News — Vintage Fountain Pen

Wyvern were one of the few English pen makers to produce a combination pen, the combination being a fountain pen and a mechanical pencil in one body.  the americans were quite keen on theae but they never really caught on in the U.K. This is a quite robust and good sized affair made around 1920. Not the prettiest writing device I've ever seen but it is was really quite practical at a time when handwritin gand sketching played a more important part in peoples' lives than it does today.  I can imagine a busy 1920s technocrat using one of these,...

The Parker 75 Diamante is a gloriously opulent 75.  The Cisele crosshatch squares are topped with a pyramid to give the diamond effect and the whole thing is coated in 23Ct. Gold: The facets on the squares give the pen a light reflecting quality which justifies the name of the pen, a diamond.  This is evident when the Diamante is compared to the much less scarce Parker 75 Cisele Insignia, in this case the 'deep cut' later version:

The term 'Pocket Pen' is slightly confusing as, it could be argued, that any pen with a clip is designed to fasten to a pocket so is, almost by definition, a pocket pen. This is not merely a semantic issue though.  The fact is that many pens were much longer than the average pocket and a true 'pocket sized pen' was likely to be too short to appeal to a wide market. The ingenious solution, pioneered by the Japanese company, Pilot, was to make a pen with a very long cap and section, which would 'overlap' when capped, and a short...

I saw this for sale recently and remembered an article by Deb Gibson, in her excellent 'Goodwriters Pen' blog.  I thought it was, perhaps a couple of years ago but it was, actually, April 2014! How time flies.  Deb was less than complimentary about the pen, so much so that I decided, at the time, that I had to have one for my 'odd pen collection'.  So, nine years later.... Here it is: I'm so pleased that I managed to snag a fountain pen/ballpoint set, I think that, for sheer awfullness, the ballpoint comes out on top. The pens are machined...

It's hard to ignore artificial intelligence these days, so I thought I'd put it to the test.  I entered 'Poem about vintage fountain pens' into an AI server and it immediately came back with: In days of old, when words were bold, And pens were made with care, The fountain pen was king of all, And none could quite compare.   Its nib was smooth as silk it seemed, As thoughts flowed to the page, Ink spilling forth like liquid dreams, A timeless, handwritten age.   The barrel, oft adorned with gems, Or polished to a sheen, Its curves and...