All Pens and Ephemera

In the late 1980s and early 1990s, Waterman unleashed a flurry of new luxury pens that were fairly similar in skinny design. Handsome and elegant they still make for great pens at work and at home. Our rollerball Waterman Exclusive comes with a fresh refill. It has some light wear but nothing a client will see from across a desk or table. 14.2cm capped.

Trying hard to stay afloat during the Great Depression, the Parker company wisely diversified its offerings to more affordable options for the cash-strapped public. Enter the Parkette Deluxe. It sported a handsome art deco design and a two-tone 14k gold nib with a cheaper material used for the cap, barrel and lever filler. Nevertheless, it writes like a Parker! We restored this vintage pen with a new ink sac. It has some wear and a lot of brassing. No cracks. You will write a nice, wet fine line. It is smooth when you find the sweet spot on the nib. Click the headline for close-ups. 12.6cm capped.

For the past several decades Parker Sonnets have been the company's old reliable for everyday writing. Some models get a little special extra treatment. This is a Chinese lacquered model that was only released for a limited time. We find it especially attractive. This one appears to be new old stock. No ink on the nib or in the converter. Minimal if any wear from sitting around for the past couple decades. It comes with a box and papers. We haven't written with its 18k gold nib, but it is marked "M" for medium. Click the headline for close-ups. 13.3cm capped.

Some fountain pen marriages are a very happy and blessed event. This Parker 75 cap and barrel have an earlier Parker Premier section and nib. This 1970s/early '80s variant of the Premier was to replace the 75 and only really barely updated the design. What we find especially remarkable about this barely vintage pen is its factory stub nib! We like the way it writes with good line variation. It comes with a modern Parker converter. You also can use Parker cartridges. The silver cap and barrel are free of dents. Made in France. Click the headline for close-ups. 12.8cm capped.

Everybody lusts after the Omas Arco pens, but don't overlook the simple gem that is the Omas Milord in black with gold-plated trim. Facets make for a distinct style, while the Greek-key triple cap band adds a touch of class. We find its piston-filler still works well. There is hardly a trace of wear on the pre-owned luxury pen that comes with its original boxes and papers. We all know that heart-and-soul of any pen is its nib. Well, this 18k beauty is as smooth as it comes while writing a nice medium line. Lucky you, we don't think anyone ever really broke in this nib. So the honor is all yours. Click the headline for close-ups. 13.5cm capped.

Esterbrook Dollar Pens were a fixture of the 1940s. Very affordable and easily customized with screw-in nib assemblies. This is one of the company's harder-to-find specialty nibs: the 2314-B Relief nib. It is a left-foot oblique nib made of steel. We find it writes very smoothly with some nice--but not dramatic--line variation. Nevertheless, the smoothness makes it fun to write with all day. We restored this vintage pen with a new ink sac. No cracks or deep scratches mar this pen, but it does have a little wear from use. You will see this is one of the shorter versions of the Dollar Pen. Click the headline for close-ups. 11cm capped.

Rollerball pens are nice because they use water-based fountain pen ink with a ballpoint writing tip. Our Parker Sonnet is a lovely blue and gold-plated pen with a box. The refill still writes a nice blue ink, but we have no idea how much ink remains. The pen saw a lot of action. The golden trim show a lot of light surface wear. The blue cap and barrel are still pretty nice. It would appear that the cap ring fell off at one point and was glued back on. You can see just a tiny line of glue puffing out between the cap ring and the blue cap. Nice, strong cap click action. 13.2cm capped.

Its imprint is faded, but we think we spy a 1951 date code on this Parker 51 fountain pen. There's a burgundy barrel with a gold filled cap. The cap looks pretty darned good, but you can see some big scars on the pen's hood. Click the headline for close-ups. Happily enough, the aerometric filler is still working great with its original pli-glass sac. You will write a nice smooth medium line with its 14k gold nib. There's a pearl-grey "jewel" on top of the cap. 13.7cm capped.