All Pens and Ephemera

Arguments might be had about whether this Sheaffer Balance comes with an extra-fine nib or an accountant nib. Whatever it is, no one will mistake this 14k gold nib for a fine, medium or broad. It is a sharp #3 nib that has a little feedback, too. We restored this vintage pen with a new ink sac. No cracks nor brassing. But light wear from use. Long and slender, it looks good with Sheaffer's golden-brown striated design. Click the headline for close-ups. 14cm capped.

Basic is best, sometimes. The simple magic of a Pelikan Souveran M200 is its ease of filling, attractive design and quality nib. We love the shimmering green design that reminds us of the Northern Lights. You'll find the piston operating smoothly. No cracks or significant wear, except for some spots the golden element of the nib is fading. Click the headline for close-ups. The Pelikan logo on the cap topper has a clean imprint of a mama pelican and two chicks nicely filled with gold. You will write a nice fine line with its nib, which does have a little feedback. 12.7cm capped.

We like to call these nibs "farmers' specials." Click the headline for close-ups. When I was just getting started, I bought a Parker pen with a custom ground nib from the 1930s. All the tipping was gone and the nib had likely been broken in a drop. The farmer or handyman fashioned the remaining nib into a smooth writing affair, as it was too expensive to get the pen fixed during the Great Depression. This nib looks just like that. It is a smooth, wet and triple-broad firehose. The pen is a fully restored Parker Challenger Deluxe from 1935. No cracks, some wear and brassing. We gave it a new ink sac. Slender. 11.8cm capped.

New to vintage pens and looking for a reliable daily user? Old to vintage pens and looking for a reliable daily user? Either way, this Parker 51 Special is a reliable daily user. Burgundy with a polished steel cap, it is a handsome pen with only light wear from use and neither cracks nor dents. Its aerometric filler is original and working well. Specials are different from standard 51s in that they have steel nibs. However, this pen writes as smooth an extra-fine to fine line as any gold nib. There is a black jewel in the top of the cap. 13.9cm capped.

Since the dawn of wet ink, people have been looking for ways to keep their supply of it safe while traveling. We are thinking that some time in the 1940s or '50s, when aluminum became more available, the folks at "Stephen's" created this special metal case for a bottle of ink. Both ends screw together to create a protective shell for a glass bottle of ink. We do not have the original bottle, but we found this included bottle that fits better than most. Click the headline for close ups. There is a dent in the top under the name "Stephens." The rest of the casing shows wear from use.

Bonjour! Meet an impressive vintage pen from France. This is the Gold Starry 237. It is an oversized safety filler from either the 19-teens or '20s. The seals on this pen are long gone, and it will leak all over the place if you try to fill it. However, we fixed its advance and retract mechanism with a little Yankee ingenuity. It definitely wasn't how it was done at the factory, but it works. You can twist the tail knob to advance or retract its large 18k gold nib. You can still write with this pen on a dip. It writes a medium line, if you don't gently engage its semi-flex super powers. However you can get a fine to nearly 1mm wide line, if you are careful and slow. We believe the accessory pocket clip to be made of sterline silver, though it is not marked silver. Aside from a little chip in the lip of the cap, this pen is in great cosmetic condition. Click the headline for close-ups. 12cm capped.

Few cheap pens really impress us much, but our Parker Reflex definitely surprised us. We found its steel nib to be a very smooth fine-point writer. The wider rubberized grip made for easy holding and writing, too. The 1990s successor to the Parker Vector, this pen is in great condition with minimal wear. It takes Parker cartridges or converters, but it comes with neither. Ya can't beat the price, though. 14.1cm capped.

Made in the late 1940s or 1950s, we believe this to be a Danish Parker Duofold. Not the most common of finds here in the U.S., it is a fully restored pen with a new ink sac. It has a button filler just like the Parker VS pens in the U.S. It feels like a Vacumatic Maxima in size. No cracks. There is some wear from use and brassing on the clip. You will write a smooth nib that just when we think it writes a fine line...it writes a medium line. Whatever it is, we love writing with it. 13.6cm capped.