Fountain Pens with Nib Size: FLEXI

Golden Walnut wood makes for a very handsome version of the Conklin All American. Conklin describes the accents as rose gold, but we think they look more like copper. Either way, it looks great. No scratches or cracks. Numbered 318 of 1898. It comes with its original boxes and heavily stained--but working--converter. Click the headline for a close-up. Its steel nib has a blackening that is slightly scratched. It is marked as a flexible nib, but it is a pretty stiff flex-er. You can get a fine to 1mm line out of it, but it is a little on the scratchy side. 14.5cm capped.

French safety fillers are definitely something we know very little about. Click the headline for close-ups. This is a black, hard-rubber pen by the French company J.M. Paillard. It is the Semper model. Most of the chasing and imprint has been worn down. In the right light with magnification we can see the letters "LLARD" at the end of what would have been the imprint. The safety filler mechanism moves freely but doesn't lock. We couldn't test write with the 18k gold nib because it kept sliding back into the barrel. It seems flexible, but 18k nibs are notorious for being easy to "spring" or ruin. There is a really handsome brass after-market pocket clip on the cap. No cracks in the cap or barrel that we saw. Unrestored. Sold as is. 13.2cm 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.

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.

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.