All Pens and Ephemera

Karas Kustoms Vertex pens are a bold acrylic addition to the world of fountain pens. Black veins flow through red and orange flames in the cap and barrel. The snap cap is super strong. Only minimal wear will be found on the pen. You fill it with an included converter, but it also accepts standard international cartridges. Click the headline for close-ups. Its steel nib has a great design, and it writes a nice broad line with a little feedback. You'll see the nib is marked double broad, but we never got it quite that thick. nice wider grip and light weight. 13.2cm capped.

Blue marble always looks sharp on a vintage pen. Our Conway Stewart 85L comes from England in the late 1950s. We restored it with a new ink sac. No cracks or deep scratches. The worst of the brassing is in the photo. Click the headline for close-ups. Its 14k gold nib has a little flex. However, you might need to train it a bit for more consistent writing. We've been working on it to get more consistent flow. It is vastly improved, it might "tighten-up" while shipping it. There's some feedback, too. 13.6cm capped.

Every now and again we are faced with an inky mystery. Today that mystery is this De La Rue Everybody's Stylo 800/60. The imprint is shallow but clear enough to read. At first we thought it was a pencil, but its "lead" turned out to be an Ink-O-Graph-style tube without the pin in it to regulate ink flow. Even more confusing is that we don't see how it opens to refill it with ink. As such, the pen is unrestored. Nevertheless, the mottled orange hard rubber design is still stunning with no cracks and only light wear from history and past use. Perhaps this is a steal for someone who knows it better. 11.6cm capped.

Occasionally, some pens straight-up confuse us. This pen looks like a Pilot Elite 95 or E95. Yet, the cap is marked Platinum...as in the pen company. A little extra digging online led us to the Platinum 200, which looks very similar to this long-short pen. But, this pen doesn't have 200 imprinted by the cap's Platinum imprint. Click the headline for close-ups. Whatever it is, it writes a nice extra-fine line with its 18k gold nib. It has some wear on the metal barrel and cap, and the inlaid part of the plastic barrel is missing. 11.9cm capped.

Some vintage pens work perfectly well, but their cosmetics turn-off some collectors. This is one of those pens in a Parker 51. The cap is dented, rusted, stained and imperfect. The fountain pen still works well with its original "pli-glass" ink sac. The hood and barrel have some wear and scratches. There's a little rust staining where the cap rested against the barrel. Clearly, this pen can survive Hell, and it is still ready to write. You'll write a firm, fine line with a little feedback using its 14k gold nib. 13.7cm capped.

First-year Sheaffer TouchDown pens are difficult to find, but first-year Sheaffer Autograph TouchDowns are really rare. Made in 1949, these first-year pens had a much wider body than the 1950s' "Thin Model" pens. What makes the Autograph pen especially unique is its solid 14k gold pocket clip and solid 14k gold wide cap band. Our cap band reads "EAD to HFS." At least we think the "F" is an "F." It is a unique cursive script that we haven't seen in decades. We restored this pen with a new ink sac and O-ring. The pen has a little rust stain under the clip and normal wear from use. You will write an extra-fine line with its two-tone 14k gold nib with a little feedback. Click the headline for close-ups. 13.5cm capped.

When writing instruments double as a work of art, look no further than our Aikin Lambert dip pen made of sterling silver repoussé. We aren't sure if Aikin Lambert made the silver nib holder part of the pen, but it definitely sports a flexi #3 Aikin Lambert nib made of 14k gold. It flexes from a fine to nearly 2mm wide! As with any 100-year-old flexi nib, it might take a minute or two to get the hang of, if you aren't already familiar with these types of nibs. The silver shows some wear and tarnish that we couldn't polish out, but it is in good overall shape. We haven't had a dip this long in ages. Click the headline for a close-up. 17.6cm.

Many consider the Waterman C/F to be the first of the modern-era pens, although it is a classic vintage pen. Why? It was, effectively, the first pen to use disposable plastic ink cartridges. Although a success, it was short lived. The biggest problem for vintage collectors is that the Waterman C/F doesn't use any modern cartridges or converters. Waterman wasn't using standard international cartridges in the 1950s, as the concept was yet to be invented. If you find a 1950s cartridge, you can refill it with a syringe to use this pen. Unfortunately, it doesn't include an original cartridge. The pen looks great, except for that big crack in the tail visible in the photo. You will write a medium line with its 14k gold nib. There is a some feedback. 13.2cm capped.