Conklin
Pens and Ephemera

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.

You don't find chasing this crispy on pens from the 1920s on a regular basis. However, our Conklin 40P crescent-filler looks almost like it rolled off the assembly line yesterday. The only problem with it is a dent in the gold-filled topper tassie. Originally intended to be worn on a necklace or watch fob this short vintage pen is a powerhouse. We restored it with a new ink sac. The crescent device has "Conklin" written on one side and "Crescent" written on the other side. It has a nice size 4 14k gold nib that writes a smooth extra-fine line. Happily enough, it has a little flex, too. Click the headline for close-ups. 11cm capped.

Genius squared! That is what this modern Conklin Mark Twain fountain pen is. The first wave of genius was resurrecting the Conklin brand and Crescent filler, which is what this pen is. The second wave of genius was from the guy we got this from who replaced the modern nib and feed with a vintage Conklin Endura nib and feed! The feed doesn't fit properly in a technical sense, but it still works. It is just a little too long. You will write a firm medium line with a hint of feedback. This color pattern is called "peanut butter." The pen is in great working order, and looks like it is in mint condition, excluding its nib alteration. Comes with original box and papers. 14cm capped.

In the 1930s, Conklin and Sheaffer each developed a piston filling mechanism that required just a single stroke piston with a gasket on it to create vacuum pressure to fill a pen's entire barrel with ink. It was a revolutionary design. Conklin called its pen the Conklin Nozac. Some of the pens were imprinted with an ingenious gimmick of a word gauge to show how many words were left in the pen before a refill. This limited edition recreation of that pen is a beautiful, oversized masterpiece. Tiny silver flecks look like stars in the night sky of this translucent blue and amber fountain pen. Numbered only 110 of 898, the word gauge purports to hold 7 million words per refill. We have not tested that gauge's accuracy, but we did test fill it with water and it works well. The insides are a little stained from past blue ink. You will write a smooth medium line with its 18k gold nib. Minimal wear. Complete with boxes and papers. Click the headline for a close up. 14.8cm capped.

Bronze and black flecks glitter in the light of this Conklin Endura pencil. In great working order, you'll smoothly advance and retract the 1.1 lead with a twist of the tail piece. You can still see yellow accent paint in the rings around the celluloid. The imprint is still legible. There isn't much brassing. However, there are scratches on the nose cone and bite marks on the tail. Spare leads are under the tail cap. 12.2cm.

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.