Fountain Pens – PenLore

Aikin Lambert

Aikin Lambert Pen Company 1864-1932 Started out in 1864 in New York …initially a maker of gold dip pen nibs…offered their first fountain pens around the 1890’s…the majority of Aikin Lambert pens are of high quality. They made many very beautiful sterling silver and gold filled overlay pens. Many are very similar to the early Waterman’, I have some very beautiful Aikin Lambert overlays in my collection. As a matter of fact A/L made many of Waterman pencils until about 1920. In 1932 A/L merged with the Waterman Pen Company…an A/L is a nice addition to your collection, and harder to fine that a Parker or Waterman of the same circa.

Carter Pen Company, 1926-1931

Founded by John W. Carter in Boston, Massachusetts in 1857…later became known as the Carter Ink Company. Carter was best known for his ink products but made very nice pens during the 1920’s and 30’s. Fountain pens were first made by Carter around 1926 with what is thought to be the patents and stock parts of the extinct Laughlin Pen Company. Carter pens came in very unusual colors that were not used by other manufacturers, such being unusual shades of green, blue, orange, and white pearl. The Depression made it hard for Carter to sell pens and thus he left the pen business and focused solely on ink products.

Conway Stewarts

Probably the most popular English pens and pencils of all time, Conway Stewarts were marketed between 1905 and 1977. During that time many hundreds of different models were manufactured,in a dazzling array of varying colours, patterns and styles – ranging from the small lever-filler “Dinkies” to the very large button-filler “Duro” pens.

Many of the models featured here date from the period just after the second-world war, when production was re-started with the No.55 and 286 pens. In 1949 the now familiar more ‘streamlined’ look was introduced with the No.28 and 58 models, and these were soon followed by many others (including 12,14,15, 24,27,60,75,388…)with the now sought-after herringbone patterns being introduced in 1957,and only manufactured for the next three or so years.

Beautifully made, these pens are not just desirable collectors’ items – they are also a delight to use.

Omas

Armando Simoni was born in 1891 near Bologan, Italy – By 1919 he was making spare parts for the various pens produced by the leading pen companies of the day – He register his trademark in 1925, Omas (Officina Meccanicha Anrmado Simoni – Omas acquired a very large supply of celluloid which was had to find at the time – The first Omas Pens were offered to the public in 1927 – Today Omas is one of the very best Italian pen manufactures, well know for it’s excellent nibs and pens.

Onoto

Onoto pens were manufactured in the United Kingdom by the firm of Thomas de la Rue – between the late 1800’s and 1958. Their models were so popular during the early part of the 20th Century that they were simply known as “The Pen”.
The unique plunger-filling system was used between 1910 and the late 1940’s, though they also made side-lever fillers from 1924 onwards. The flagship “Magnas”, with their transparent striated caps and barrels are now sought after by specialist collectors.
For an excellent selection of Onoto Pens
Visit Writetime’s site…”click here”

Parkers’ Numbering System

A note on Parkers numbering scheme: It’s not much of a scheme. The digit one finds on many barrels and some nibs (from the Vacs to the early 51 Aerometrics) indicates the year the part was manufactured. So the barrel of the pen above was made in (the third quarter of) ’47. The digit is often accompanied by one, two, or three dots; at the beginning of a year, dies which imprinted a number were given three dots and after each quarter, a dot was removed from the die. Thus, three dots indicates first quarter … no dots, last quarter. (Thanks to Kit Chu for clearing up my misunderstanding of the dots.)…Courtesy, of Vincent Fatica.
Parker

Did you know:
When Parker Pen marketed a ball-point pen in Mexico, its ads were supposed to say “It won’t leak in your pocket and embarrass you.” However, the company mistakenly thought the Spanish word “embarazar” meant embarrass. Instead the ads said that “It wont leak in your pocket and make you pregnant.”

Wahl – Eversharp

The Wahl Adding Machine Co. purchased the Ever-Sharp mechanical pencil company in 1914. Soon after, they began producing fountain pens under the Wahl name having purchased the Boston Pen Co. In 1941, Wahl changed the name of the entire company to Eversharp. Eversharp found itself short of the capital needed to compete with giants Parker and Sheaffer; in 1957 it was absorbed by Parker, which continued for a time to produce pens under the Eversharp name as its economy line. Ironically, the Wahl company still exists making barber tools.

By the mid 1940’s Eversharp too was in deep financial trouble because they spent so much on emerging ballpoint pen technology. Eversharp tried to switch back to fountain pens but by 1948 it was too late. In 1957, Eversharp sold its pen division to Parker Pen and their assets were finally liquidated in the 1960’s.

Eversharp The Finest Writing Instruments

Yard-o-Led

In 1822, the first ever propelling pencil was invented and patented by Sampson Mordan. Through into the next century, the family-run business continued to develop the unique design of carrying twelve three-inch leads inside the barrel, and it is from this feature that the name evolved – Yard-o-Led.

In 1934 the Yard-o-Led Company was founded and has continued the traditions of craftsmanship and excellence established over 150 years ago.

Influenced by the original designs of the 19th and 20th centuries, the range of writing instruments has expanded to include ballpens, fountain pens and rollerball pens alongside the traditional propelling pencil, each handcrafted from hall marked sterling silver of gold, and carrying a lifetime guarantee.

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