The Wyvern Factory was based in Leicester but, by around 1910 the company had opened a London branch to capitalise on their growing reptutation. It was here that King George V bought his first Wyvern.
This is a very rare example of an early Wyvern No.10 eyedropper. It seems odd to describe such an ancient pen as 'new old stock', but this pen is in mint condition, as is the original box. There is no trace of ink, even in the fine grooves in the feed and the lined pattern shows no sign of wear. the stam on the nib is feint, I think this is likely to be the result of over zealous nib polishing by a previous owner. Wyvern used bought in warranted nibs at the time, they didn't start producing their own until about ten years later.
The packaging matches perfectly with the pen, even down to the slip confirming that the pen had been leak tested with water before leaving the factory. As the hard rubber shows no signs of the brown patina so often associated with hard rubber pens it seems that the pen would have been kept in the box throughoutits life. The eyedropper bulb has hardened with age and broken but it is almost certainly originaland should be kept with the pen.
Early Wyvern eyedroppers are extremely hard to find and a mint example such as this is a real rarity.