During the early 1940s Mabie Todd suffered heavily from wartime restrictions on pen output and produced a small range of 'unnumbered' pens, such as this Lever filler in marbled green. These pens are often known as 'austerity pens', a misleading term as many of the pens, such as this example, show no 'austere features' and are of the same standard that had secured Mabie Todd's reputation as a leading manufacturer of excellent, high quality pens.
At 12.6 cm. capped and an impressive 15.5 cm. posted this is a good sized pen in the English 1940s 'flat top' style. It is finished in a very attractive pearlised green marbled with black with Gold filled clip, lever, and twin cap bands.
The surface has a deep shine and the imprint is clear, as is the Swan logo on the end of the cap. The gold filling has held up well.
The filling system has been overhauled, it is easy to use and the large ink sac takes up a good volume of ink. The 14 Ct. Gold Swan Number 2 nib is straight and well aligned. It writes with a fine line and has a small, but pleasing amount of flex giving line variation and adding character to the writing.
Largely because of the restrictive forces at the time these early wartime Swan pens were only produced in low numbers and are now hard to find, particularly in such good condition and uncommon colour. Although highly collectable this pen would also serve well as an attractive and unusual vintage daily writer.