Vintage Pens

You can't get much closer to perfection on the hard rubber cap and barrel on a rare Sheaffer 41 Autograph model pen than this. Its chasing and imprint are as crisp as the day it was made. Zero chocolate hazing. Its 41 imprint in the flat tail has orange paint or chalk in it, which apparently isn't original. Not a trace of brassing on its extra-wide gold-plated cap band, clip and lever. The ONLY flaw is the teeniest, tiniest little dimple a 25% turn to the left of the clip in the center of the cap band. That's it, and you'll miss it if you don't specifically look for it. Our vintage pen is fully restored with a new ink sac. It has a replacement 14k gold Lifetime nib without the serial number AND an original spear-point inkfeed. You will write a fine line with a little feedback, but we don't think most people will be making such a beautiful specimen a frequent writer. It is an impressive vintage pen, especially in this condition. Click the headline for close-ups. 13.5cm capped.

Classy, elegant, sophisticated. Dip pen fans will love this sterling silver repousse antique pen. We suspect it comes from around the turn of the 20th century. It could be older. The holder is marked "Sterling," but there is no formal branding. Ergo, we don't know who made it. There are a couple little marks on the pen, and one of the silver edges where the nib goes in has split just a teeny-tiny amount. We included a "new" Esterbrook Bronze Falcon 048 nib, which is NOS. You will write a firm, smooth line from extra-fine to about 1mm. This is semi-flex and far from a wet noodle. Click the headline for close-ups. Yes, our cat is holding the pen down for a nib close-up, and, no, he is not for sale with the pen. 18.5cm.

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.

Almost perfect but not quite. Check out the beautiful pearl-and-black celluloid on this Canadian Parker Duofold Jr. set. You can see some traces of the brown discoloration that got started in this vintage pen, but it isn't nearly as bad as most of these pens that I've seen. The inside of this cap is so clean, we're not sure the pen was ever used. It has been restored with a new ink sac. No cracks, major blemishes or brassing. Light wear if any. Click the headline to see a close-up of the original 14k gold nib. You can barely see it in the photo but there is a hairline crack just to the right or top of the "B" in the photo and it works its way up to the top bar of the "E" in "Pen." You will write a smooth medium line. Its matching pencil has perfect color but much more wear, and it doesn't work.

Sheaffer Demonstrator pens from the 1920s and '30s turn up so rarely, this might be your one chance in a lifetime to get this pen. You can see the cut outs made into the barrel of this rare vintage pen. Sheaffer Dealers and pen reps would have these pens to showcase how a Sheaffer pen works on the inside. You can see this pen has been fully restored with a new ink sac. It is great to see this pen working through the filling and recapping cycles. The trim shows a little brassing, and there is some light wear on this pen. You will write a medium line with its 14k gold Lifetime nib. It has an early 1930s inkfeed.

Do you wish your vintage grail pen came with a Japanese extra-fine nib? This 1939 Parker Vacumatic Maxima gets pretty close to Japanese extra-fine with the right paper. It is a beautiful silver pearl design with tolerable barrel clarity with ambering. No cracks, no scratches, no significant wear. It comes with a fresh diaphragm and a clean imprint and top and bottom silver pearl design jewels. There's monotone 14k gold nib. Click the headline for close-ups. Great aluminum speedline filler. Its only flaw seems to be the darkened metal trim around the blind-cap jewel. 13.6cm capped.

Senior-sized Parker Duofolds with a wide cap band, such as this one, don't come along every day. In fact, they might only come along once or twice a lifetime, if you're lucky. We have one such beauty right here, and it has no cracks under the cap band. It is gorgeous with a deep Lucky Curve imprint, too! Fully restored with a new ink sac, its only flaw appears to be a thin sliver of brassing on the cap band. Click the headline for a close-up. This is a permanite model not the red hard rubber. Still, it is a great treat. There's a "Christmas tree" inkfeed and a 14k gold nib. You'll write a very nice medium line. Fairly crisp milling on the end caps, too! 13.9cm capped.

Parker VP meant Very Personal. The revolutionary developments for this pen included an ergonomic grip for the fountain pen and a nib and feed that could be rotated to better accommodate for the grip and getting the nib to write from any angle. These are rarer pens, as they only made VPs for a couple years. It led to the monumental success of the Parker 75. This teal colored vintage pen has a major problem in its barrel. Click the headline for a close-up to see the 1.5cm crack in the barrel where it threads into the section. Basically, the crack is bad and makes the pen unstable to write with...without making the crack worse. This is a shame, as the aerometric filler unit is in great condition. In most VPs, this is the rare part that is whole. Its 14k gold nib writes a very smooth broad line. 13.8cm capped.