Seal model, whose name I don’t know. The barrel imprint reads only EVERSHARP MADE IN U. S. A. Priced at $5.00, this pen is not known to have been produced in colors other than the burgundy that Wash-Eversharp called Dubonnet Red. This is the last of the Gold Seal pens; its successor was the best-selling Eversharp Skyline.

With a fine manifold nib that is very typical of the good writers for which Wahl-Eversharp was known, this pen is 5⁵/32" capped and 6⁵/16" posted. Its fit and finish are not typical of the high quality for which the Gold Seal had come to stand, however, and it may be just as well that the symbol had reached the end of its run.

Safety First

Design Features

The L. E. Waterman Company débuted its twist-knob retractable safety pen in 1907 or 1908, and the design proved quite popular. Waterman itself continued making retractables, possibly as late as the 1930s, and imitators both domestic and foreign jumped into the game when Waterman’s patent ran out. The little knob at the back of the barrel would seem a bit small for most people to grasp comfortably, but the idea was that you would post the cap and then use the whole cap as a knob. It works very, very well.

My first retractable, a BHR pen made probably very late (1930s?), has no model number imprinted on the barrel end, and its two-line barrel imprint reads only Waterman’s / MADE IN U.S.A. Because it has a flexible Nº 5 nib, I assume it is a Nº 45, but I may well be wrong. The cap, which was once chased, came from a dead pre-1928 Nº 44 in my parts bin. Capped, the pen is 4²¹/32"; posted, it’s 5³¹/32".

Next is Waterman's Nº 12½VS "Baby." This is one of those wonderful small pens that give the lie to the "Bigger Is Better" fable. My little Baby, a BHR version, has an XXF wet noodle Nº 2 nib that writes beautifully. At 3½" capped and 4²¹/32" posted, it really is small, but it's not so small that I'm going to consider throwing it back.

Then there is the Nº 442½VS in the French version of the slotted overlay pattern that Waterman called Moderne but most collectors today (and in fact the latter-day Waterman of France) call “Night and Day.” This pen, which was made in the U.S.A. but received its silver overlay in France, is 3²¹/32" capped and 4²¹/32" posted.

Another safety made probably for the French market is this Nº 42 with an 18K rolled gold overlay featuring bands with inlaid Greek key enameling. This pen was also made in the U.S.A., and it currently has an unreal extra-fine wet-noodle Nº 2 nib. At 4²⁹/32" capped and 6⁹/32" posted, this is a comfortable pen to hold — and with the extra girth its overlay gives it, it really snuggles into the hand.

Sheaffer’s Stylist premièred in 1964. Apparently taking styling cues from Parker’s successful 45, the Stylist has a distinct barrel shape, tapered at both ends. Unlike Parker’s ubiquitous washer clip, however, the clip of the Stylist retains Sheaffer’s spring-loaded pivot design to give a firm grip with no risk of springing of the other sort. What makes the Stylist particularly cool is its two-sided nib, a spear clamped between the feed and a reinforcing projection that looks like a mirror image of the feed. (Later, Sheaffer also sold Stylists with very small Triumph nibs.) This reversible design anticipates that of the Parker 180 by more than a decade.

My first Stylist is a high-line model in Brushed Chrome, with gold-plated furniture. (No, it’s not a Flighter. It’s not made of stainless steel, and Parker didn’t make it.) This pen is fitted with a M/F nib, and it stretches 5¹⁵/32" capped and 5¹³/16" posted.

At 5⁷/16" capped, 5⁵/8" posted, my next Stylist shows the low end of the range with a chrome-plated cap and a sea-green body. This pen has an F/XF nib.

© 2008 Richard F. Binder

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