Vintage Pens

Conklin Crescent 40 pens are a wonderful mid-size vintage pens. These black chased hard rubber pens just don't quit after more than 100 years. We restored this one with a new ink sac. There are no chips or cracks in this pen, but you there are scratches, worn chasing and imprints, brassing on the clip and crescent. The clip is still attached, but we wouldn't trust it for any use. It seems weakly attached. The cap band is marked "14k 1/5." You will write a fine-medium to 1mm wide lines with its semi-flex Conklin #4 nib made of 14k gold. 13.5cm capped.

Blue Parker Vacumatics seem more difficult to find these days, but we lucked out with this Debutant-size double-jewel model from 1941. We restored its aluminum speedline filler with a new diaphragm. The barrel is too dark to see the ink, but it is working well. The pen has some wear from use and visible brassing on its cap band and jewels. Click the headline for close-ups. We tuned the nib after shooting the nib photo. You will find it writes a smooth medium line. The clip is on tightly. A great vintage pen daily user. 11.9cm capped.

Lookin' mighty fine from the 1950s, here comes a Sheaffer Admiral. Kindofa high rank for a base-line model of the famed Snorkel pens. Nevertheless, we love these pens and their Rube Goldberg overcomplicated filling systems. We restored this one with a new sac, point seal and O-ring. It fills well, but sometimes you have to give it an extra second to suck in the ink. When it comes to Snorkels, we prefer these 14k gold open nibs to the conical Triumph nibs. You will find this pen needs a little breaking in. It writes a very nice fine line with a little feedback, which we think with smooth out a bit with time the more you write with it. No cracks. Light wear. Click the headline for close-ups. 14.3cm capped.

At the turn of the 20th century the Franklin Pen Company was thriving. It was based in Philadelphia and was specializing in a "self-filling" system known today as a syringe filler. This Franklin Safety Pen has the syringe filler, as you can see in the photo. Click the headline for close-ups. Ours is not working and unrestored. Back in the day, what set these pens apart from other syringe fillers was that you could adjust the pressure of the seal as it wore out so that it didn't make a mess. Its 14k gold nib is a size 3 that is very flexible going from a fine to around 2mm wide. You can still use it easily as a dip pen. The chasing and imprint in the black hard rubber is a bit worn but still visible. There's a little brassing and discoloring of the golden decorative trim. Hairline crack in the lip of the cap going under the cap band. 12.5cm capped.

Here's a chance to get a relative bargain on a fairly rare vintage pen. Look closely. Click the headline for close-ups. Notice anything unique about this oversized Sheaffer Lifetime flattop in black hard rubber? No white dot. No serial number on the 14k gold Lifetime nib. This pen was made before Sheaffer developed its famed white dot logo for Lifetime pens! And it was before Sheaffer lost an early lawsuit to black-market dealers of its pens because the Lifetime nibs had no serial number to track the pens. There is a fair amount of brassing on the trim. Also visible is a little triangle chip in the lip of the cap that some long-ago repair person super glued. A hairline crack sprouts out of the right side of the pocket clip mount. There are scratches and faded imprints. We restored this pen with a new ink sac. You will write a deliciously buttery smooth broad line with its early original 14k gold nib. 13.6cm capped.

Persian blue is one of our Sheaffer favorites. This Sheaffer Sentinel is an especially attractive vintage pen. The vacuum-fil filling system has been restored and works well. However, we are noticing an issue with it as it writes. The firm extra-fine 14k gold nib writes nicely, but it seems to deposit a little blob of ink every couple words. There is a dent on the right side of the cap, too. The rest of the pen looks fine with a little wear from use. This pen sports its White Dot on the tip of the blind cap! Really neat feature. 12.7cm capped.

The original Sheaffer Valiant came with a vacuum-fil filler system. The color is a rarer umber brown. There is a little light wear from use. There is no brassing, no cracks or deep scratches. You can see in the photo that the cap pushed a little of the softer barrel plastic back where it closes. This vintage pen was restored by the great Sherrell Tyree, who is a renowned Sheaffer expert. You will write a smooth fine-medium line with its two-tone 14k gold Triumph nib. Oh, and it has nice ink-view window clarity. Click the headline for close-ups. Wide bodied and 13.3cm capped.

Stunningly well restored by Sheaffer repair super star Sherrell Tyree, our Sheaffer Admiral is a great example of the company's "ebony & pearl" design. They actually used flakes from abalone shells harvested from the kelp beds off the California shoreline. It looks gorgeous set in that polished ebony celluloid. As you can see in the photo, the barrel's barber pole viewing window is a little ambered but still clear enough to see through. Click the headline for a close-up. Extra-fine nib aficionados will be excited to learn the pen's 14k gold nib has an "accountant" point. (Not marked accountant nib but we've handled enough to know the real thing.) Better, yet, it writes a smooth extra-extra fine line with a "feather touch" to the paper. If you love Japanese extra-fine nibs, this is a rare American vintage nib that gets THAT fine. Overall, the pen has a little wear from use. No cracks but a few nibble marks on top of the cap. 13.9cm capped.