Let's see your vintages and vintage resource information!

[shandy]

I am spurred on to start this thread by seeing Shangas's amazing Mabie Todd &Co "Swan" in this thread
http://www.rolexforums.com/showthread.php?t=119565

It would be great if you could explain why you like vintage pens and the reasons for some of your choices of pens. It would be great if those of us who are into vintage and all the gains to be had in owning vintage fountain pens could share this passion so that some of the folks who are new to fountain pens feel encouraged to dip their nib's(so to speak!) into the wonderful world of Vintage!

For my part Vintage is a part of my collection for various reasons. Firstly I love connecting with history and the people in it and I think there is no finer way than with Fountain pens and wristwatches.

Also, Economy! One can find exquisit restored vintage pens that will work as reliably as a modern cheap pen but have the quality of a very expensive modern pen very easily!
There are numerous Vendors of vintage fountain pens out there who will sell you a reliable, sturdy beautiful fountain pen for less than $150 that will be more than up to the task of daily writing!

Older pens often are made wonderful materials such as Casin (a milk protein) and Celluliod (Derived from Cotton) which produce the most amazing colours!

The nibs on older fountain pens tend to be of much higher quality and write so much better in my experience than a new pen of similar price!

Older pens will usually have a captive ink storage system so that you will need to use bottled ink. There are plenty of resources out there that show you how to use and fill the pens though so it is not as black an art as it first may seem!

Here is a list of some of the reliable sources of information and some sellers to get the ball rolling! Anyone who knows of other sites or folks please add them. It would be great to have a resource to helps folks navigate the vintage pen world

In no particular order of favorites! (Most are US based so folks from other countries please add sellers and repairers that you think are good from your countries so that we can make this more international!)

Aaron at Pentiques, he has a neat webcam so that you can watch him restore pens live!
http://pentiques.com/

Rick Conner at Penspotters is highly acknowledged in the vintage pen collecting community, you will find most of what you need to know here!
http://www.rickconner.net/penspotters/index.html

Ron Zorn, another amazing restorer!
http://www.mainstreetpens.com/

David Nishimura not only sells wonderful , rare vintage pens (out with the economy!) but his website is of huge value when it comes to information about pens.
I have linked to a page about how to fill various vintage fountain pens, all the different systems of filling but if you click on his name in the white box you will go to his main page!
http://www.vintagepens.com/filling_i...age_pens.shtml

That will get us going! As I said though, please add more links if you have them!

Just to whet your appetite for vintage here are some of mine!

My 1947 Parker Vacumatic in Golden pearl celluloid. This is a great starter vintage pen, mine was restored in immaculate and cost me $70! It is pictured with a Red perminite 1927 Parker Duofold Jr that is now being used and loved by a friend of mine!



Next. My conway Stewart 84 from the 1950's,this one is in Casin and has a beautiful pattern, this one will be traded this week for the Parker 51! This is a smaller pen,about the size of a MB Mozart!


One of my Fovorite pens.Parker senior special Duofold from 1926 Broad stub flexi factory original nib and a sheer joy to write with! (This pen is used every day!)


So come on folks, let's infect everyone with vintageitis!!

[Bisquitlips]

Great thread Ian.

This should be pinned at some point.

[rfknauss]

Ian, I enjoyed reading this thread very much. Thank you for sharing the info and great pens!

[shandy]

Originally Posted by Bisquitlips

Great thread Ian.

This should be pinned at some point.

Originally Posted by rfknauss

Ian, I enjoyed reading this thread very much. Thank you for sharing the info and great pens!

Thank you Richard and Richard!
I agree with you about it being pinned as it would be great to build a resource base for folks to be able to safely navigate the vintage waters! Now guy's don't be shy, show us your oldies

[2careless]

Thanks Ian! This is very useful information.
My main concern for not getting into vintage is on servicing. If something goes wrong with the piece, how/where do I get it fixed? Also, the value of vintage pieces can be quite subjective. I've seen varying conditions of MB 139 going for between $2k and $4k and for me I couldn't see the differences between the pieces. Probably that's the learning curve. It's much steeper than modern stuff.

[shandy]

Originally Posted by 2careless

Thanks Ian! This is very useful information.
My main concern for not getting into vintage is on servicing. If something goes wrong with the piece, how/where do I get it fixed? Also, the value of vintage pieces can be quite subjective. I've seen varying conditions of MB 139 going for between $2k and $4k and for me I couldn't see the differences between the pieces. Probably that's the learning curve. It's much steeper than modern stuff.

Hi Kai. Funnily enough the servicing aspect is actually one of the least things to worry about. There are so many Pen restorers out there that can bring back to life even the most esoteric of pens!

Remember as well that when these pens were made they were the only choice out there so there was a huge amount of competion which upped the quality game hugely. The large pen companies had litterally millions to lose if they brought out a bad pen, That is not to say there are not duffers out there but sticking to the well known stuff you should be safe!

As for pricing, whilst I can't comment on the ones you mention what I have found with vintage pens is that it can be the smallest detail of variance in manufacturing that can increase the price. For instance with Parkers 51 there are several models that to the untrained eye look no different but they are much rarer due to limited runs, I am thinking of the red band 51's in particular.

This is where a part of the fun of vintage comes in and that is researching about particular models. The sites I have included are some of the best for detailed information but there are many more out there!

This is why I would love folks from other countries contributing so that we have a clearer picture of who the good sellers and restorers are out there around the globe.

I know the chap I use here in Canada has a huge resource of spare parts and it is amazing how many companies thrive on making new parts for old pens.
This is one of the myths that I wanted to dispel with this thread so folks like yourself feel confident in going the vintage route as there are so many wonderful pens that write amazingly from the old days!

I believe this one in your neck of the woods is very good!
http://www.vintagepens.com.au/

Hope that helps, your collection needs some vintage MB

[daveathall]

Originally Posted by Bisquitlips

Great thread Ian.

This should be pinned at some point.

Agreed.

[Shangas]

Good grief, Shandy! You may regret this! I've got dozens of vintage pens to show!

Here's my latest pen, and the inspiration for this thread:



Conversely, it is also my earliest pen! Ca. 1880.

I also have several other pens...



^A dip-pen from around the same period^


^A TINY selection of my vintage & modern pens.^ From left to right, going up from the bottom:

- Sheaffer Targa FP & BP set (inherited from parents:)...no, they're still alive, don't worry).
- Parker '51' Flighter, ca. 1949, in Parker '51' box.
- Montblanc Meisterstuck FP & BP set (another thing from my dad).
- Caran D'Ache Varius Snakewood (right, at the back). Not vintage, just nice.
- Ca. 1950s Conway Stewarts (box is not original to pens, but is CS nonetheless). CS Model 70 (green one) and CS Model 58 (darker one).
- Matching set of Parker '51' Aeros, ca 1950s + Parker '51' box.


^The pens in this photograph are my 1925 Wahl Art Deco VP fountain pen and my 1922 Wahl Art Deco OS fountain pen. They both work splendidly. The watch is my ca. 1957 Ball railroad chronometer.

The majority of my collection (modern & vintage). Some of these pens, you have seen in other photographs:




Until yesterday, the BCHR 1914 Conklin Crescent-Filler (second photo, black pen on the right) was the oldest pen I owned. That's now been outclassed by my Swan!!

[shandy]

Now this is what I am talking about! What a stunning Collection Shangas. I think I have the same Conway Stewart as you, well at least the same casine colour!

You have an amazing collection. I particulary love the early pens and thank you for showing us your newest and how it writes, it really is beautiful!

It would be great if you could share with us what resources there are in Australia for vintage collectors, any good ones that you would recommend both is sales and repair.
My hat is off to you, that is one of the finest vintage collections I have ever seen and please keep showing us more!

[Lion]

Ian, thanx for starting the thread, I'm really getting hooked on pens and vintage ones would fit right in....maybe you could ask Steve to start a Sticky for pen sources new and old!!!

[Shangas]

Hi Shandy,

Fortunately, I live in Melbourne, which is like, Pen City Australia. We've got plenty of places to find pens.

I can personally recommend:

Tafts: The Pen People.
The Pen Place.
Pen City.
Melbourne Vintage Pens.
Classy Paperie.
Pepe's Paperie.
Old Post Office Pens.

I have had personal dealings with Pen City, Classy Paperie and Melbourne Vintage Pens (they're all wonderful people) as well as the folks at the Melbourne Pen Club (which I'm also a member of).

I learnt basic fountain pen servicing and repairs and nibwork so that I could broaden my collection and fix it myself if it breaks. I can do basic repairs such as realigning nibs, smoothing nibs, cleaning pens, disassembling them, changing ink sacs and pressure bars and other stuff like that.

[shandy]

Originally Posted by Lion

Ian, thanx for starting the thread, I'm really getting hooked on pens and vintage ones would fit right in....maybe you could ask Steve to start a Sticky for pen sources new and old!!!

That's a great idea Leo

Originally Posted by Shangas

Hi Shandy,

Fortunately, I live in Melbourne, which is like, Pen City Australia. We've got plenty of places to find pens.

I can personally recommend:

Tafts: The Pen People.
The Pen Place.
Pen City.
Melbourne Vintage Pens.
Classy Paperie.
Pepe's Paperie.
Old Post Office Pens.

I have had personal dealings with Pen City, Classy Paperie and Melbourne Vintage Pens (they're all wonderful people) as well as the folks at the Melbourne Pen Club (which I'm also a member of).

I learnt basic fountain pen servicing and repairs and nibwork so that I could broaden my collection and fix it myself if it breaks. I can do basic repairs such as realigning nibs, smoothing nibs, cleaning pens, disassembling them, changing ink sacs and pressure bars and other stuff like that.

Shangas, that is great information, thank you! Another reason for me to visit Melbourne sometime

[Shangas]

Tafts, The Pen Place, Pen City, Classy Paperie and Pepe's Paperie are all actual shops. MVP & O P/O Pens are online businesses. Melbourne Vintage Pens USED to have a shop, but due to the long way away that the owner (a very nice man named Peter Ford who it has been an absolute pleasure to meet) lived from the shop, he closed it, and now runs an online business. They can be reached at: www.vintagepens.com.au

PS - I posted in my Swan thread with an update.

[2careless]

Thanks Shangas for the list of shops in Mellbourne.
Classy Papiere is like 5 minutes from my place. They have a good collection of papers but sadly no pens. I have tried to visit Pen Place at Queen St but they only open M-F...

I've bought from Tafts, Pen City and Pepe's Paperie. Good B&M shops and great advice, however, they don't discount.

I was in one of these shops over the weekend for a Lamy Pico blue ballpen. I was quoted A$120. I bought one in London for 25 pounds and can find new ones in ebay for like USD40-45 easily.
I mean, I would want to support local sellers, but I don't like to be taken for a ride.

I'll check out Peter's site. We had a good discussion on vintage pens during last year's Melbourne Pen show.

As for buying pens online, I've had very good experience with:
FPH - www.fountainpenhospital.com
Pentime - www.pentime.net

and a few traders in FPN. Ebay is hit and miss most of the times but I have found a couple of trustworthy sellers too.

[Shangas]

You were at the Melb Pen Show last year? You probably saw me. Young man with black hair, glasses and a gold pocket watch and chain.

Peter is indeed a wonderful gentleman. Very helpful. The Classy Paperie near my house stocks MonteVerde fountain pens. It's located on Camberwell Road, Camberwell, just south of the Rivoli Cinema (itself a marvellous vintage icon from the 1940s!)

[2careless]

Hmm, I'll have to check Classy Paperie out again. I didn't notice they had pens there back when they opened last August. Yes, we're referring to the same store.

Steve (lol-x) and I went to the Mel Pen show last year, where we met Chris and the boss got hooked with BBB nibs.

[Shangas]

I visited CP last month, they have a nice array of papers, sealing-waxes, seals and fountain pens.

Okay, the fountain pen range is a bit limited, but they have NICE stuff for what they do have.