pen classics

Pen Museum

rodger — Sun, 05 May 2013 22:40:00 +0000

Birmingham Pen Museum The Pen Room On a recent visit to the UK, I spent a fascinating morning in the Birmingham pen museum, also known as the Pen Room! It’s incredibly interesting to a pen lover and is hard to comprehend the scale of production when it was at its height. I was told, although …

Conway Stewart

rodger — Sat, 23 Feb 2013 04:25:51 +0000

Conway Stewart Pens Here are some of my Conway Stewart Fountain Pens, the CS 107 looks a bit incongruous. A few more of my Conway Stewart Pens……. From the left, the first three peaked top pens from the 1940s are 55 with a Duro nib, then a 47 from Australia, also with a Duro …

Kenrick Jefferson

rodger — Sat, 23 Feb 2013 03:11:36 +0000

Kenrick Jefferson This an interesting pen. Kenrick Jefferson was a large Office Supply Company based in West Bromwich in the Midlands of England. It isn’t known for certain who made their pens, but some collectors consider that it may have been Mabie Todd. Their nibs weren’t particularly flexible as they seem to have been …

Parker 45

rodger — Tue, 19 Feb 2013 00:26:23 +0000

Parker 45 Pen The Parker 45 has been around for quite a bit longer than most people realise. They were actually launched in 1960, although I don’t remember seeing them in the early 60s….. those were my Parker 51 years. Apparently they initially launched as a budget fountain pen, partially aimed at school children, although …

TWSBI Vac 700

rodger — Sun, 17 Feb 2013 02:13:38 +0000

TWSBI Twsbi Fountain Pen This is my latest acquisition, no. it’s not a TWSBI Diamond, it’s the latest top of the range TWSBI VAC 700. TWSBI Pen Well I’ve owned the big Twsbi for a couple of months now and although there are lots of reviews on the net I want to briefly set out …

Targa by Sheaffer

rodger — Mon, 14 May 2012 03:37:29 +0000

Sheaffer Targa It was launched in 1978 as ‘Targa by Sheaffer’ and named after a famous Italian (Sicily) Road race (as was the Porsche Targa) and never known as the Sheaffer Targa. Apparently it was originally named the Genesis but changed to Targa because of concerns that sales in the Middle East may suffer …

Ranga Pen

rodger — Tue, 17 Apr 2012 20:22:50 +0000

Ebonite Pen This a handmade pen that I’ve just taken delivery of and has an eye dropper filling system . It came in very interesting packaging….in fact it is a very interesting pen!!! More to follow Basics….Hand turned from hard rubber, also known as Ebononite and in the past as Vulcanite. Length …

Sheaffer Flat Top

rodger — Tue, 03 Apr 2012 20:29:31 +0000

Sheaffer Lifetime The Sheaffer Flat Tops introduced in 1912 were made from hard rubber but it wasn’t until 1924 that the first plastic ones were produced. If my research is correct, this material was Radite, a partially nitrated celluloid. Jade green was one of the more popular colors and …

Sailor Reglus

rodger — Mon, 02 Apr 2012 01:40:03 +0000

Japanese Pens New Zealand Sailor Pens New Zealand Sailor Industrial Revolution Sailor as everyone knows are known for the quality of their nibs Maybe I should try a Sailor fine nib, I thought, one from their current production A vintage Sailor from the 1970s is my only other fine point nib from this maker, having …

Sailor Somiko

rodger — Thu, 29 Mar 2012 21:10:55 +0000

Sailor Somiko Sometimes you come across an unheralded pen that seems to tick most of the boxes….maybe the Sailor Somiko is one of those pens.The one that I bought a couple of years ago is black with gold trim and a gold plated steel ZOOM Nib. I would be the first to admit that it’s …