All Pens and Ephemera

Vintage pencils make math and crossword puzzles way more fun. Take this Sheaffer 400 pencil for example. It is an early devotee of the .9mm lead. You advance and retract it with a simple twist of the tail cap. It has some wear from use, but most of us do after 80 years. The worst of it is a few little scratches in the nose cone, which you can see in the photo. The carmine red pattern is one of the rarer color schemes from this era. The clip is on tightly. It no longer has its eraser, but it comes with a spare lead. 13.3cm.

Add some beauty and style to your desk with this porcelain inkwell with a floral design. Click the headline, and you can see that you lift the lid of the inkwell by the yellow rose to dip and fill your pen. A reserve dish behind the inkwell portion is for stamps, back when your could tear them from a perforated sheet and had to lick them. No cracks or chips mar the porcelain, but the gold piping along the edges is worn or missing in many places. There is what likely was part of a maker's mark on the bottom in the gold paint for the edging, but it, too, is mostly missing and indistinguishable. The flowers are all perfect. We dont't actually know when this was made, but the design suggests it might have been for a dip pen, yet the floral pattern seems a little more modern, which is why we guess the 1920s. However, we are not experts on porcelain inkwells and it could be earlier or later. International shipping might require more money than the site will ask. L: 14cm X W: 8cm X H: 7.5cm.

Perfection is difficult to achieve in vintage pens, but this 1940 Oversize Parker Vacumatic gets close. No cracks, only light wear and incredible barrel clarity with celluloid that is on the light orange-dark yellow spectrum. No brassing. A feint barrel imprint. Close to perfect two-tone plating for the 14k gold nib. (Click the headline for a close-up.) YET, as you can see on the main photo, the name "James A. Kunkel" is engraved on the barrel. We looked up the name, and there are too many James Kunkels to know who owned this specific pen. You'll write an extra-fine line that is a bit dry but can sometimes look fine. Restored and in great working order. Museum worthy rare burgundy...yet, still a good writer. 13.5cm capped.

In 1936, Fred & Ginger lit up the silver screen in the classic "Swingtime," King Edward VIII abdicated the British throne to marry an American divorcé, television broadcasts first began, Jesse Owens showed up the Nazis in Berlin, Joe DiMaggio was a rookie, FDR won a second term and this Parker Vacumatic standard set in burgundy was made. It was an elegant era, and this pen in many respects marks the pinnacle of art deco design. This particular set is in excellent condition. No cracks, maybe 1% brassing, no scratches, restored and working. Its two-tone 14k has some cosmetic issues. Click the headline to see close-ups. It writes an extra-fine line with a little flex but not much. The matching pencil works great in excellent condition and comes with spare 1.1mm leads. Pen measures 12.8cm capped.

We aren't sure what Conklin called this pinstriped pencil made of rolled gold, but it is a very handsome taste of the 1920s. It is marked "Patented July 6, 1920." We suspect is was made a couple years later. This pen is a little more slender than the 4B and 5V models, but it is the same length. New Old Stock, it is dent and damage free. Twist the nose cone to advance and retract the 1.1mm lead. Pull off the tail blind cap to reveal a hardened eraser. Unscrew the eraser to reveal some spare leads. 13.3cm capped.

Roaring back into the light from the 1920s is this sterling silver Waterman pencil with the Sheraton design. It is new old stock with minimal traces of wear. The lead advances with a twist of the plastic nose cone. None of these pencils actually retracts the lead when twisting the other way. It needs to be pushed in. However, the lead seems pretty snug in the pencil. Unscrew the tail cap to reveal the spare leads. 13.1cm capped.

Vintage ink collectors will love this complete Parker Superchrome ink bottle set. Included is a 4-oz. bottle of blue ink (dried out) and the special tin that it rested in. Superchrome was a brilliant and beautiful ink that was far more vibrant than standard inks of the era. However, it was only intended for the Parker 51 with the "pli-glass" ink sacs. That which made it so vibrant was highly acidic and tore through normal ink sacs very quickly, ruining many old pens in the 1940s and '50s. It was discontinued due to its corrosive nature. We've seen a lot of Superchrome bottles over the year but this is one of the first we've seen to come complete with its tin. The tin shows a little rust and wear in places, but it isn't all that bad. EXTRA SHIPPING CHARGES MIGHT APPLY DUE TO THE SIZE AND WEIGHT.

A brace of woodgrain Wahl desk pens is ideal for the person with the rare 2-pen desk base that is missing its pens. We restored each with a new ink sac, and we are stunned at how minimal their wear is. No cracks, no chips, no scratches! The gold-plated trim rings and levers have some corrosion or gunk or brassing that won't polish out for us. Click their headline for a closer look at the whole pens and the nibs. The more vibrant, front desk pen comes with a 14k gold "Wahl Signature Pen" nib that writes a fine-medium line nicely with a little feedback. The duller-finished back pen sports a "Wahl 6 14k" nib that writes a blissfully smooth wet medium-broad line. The back pen measures 22cm and the front pen measures 21.8cm.