Vintage Pens

For as handsome as this moss green-grey vintage pen is, it features some of the weaknesses of 1940s Waterman manufacturing. Our Waterman 2 has a crack in the top of the cap and in the lip of the cap. Its pocket clip spins freely. We restored this pen with a new ink sac. You'll find nice Canadian Waterman imprints. Click the headline for a close-up of the 14k gold nib. When you find the sweet spot on the nib, you will write a smooth broad line. It gets a little scratchy when you lose the sweet spot. Oh, and its inkfeed is a modern replacement feed. 12.8cm capped.

Many of Waterman's pens of the 1940s looked very similar to one another. We think this is the mid-sized Waterman Stalwart. It might be difficult to see in the photo, but it has a beautiful pearlescent sheening. We restored it with a new ink sac and a hand-made pressure bar to replace the missing original pressure bar under the lever. No cracks, a little brassing on the clip and a dark ring around the very top of the cap. The clip jiggles just a tiny bit but is still secure. There's a scratch on the section. You will write a dry, extra-fine line with its 14k gold nib. However, you can flex it to .75mm if you are slow and gentle. 11.6cm capped.

Behold the mighty Sleeve-Filler! Honestly, some days we still have to pinch ourselves to make sure the dream we are living is really not just a dream. This Waterman 12SF in its original box creates a pinch-ourselves moment. Gary Lehrer's Waterman book says these were made between 1910 and 1915. The old hard rubber is fragile. As such, we did not force the section to open to restore this pen. This pen is in far too good a condition to accidentally destroy. It remains without a working ink sac. The sleeve on the barrel has a crisp imprint and can be gently coaxed and wiggled to reveal the squeeze bar filler. It is a little stiff in moving so don't force anything. No cracks! 14k gold nib is a stiff semi-flex. Original box a little faded and ink stained but still nice to have. Additional photos available upon request.

Cartridge fillers are not a new phenomena in fountain pens. The first ones date back to around the turn of the 20th century. However, those early ones were not entirely practical and prone to their glass and clay cartridges breaking. On the American market, Waterman C/F pens introduced what we have come to know as the first cartridge pens with disposable plastic cartridges. These pens were Waterman's last hit in the 1950s and until the company was revitalized in the 1980s. This rare New Old Stock set is unused and pristine. From the "Fine Flex" chalk mark on the barrel of the pen to 4 unopened, still waxed shut original cartridges, this vintage pen belongs in a museum. Click the headline for close-ups. The steel nib doesn't feel flexi to us, but that is how it was advertised.

Here it is! One of the Granddaddies of Grail Pens: the Waterman Patrician. We've restored this vintage pen with a new ink sac. What makes this pen really stand out to us is its black hard rubber (ebonite) cap and barrel. It has a little oxidation and moderate wear, but it isn't a mess of chocolate hazing, either. No cracks. Click the headline for close-ups. You'll write a nice, firm medium line with a little feedback with its original 14k gold Patrician nib. There's a little brassing on the cap band, and there's a slight bulge under the left-side of the clip (as you face it) where it attaches to the pen. The big golden Waterman's seal on the flat tail of the pen looks like a baseball with "Waterman's" written inside it. This is the big 'un. 13.9cm capped.

Grail pens such as this Waterman 0322 "Chased" pen from the early 1900s are intoxicatingly rare. What has become known as "repousse" in many pens Waterman called "chased" in its early turn-of-the-century catalogs. This taper cap with gold-filled overlay is a once-in-a-lifetime pen for us. Its 14k gold nib writes an extra-fine to 1mm flexi line, but the slender hard-rubber pen is so delicate, we don't really recommend writing with it much. Filling this eyedropper pen will be difficult as the section seems firmly screwed together and not wanting to separate. Engraved on the barrel cartouche are the initials E.H.L. You can see a couple bite marks on the end of the barrel and tip of the taper. Its biggest flaw is an upside-down "L" crack from the lip of the cap. Clear imprint on the taper cap. Overall, a very good vintage pen for its age. Click the headline for close-ups. 14.7cm capped.

Every now and again we post a pen that makes us ask, "Why aren't we hoarding this just for ourselves?" This Waterman 56 is just flat-out amazing. One of the larger Waterman sizes, this one has a perfect ripple pattern on "red" (i.e. orange) hard rubber. The cap and barrel are flawless. Unfortunately, there's brassing on the cap band, but the rest of the vintage pen is remarkable. We restored it with a new ink sac. You will write a sumptuously smooth...oh, yes, full-on buttery smooth...medium line with its 14k gold nib. Click the headline for a close-up. It says manifold, but the smoothness of the nib doesn't make it feel too rigid. 14cm capped.

Vintage Waterman pens are highly desirable to begin with, but when you add decorative gold-plated trim and a factory oblique nib from the 1920s, there is so much more to love. Our vintage pen is a Waterman 56 that is fully restored with a new ink sac. It was reblackened by its previous owner, and it looks almost new out of the factory. No cracks or scratches. Its 56 still has a little orange left in it. Crisp imprint and chasing. Its pocket clip is marked "18k Filled Clip-Cap." It also sports a unique secondary imprint: "National / Live Stock Producer." You will write with some nice bounce on its 14k gold OBLIQUE nib. The nib has a crisp edge for specialized writing and might take a little getting used to, if you do not normally use oblique nibs. 14cm capped.