Writing Equipment Society Journal

Journal of the Writing Equipment Society No 94 Summer 2012

www.wesonline.org.uk

Since 1934

www.yardoled.com .yardoled

CONTENTS 2 EDITORIAL

30 FROM PENS TO PARTICLE PHYSICS BRANDAUER’S ROYAL VISIT

4 IMPORTANT DATES FOR YOUR DIARY 6 CHAT FROM THE CHAIR BEWARE THE REPAIR! 8 THE LA PEN SHOW GETTING BIGGER AND BETTER EVERY YEAR

31 NEW NAKA-AI PEN URUSHI PEN FROM TOKYO 32 THE STAMP BOX STUDY CIRCLE AUTUMN 2011 MEETING

12 HAPPY 70TH BIRTHDAY ETERPEN ‘ETERNAL WRITING’ BORN IN 1942

36 THE BONZO FOUNTAIN PEN THE DOG THAT LAUNCHED A THOUSAND THINGS

14 FROM TOURNAI TO FLOREFFE 1904–1929 NIB MAKERS IN BELGIUM?

40 A PEN IS FOR LIFE NOT JUST FOR CHRISTMAS

42 BOOK REVIEW WESTERN WRITING IMPLEMENTS 16 JACK ROW THE FABULOUS ARCHITECT COLLECTION 18 HOW TO WIN A PEN IN A US STORE LOTTERY AN UNUSUAL POP 20 THE LAUNCH OF THE BLACKBIRD FOUNTAIN PEN IN 1910 A TEASER CAMPAIGN

44 ZAIT PENS IN 1920 NIKOLAY PETROV BEGAN MAKING PENS . . .

46 BOOK REVIEW PENOL PENS AND PENCILS

Journal of the Writing Equipment Society No 94 Summer 2012

www.wesonline.org.uk

22 AN UNWANTED GIFT THE QUEEN MOTHER GAVE IT AWAY

Cover photograph of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II using a Parker 51.

24 ONOTO A SUCCESS STORY

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EDITORIAL So, now we know, the writing is not on the wall for the fountain pen, ballpoint or pencil. Early in May, Christopher Howse wrote a small article in the Daily Telegraph mourning the demise of the pencil. One of the replies, from Tony Mayston, asked a simple question, “When did you last see someone using a fountain pen?”

This prompted an enormous response, which filled the DT editor’s post-bag for the rest of the month. A selection of the replies can be found on page 23.

Thank you to John Hall and Brian George for alerting me to this minor avalanche of correspondence.

This renewed interest in writing equipment encouraged the BBC to contact me whilst I was on holiday in America, to ask my views and invite me to contribute to an editorial piece that they placed on their website.

WES is alive and kicking in Jubilee year.

So, as we look forward to a summer of sport, don’t forget to book your day out in London on Saturday 6 October. I am looking forward to seeing you at the LWEShow at the Bloomsbury Holiday Inn.

www.wesonline.org.uk PRESIDENT HONORARY LIFE MEMBER Dr Maureen Greenland Trade Liaison Officer Charles Whitehead

Teresa Shepherd design@wesonline.org.uk

president@wesonline.org.uk

trade@wesonline.org.uk

VICE PRESIDENTS

Advertising Manager Dr Mike West

HONORARY LIFE MEMBERS Norris Gilbert Geoff Roe Harry Scharf Michael Woods

advertise@wesonline.org.uk Librarian/Archivist Jeremy Collingridge

VICE PRESIDENTS John Daniels Arnold Greenwood Alan Hobbs Stephen Hull

librarian@wesonline.org.uk

PRINTED BY Gemini Digital Unit B6 Dolphin Way Shoreham-by-Sea www.gemini-press.co.uk

ISSN 1758-5406 Back numbers of the WES Journal can be obtained through the Librarian who can be contacted as shown on this page.

Meetings Secretary Bill Linskey

HONORARY VICE PRESIDENT HONORARY LIFE MEMBER David Ruderman

COUNCIL MEMBERS Chairman Dr Graham Hogg JP

meetings2@wesonline.org.uk Journal Editor David Shepherd

editor@wesonline.org.uk Webmaster David Wells

chairman@wesonline.org.uk Secretary Gerald Harrison

secretary@wesonline.org.uk Membership Secretary and Marketing Officer Ian Williamson

David Shepherd Editor

Important reminder Would members please advise membership secretary Ian Williamson of any change to email address

webmaster@wesonline.org.uk

REPRESENTATIVES OVERSEAS USA Len Provisor provisorpro@earthlink.net

membership@wesonline.org.uk marketing@wesonline.org.uk

Sri Lanka Dr Sam Hettiarachchi

Treasurer Martyn Storey

sslh@civil.mrt.ac.lk

treasurer@wesonline.org.uk

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DESIGNED BY

South America Hugo and Helena Castello Based in Argentina info@castellocollection.com.ar

Copyright © Writing Equipment Society & authors.

All rights reserved. No part of this Journal may be reprinted or reproduced in any form, or used in any information storage and retrieval system, without the written permission of the Writing Equipment Society and author(s). Opinions published in the WES Journal are those of the contributors, and do not necessarily represent the views of the Editor, or of the WES Council. Advertisements are published in good faith. The Society cannot accept any responsibility for the goods or services offered.

The Battersea Pen Home Vintage and Modern Pen Specialists

www.penhome.co.uk “One of Britain’s leading retailers and repairers of vintage pens and pencils” The Daily Telegraph

“The nation’s most specialist small business” Royal Mail

Authorised repairers for Parker and Waterman pens and recommended

by Sheaffer UK ■ Please note that we are unable to provide valuations for pens over the phone as value is highly contingent on the condition of the pen. If you would like a valuation, please post the pen to us by Royal Mail Special Delivery.

PO Box 6128 Epping CM16 4GG Phone 01992-578-885 Fax 01992-578-485 Email admin@penhome.co.uk

Shop : 14 Fountain Court, Market Place, Epworth, North Lincolnshire, DN9 1EG

/i \Êä£{ÓÇÊnÇ{{ÎÎÊÊUÊÊ > \ÊÃ> iÃJ«i L Ý°V °Õ Ê Ê ÊÊ ÊÊ Ê

© Penbox 25.08.10

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IMPORTANT DATES FOR YOUR DIARY

A GIFT FROM JEREMY The society would like to record its appreciation to Jeremy Collingridge for his generous donation of a Parker 51 to the George Ewart Evans Exhibition at the Museum of East Anglian Life in Stowmarket, Suffolk.

Evans has long been regarded as one of the pioneers of oral history in Britain with his first book Ask The Fellows Who Cut The Hay (1956) now regarded as a classic. Another ten related books followed over the following 31 years, written from

Needham Market, Helmingham and Brooke, but based on interviews as far afield as Burton-upon-Trent, Scotland and his native Wales.

A grocer’s son from the Welsh mining village of Abercynon, George developed

LWES2012 MEMBERS’ BOURSE We will be running a WES Members’ Bourse again this year at the London Writing Equipment Show.

Last year’s bourse was very successful. Everyone who submitted more than one item for sale sold something and the stand was busy all day. The only disappointment was the number of members who said that if they’d known about it, they would have put something into the sale. It was – of course – advertised in last year’s summer Journal!

This year, no excuses.

Any member may submit up to 10 items for sale. Learning from previous years, we have simplified the paperwork so that the one form can be used for up to 10 items instead of needing a separate form for each. Otherwise, we are keeping to the same, straightforward rules. There are no upfront charges and no charges at all if something does not sell. If it does sell, there is just a 10% commission for WES funds. Full details, terms and conditions are on the enclosed form.

So dig out those items that no longer fit with your collection, sell them on to another member who will love them and raise yourself some cash to spend on new stuff.

See you at LWES 2011.

For further information contact Bill Linskey, Meetings Secretary, meetings@wesonline.org.uk, ) 020 7274 3835 or write to 32 Stockwell Green, London SW9 9HZ

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an early fascination with the lives of the ordinary people around him. A fascination that was fuelled when the Evans family moved to Blaxhall, Suffolk in 1948 where George’s wife Florence was appointed village school mistress.

NEW VENUE! NEW DAY– SATURDAY! NEW OPPORTUNITY! LONDON WRITING EQUIPMENT SHOW 2012 SATURDAY 6 OCTOBER 10.30AM HOLIDAY INN LONDON BLOOMSBURY CORAM STREET, LONDON WC1N 1HT

The date for the next AGM is Saturday 24 November.

In a break from recent tradition the venue is being changed to a location in the Midlands. The society does not wish to be seen as London-centric and this has been one of the reasons for the choice of a new venue, which will be announced in the next Journal.

Two positions will be vacant at the AGM. The Advertising Manager and the Meeting’s Secretary are standing down. Will any member who wishes to stand for these posts please contact the Chairman, Graham Hogg.

PEN SHOWS USA 9–12 August 2012 Washington DC Pen Show Sheraton Premiere at Tysons Corner bjohnson@pencentral.com www.pencentral.com

21–22 September 2012 Dallas Pen Show Doubletree Hotel Dallas Pete Kirby conrad.kirby@sbcglobal.net www.dallaspenshow.com

8–11 November 2012 Columbus Ohio Pen Show Crowne Plaza Dublin Hotel, Columbus Terry Mawhorter tmawhorter@columbus.rr.com www.ohiopenshow.com

WESMEMBERSHIP2012 WESMEMBERSHIP2012

WESAGM

The Writing Equi pment Society

www.wesonlin

e.org.uk

sfountainpens lsquills kchatelapinaepser tandsb tters sinkstalo writingsnlodspes sephemera Contact Ian Williamson membership@wesonline.org.uk

MEMBERSHIP LIST A current Member’s list is now available on the WES website.

Please check that all your personal details are correct. If you wish to change anything contact membership@wesonline.org.uk For members who do not own a computer please contact Ian Williamson ) 01543 415603 who will send you a printed version of the list.

PEN SHOWS IN UK AND EUROPE Sunday 2 September North East Pen Show UK Copthorne Hotel Newcastle-upon-Tyne www.ukpenshows.co.uk

EPHEMERA SOCIETY BAZAAR Sunday 2 September 2012 11am–4pm Admission £2 Doubletree by Hilton 92 Southampton Row London WC1B 4BH

Saturday 29 September Tilburg Pen Show (Holland) Natuurmuseum Brabant, Spoorlaan 434, Tilburg kputten@concepts.nl

List of WES Members 2012

Wednesday 3 October Hamburg Pen Show (Germany) Museum der Arbeit, Hamburg penport.hamburg@marktundkultur.de

Saturday 6 October LWEShow UK Holiday Inn, Bloomsbury, London david@parker51.co.uk

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CHAT FROM THE

CHAIR Those of you who have met me, and those of you who have read Chat from the Chair will know that I have a healthy interest in old ballpoints – although my wife is sure it is unhealthy for the family household budget. I do consider the purchase of pens an investment – both financially and psychologically, but it is very difficult to justify purchasing two of the same pen. My argument is that I will build a pen from the best component parts to try and acquire the finest pen possible.

When I first started collecting writing instruments I focused on the post-war writing sets I would have encountered when at Grammar school (1969–1976) – boys would have acquired these surreptitiously from their father or mother’s pen drawer as it was one of the few things that offered them status

in the classroom. At early auctions (prior to the dawn of Ebay) I would not purchase anything less than perfect examples – termed in the trade as mint with chalk marks. I am sure I am not on my own looking for writing instruments from my formative years – in my case it was Parker, Sheaffer and Platignum.

Unfortunately, ballpoints didn’t carry the same status as fountain pens, or mechanical pencils for that matter, so it is now very difficult to acquire ‘mint’ models.

In my opinion ballpoints that require anything other than a simple capillary refill unit (usually those produced prior to 1950) will lose at least a third of their value if the original refill unit is not in place – it is necessary to demonstrate the usually patented actuating mechanism and also for the pen to appear aesthetically complete. There was a most interesting article in The Spectator (19 May 2012) stating that a Ming vase lost 75% of its value because a hole had been drilled into it to turn it into a table lamp; a vase was chipped when being packaged for transit reducing its value by 85%; another owner didn’t like the unevenness of their extremely rare vase and smoothed the rim, reducing its value by the purchase price of a detached house!

Many collectors will argue that the restoration of writing equipment allows us to have a good idea of the beauty of the original, limit corrosion or deterioration, and enable it to function in the way that it should – imperative for those of you who want to use your collection. For others, it is a means of creating a ‘feel good’ factor and justifying the fee we paid for it. But despite the love and care put into the restoration we may only be reducing its value and upsetting the next owner.

Perhaps we ought to consider that we don’t really own our collection, we are just looking after it for the next generation of collectors. Beware those of you with OCD – patina is everything!

Thank you to those members who took part in the YouTube video; here is the link: www.youtube.com/watch?v=hLOFFtW22Nk

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I have just received the accounts for WES Events Ltd completed by Amos Peek in his professional capacity as a chartered accountant – I would like to thank Amos for all of the time and effort he has put into these accounts, both this year and in previous years, to ensure that LWES shows a tidy profit – the accounts will be available at the AGM 2012.

Have a great summer, but don’t come to Southport – we are on an amber flood alert.

Graham Hogg

THE CHAIRMAN WOULD LIKE TO KNOW IF HE SHOULD USE MONT BLANC MINERAL WATER TO FLUSH OUT HIS MONT BLANC FOUNTAIN PEN, AND IF SO HOW MUCH SHOULD HE USE AT ANY ONE TIME?

LWES2012 New venue!

New day – Saturday!

New opportunity!

Saturday 6 October 2012 Holiday Inn London Bloomsbury Coram Street London WC1N 1HT Popular with The Ephemera Society, Holiday Inn London-Bloomsbury is just two minutes’ walk from the Tube at Russell Square station, for speedy connections across the capital.

10 minutes by bus from Eurostar connections at St Pancras station, and a 45-minute taxi ride from London Heathrow Airport.

Preferential accomodation rates for people attending the show who would like to make a weekend of it.

For further information contact David Shepherd at david@parker51.co.uk or 01273 554378

PUT IT IN YOUR DIARY NOW! 7

THE LOS ANGE

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LES PEN SHOW LEE RANITZ INVITES YOU TO COME WITH HIM AND EXPLORE THE WONDERFUL VARIETY OF PENS, INK AND PEOPLE WHO VISIT LA IN THE SPRING Every year, soon after St Valentine’s Day, the Los Angeles Pen Show is held in the ballroom of the Manhattan Beach Marriott Hotel. The hotel has over 300 rooms and stands on 26 acres of ground with its own golf course and extensive parking space. Over the four days of the Show the restaurant and bar is a gathering place for pen enthusiasts. Room rates start at $129+ tax for Pen Show visitors. But stiff extras such as daily parking rates, and a daily charge for a WiFi connection, have to be taken into account when you are deciding whether to seek out a cheaper nearby hotel of which there are many. So does the Marriott’s punitive policy for guests who smoke.

There are many attractions nearby. A very short distance from the Show, sited alongside the Los Angeles Airport runways, there is Proud Bird the sort of oldfashioned restaurant that I rejoice to find. Aviation photos and memorabilia cover the walls, and there are about a dozen aircraft parked outside! Restaurants in the Los Angeles area offer the most amazing variety of authentic ethnic food – Japanese, Chinese, Korean – as well as those fast food delicacies that America has exported.

Italian and Mexican restaurants are to be seen everywhere.

So are the uniquely American breakfast restaurants – pancakes, corn beef hash and eggs any style – many of which close at 2pm.

Within a short car trip there are many diversions such as Disneyland, the luxury shops of Rodeo Drive and the movie studios which offer conducted tours. The road north following the Pacific coast leads past Venice Beach and Santa Monica Pier with its Ferris Wheel and arcades. At Oxnard there are two magnificent car museums; the Mullin Museum and the Murphy Foundation. Keep driving along the Pacific Coast Highway and you’ll be in Santa Barbara (where the old Biltmore Hotel is certainly one of the world’s finest.

When I win the Lottery I plan to go and live there).

The Pen Show is sponsored by pen makers Delta, Conklin and MonteVerde and this year International Watch Magazine contributed too. The Pen Show is supported by many unpaid volunteers and private donors. If you decide to attend the Show you will need to choose between a traders ticket that gives you entry on Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday or simply pay $7 admission for the ‘public day’ which is Sunday. Be warned; it is crowded on this day The Pen Show has a friendly atmosphere and there are many bargains to be found. A recent survey 9

concluded that, on average, Pen Show prices tended to be lower than those of Ebay or other Internet sales. It is also a chance to talk to the master craftsmen of the fountain pen world and even to have your own pen adjusted or mended. On Saturday there are lectures all day – eight lectures at one hour intervals – and a valuable opportunity to add to your knowledge.

Sitting behind tables laden with old and new pens there are professional dealers, some of whom are pen restoration experts.

There are also tables manned by hobbyists who find buying and selling a congenial spare-time enterprise. Here and there one finds someone who has decided to dispose of their collection. In such a spread great rarities and gems can be spotted.

This year one of my most treasured purchases is a large coloured poster called ‘The First Half Century of American Classic Fountain Pens’. A limited edition it shows about one hundred historic pens in life size photographs. It’s a wonderful decoration and a great reference tool too. (It is published by John Mottishaw at nibs.com.). John’s table also displays an array of otherwise hard to find fountain pen books. Andreas Lambrou is at the Show with his new copiously-illustrated ‘Fountain Pens of Japan’ which he co-authored with Masamichi Sunami. The Show also provides a great deal of specialized equipment. There are all the tools of the pen maker and pen repair enthusiast. One dealership Sam and Frank Fiorella of Pendemonium (info@pendemonium,com) brings a magnificent array of inks. As well as pens, they buy and sell inkwells, mechanical pencils, pencil boxes, dip pens and their nibs, and even antique pen knives. Every year Mr and Mrs Fiorella drive here from Des Moines, Iowa. This year Frank told me, the drive was mostly through snow and ice. Yes, pen enthusiasts are a tough breed.

Readers of the WES Journal might be thinking that it all sounds the same as our own very fine Pen Show in London.

What’s the difference? The difference is the type of pens to be seen here. It is not surprising that American collectors are mainly interested in American pens and so they should be. You may argue the merits of pens from other countries. The remarkable Pilot-Namiki Vanishing Point pen is the modern equivalent of the Parker 51; the Nakaya pens – with their many layers of coloured lacquers – are perhaps the most beautiful pens available today. In Italy Aurora invented the modern plastic ink cartridge without which the fountain pen might well have vanished. In Germany companies, such as Pelikan and Montblanc, brought us virtually perfect piston mechanisms and the shiny black Montblanc 149 has been in production longer than any other pen. All of these

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foreign companies are well represented at the Show but it was three Americans: Lewis Edson Waterman, George S Parker and Walter A Sheaffer who gave us the modern fountain pen. And although some American names are now working in Europe, their vintage products are well in evidence here and solemnly revered.

So throughout the Show American pens predominate. Many collectors concentrate upon Parker pens: some collect only the wonderful Parker 51. But this is a chance to see American pens that are rare in Europe including Bexley, Monte Verde, Delta and Conklin. American inks are here too: Noodler’s, Private Reserve and other smaller brands stand alongside European inks and the expensive Japanese inks, bottled like Chanel No 5 perfume. Pen Shows provide a good place to compare ink because of the wide range of makers and colours available. There is probably no need to remind readers of this Journal that inks vary enormously. It is not just a matter of beautiful colours. Inks are a complex mixture of surfactants (to promote flow), glycerine (to adjust viscosity), detergents (to aid drying) and biocides (to kill bacterial moulds).

Fountain pens can be very sensitive to the inks used and a troublesome pen can sometimes be made perfect by a change in ink type. (But clean your pen between ink changes as mixed ink can sometimes become like glue.)

Come with me into the 2012 Pen Show. Two smiling ladies at the reception are handing out the neat badges for this the 14th LA Pen Show. I pin it on my hat and march on. Still in the hotel lobby I see Stephen Mandell (sam51@bellsouth.net). His breast pockets display a dozen or more pens and he is sitting behind a sign that says ‘I Buy All Parker 51s’. He is one of many Parker 51 specialists here and I know he has other lines of business including the Beatles: their records, their photos and other paraphernalia.

Still in the lobby, I see a wonderful array of lacquered rods waiting to be selected and used for custom-made pens by Ernest Shin (ernest@hakuminurushi). Another dealer, Kevin Hsu (kevinhsu@penlux.com.tw) has brought beautiful barrel-rods from Taiwan. It is not easy to describe these amazing colours and patterns. Some are rough pitted and black like a piece of coal or coke. Some have bright colours in bands like expensive Venetian glassware. Others have multiple layered lacquers through which the light shines as it does deep into the clear water of a pond (and this is a description that the Japanese like to use about their lacquer work). The lacquering process is demanding and very time consuming as the layers have to dry completely. Prices range from about $800 for an exquisite decapod to three or four

thousand dollars for some of the very complex finishes.

Many traders endure long journeys to be here. Howard Edelstein has travelled from Cleveland Ohio (hbe@edelsteinfinancial.com) bringing a selection of fine vintage pens eg Le Boeuf, Wahl-Eversharp and Conklin. As well as this he deals in pen adverts, old catalogs, repair manuals, inkwells and spare parts. Across the aisle Artus Pens display their colourful Russian pens hand painted in traditional designs.

Just inside the door we see John Mottishaw (nibs.com) doyen of pen engineers. He has brought from his workshop some tools with which to make adjustments or even effect repairs if the line of customers is not too long. A ‘mottishawed’ italic or soft fine nib is a mark of distinction. John is the agent for several Japanese pen makers and the array of wonderful lacquered pens on display enables a spontaneous purchase of pens that normally have a six month waiting list. I have one of these Nakaya multi-faceted ‘decapod’ pens. Its subtle undercoat colours gradually appear through the translucent surface as the years pass. It is one of my most cherished possessions.

The Pen Show wouldn’t be the same without Rick Propas (rickpropas@comcast.net) who has an incomparable private collection of Pelikan pens. His table is crowded with fullyfunctioning vintage Pelikans going back to the 1930s. Speaking as a customer I can confirm that he offers these wonderful Pelikan pens at bargain prices. Nearby there is pentooling.com a trader completely devoted to pen repair equipment; ultrasonic cleaners (including a battery-operated one), electric polishers and grinders, a tray of small surgical tools that suit pen repair work and other devices that are beyond my understanding. At the far end of the ballroom there is a man crouched over whirling machinery and working on pen nibs to the exclusion of everything around him. This is Mr Pendleton Brown (pendletonbrown.com) who is never happier than when he is modifying a nib to suit an individual customer’s taste. The photographer with me today, normally a man impervious to the lures of luxury; stops, looks and sits down. Despite my entreaties he is not at work again until he has a Pendleton special: a transparent TWSBI demo pen with a soft and flexible nib to suit his elegant Copperplate writing.

How did this year’s Show compare with others? Most traders believed that the figures would show a larger attendance this year than last year and this will make the Los Angeles Show one of the world’s largest. This was a heartening result in view of Chicago’s rather ‘disappointing’ attendance figures, although in

line with a big showing at the Pen Show in Dallas, Texas.

Another difference to be seen this year was the emphasis upon pens made to customer order. As I have said there were several tables offering a large selection of decorative rods ready to be made into pen barrels. Nibs too were available in a wide range of tips from very broad italic nibs (some of them specifically ground to provide thin horizontal lines) to the Extra Fine nibs that until recently were seldom seen outside Japan or China. Handwriting, or what Americans prefer to call penmanship, was increasingly in evidence.

Many more Americans have become interested in learning to write in ‘copperplate’ style (in which the Declaration of Independence is written) and ‘Spencerian’ script. Both of these ‘hands’ create the thicks and thins by pressure (rather than nib shape as in italic handwriting) so both require soft flexible nibs. Steel nibs can be fashioned to meet this demand for flexibility and several pen makers are producing steel-nibbed fountain pens. As a good example of this trend the TWSBI is a well-made transparent plunger-filler fountain pen and comes from a long-established pen factory in Taiwan. The Ahab (its name a reference to Moby Dick and the whale-like shape of the clip) is a more recent pen of the same sort but comes in a full variety of barrel colours as well as the transparent ‘demonstrator’. The Ahab pen is made in India and marketed by the Noodler’s Ink company of America. I use both of these fountain pens on a regular rota of pens and like them.

America’s Writing Instrument Manufacturers Association has announced that between 1998 and 2004 fountain pen sales went from 12 million per year to 17 million per year and has leveled at that figure. This cheering figure is echoed by the way that in 2010 John Lewis, the London Department store, sold 70% more fountain pens than it did in the previous year while sales of writing paper increased by 78%. London’s City University enjoyed an increase in the number of students studying calligraphy. To accompany this renewed interest in writing instruments there has come a big increase in books of handwriting instruction and boxed ‘calligraphy sets’ that sell pens, nibs and instructions together in one convenient package.

With jobs so scarce, more employers are insisting upon a handwritten application. Frequently such applications are scrutinised by graphologists before a job application is approved. So graphology books have also increased in number.

Outside, the sun is shining from a blue sky and the air temperature is about 70°F. See you there next year? You won’t require an umbrella but a pocket magnifying glass might prove a useful asset. n

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HAPPY70thBIRTHDAY

ETERPEN THIS ARTICLE WAS TAKEN FROM THE BIRO BALLPOINT PEN BY L GRAHAM HOGG In 1942 the first commercially available ballpoint pen was manufactured in a factory in Buenos Aires, Argentina employing about 40 staff. It was based on the patents produced

by László József Biró and was called Eterpen. This name was chosen because it gave the idea of ‘Eternal writing’. The pen was advertised in the main newspaper and the slogan used was: Eterpen, two in one: pencil and fountain pen. The distribution was given to Wolff & Cía, but, unfortunately, with these early ballpoints the ink ran behind the back of the piston and hardened. Also the writing balls were imported from Sweden and were not precisely calibrated. SKF of Sweden stated that nobody had needed or requested such precision before. Consequently, so many pens were returned with faults that Wolff & Cía resigned from the distribution. Biro also suggested in his biography Una Revolucion Silenciosa that an enthusiastic user would turn the piston so much that the writing ball would shoot out of the ballhousing like a bullet and a fountain of ink would follow. The parent company subsequently used a capillary refill unit, also patented by L J Biro, and named the new pen: Stratopen – the dawn of the ballpoint pen era.

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British patent 512218 – 1938 L J Biro The drawing that accompanied Biro’s second British patent. It is much more detailed than the first and shows a series of ballpoint pens that utilise a spring loaded piston. The patent also details a number of other features including ink properties, the ball-housing shape and the use of a removable ink reservoir.

Similar drawings can also be seen in American patents: 2258841 (1941) and 2265055 (1941). The resulting ballpoint based on these drawings was produced in 1942 and named Eterpen.

Eterpen – Argentina – c1942 Two models shown The rotatable knob at the barrel end operates a piston mechanism to drive ink towards the writing point. As the pen was used and the flow of ink to the writing ball decreased, the knob would have to be turned by the user to resume the ink flow, but this system did enable the pen to write upside down! The pen would need to be returned to the factory to be refilled with ink.

1942 Eterpen advert - Leoplan magazine (Argentina)

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FROMTOURNAITOFL 25 YEARS OF STEEL NIB MANUFACTURING IN BELGIUM BY ROBERT ALEXIS

Louis Flament 1909

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Everybody has heard of the three main French dip pen companies of BlanzyPoure, Compagnie Française and Baignol & Farjon but I wonder how many of you have heard of their close neighbours in southern Belgium – Compagnie Belge de Tournai and Manufacture Belge de Floreffe?

For years, nibs imprinted with these two names were considered by collectors to have been manufactured in France and England. Indeed, for both of them, no industrial archeology existed, and it was difficult to believe that there had been any manufacturers in Belgium.

Let me tell you their stories in a few lines. Our journey began with the amazing discovery in a Belgian antiquarian shop of about 800 old letters sent to Louis Flament, manager of a Belgian pen nib manufacturing company in Tournai. The sum asked for this collection of letters was not much, but historically, the archive was of great value and enabled dedicated Belgian collectors to start to trace the whole story.

Louis Flament, born in Tournai on 2 December 1880, was 23 years old when he decided to create his own steel nib manufacturing business. Nobody in his family and nothing in his previous experience destined him for such a business: his father, who died in July 1899, was a doctor and surgeon and his mother a housewife.

He named his company Compagnie Belge – surely a reference to the well known Compagnie Française of Boulogne-sur-Mer. Early in 1904, he made arrangements for steel importation from Sandwick in Sweden, hardware tools from Pastori of Milano in Italy, cardboard boxes from Brussels, label printing and, most important of all, a contract with H Robin in Paris, who would imprint his nibs with an identity.

In the meantime he met Alfred Delpierre who had begun to manufacture steel nibs in France back in 1880 as A Delpierre & Cie Unfortunately Delpierre did not succeed and was made bankrupt after just a few years.

His partners bought his machinery and created Compagnie Française in 1885.

LOREFFE1904–1929 Delpierre had numerous contacts in Boulogne-sur-Mer and was able to introduce Flament to Jules Godebert and his sons – the future ‘key men’ of the Belgian enterprise.

In 1895, after ten years working in Compagnie Française in Boulogne-surMer, Jules Godebert and family had left France to settle in Riga in Russia (Estonia as it is now). Due to their experience and knowledge, they were recruited into Riga’s steel pen factory, Jules as foreman and his two sons as assistants. In 1901, due to the political situation in Russia, the Godebert family decided to return to France but the French factory refused to accept them. So, they stayed in Riga until autumn 1904, before settling in . . . Belgium!

In a letter dated 22 September 1904, Louis Flament confirmed to Jules Godebert that he and his two sons would be welcome recruits to the Compagnie Belge de Tournai, and set out the financial terms of their contracts.

The machine was ready to run.

Jules Godebert and Louis Flament 1905

1905 and 1906 were prosperous years for the company. By January 1907 it had more than 180 loyal customers from local stationers to the great National Bank of Belgium. The young director tried his best to manage the business but it seemed that too often he was easily distracted, casual in his management and negligent in monitoring finances. The death of his younger brother in May 1905 and financial mismanagement are probably the main reasons for the decline of the company after just a few years.

On 26 January 1907 everything changed. A second company – Manufacture Belge de Plumes Métalliques de Floreffe – was formally, legally created in Mons and a factory set up in the small town of Floreffe near Namur.

By the end of 1907 about 50 women workers had been trained and employed and steel nibs were produced using the machinery from Louis Flament’s factory and with steel imported from Sheffield and imprinted with the word Floreffe.

Managed under the master hand of Baron de Dorlodot, this company soon eclipsed Compagnie Belge de Tournai.

Louis Flament continued his retail business by buying nibs made by Floreffe until 1913.

During the first year Floreffe produced 90,000 nibs daily – a production that increased annually until 1914 and the outbreak of the First World War. ‘Balloon’ nibs were most in demand but Floreffe was developing a large variety of different nibs to satisfy customers’ wishes, to follow fashionable trends and to keep up with rival companies.

The Great War brought an end to the company’s golden age as production gradually slumped. The death of its director in 1928, the economic crisis of 1929 and the marketing of new, more efficient, writing instruments forced Floreffe to close its doors, bringing to an end a quarter of a century of steel nib manufacturing on Belgian soil.

This is but a short summary of the book De Tournai à Floreffe 1904–1929 written (in French) by Robert Alexis and Daniel Mine. This book consists of 250 pages of text and illustrations and is available from Robert Alexis at robert.alexis@skynet.be for the allinclusive charge of €43 payable through PayPal or by bank draft.

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JACK ALAN HOBBS RECENTLY MET AWARD WINNING DESIGNER AND GOLDSMITH, JACK ROW, WHO HAS LAUNCHED HIS DÉBUT COLLECTION OF LUXURIOUS PRECIOUS METAL FOUNTAIN PENS AT HARRODS. IN ADDITION, HE HAS ALSO SECURED GLOBAL AVAILABILITY WITH PIANKI, THE USA WORLD CLASS INTERNET LUXURY RETAILER, AND WITH LUXURY WRITING INSTRUMENTS BOUTIQUE – LA COURONNE DU COMTE OF THE NETHERLANDS.

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The ‘Architect’ Collection of fountain pens and cufflinks are individually hand crafted in solid silver and gold and set with accents of precious sapphires and diamonds. Design inspiration is drawn from iconic British architecture, most notably one of London’s most famous landmarks, the ‘Gherkin’. The iconic profile and geometric spirals are reflected in the pens elaborate silver and gold filigree.

The design prototype, originally developed whilst studying at Birmingham’s famous School of Jewellery, won Jack Row a gold medal prize, awarded by the Worshipful Company of Goldsmiths.

Regarding his design philosophy, Jack commented: “I wanted to create a collection of functional items that could be valued as much as objets d’art as fine jewellery or writing instruments. I hope they will appeal to discerning, design conscious individuals and collectors who wish to invest in exclusive British design and craftsmanship.”

Harrods interest in supporting the 25 year old designer was initiated when he presented them with his initial prototype. “Jack’s fabulous collection is luxurious, eccentric and quintessentially British, aligning perfectly with the unforgettable Harrods experience.” commented Darren Walker, Gifts and Stationery Buyer at Harrods.

The materials utilised in the hand crafting of Jack’s pieces also undoubtedly makes them a sound financial investment. During times of recession, investment in traditional commodities such as gold and diamonds sharply increases.

ROW The Jack Row ‘Architect’ Collection includes three variations of limited edition fountain pens: solid sterling silver with black diamonds, solid 18ct yellow gold with sapphires, and the ultimate in luxury, solid 18ct white gold set with nearly a whole carat of diamonds. Each pen also features a solid 18ct gold nib. These exclusive writing instruments are also complimented by a choice of precious cufflinks.

Each piece is individually made to order by Jack Row in his studio based in Birmingham’s historic Jewellery Quarter. The young designer uses a combination of traditional goldsmithing skills and cutting edge technology to create his intricate works of art. Every design also carries a British hallmark, struck by the Birmingham Assay office, guaranteeing the purity of the precious metals.

And the question that you are longing to ask – how much does one of these pens or pair of cufflinks cost? The most affordable cufflinks are priced at around £3,500 and the top of the range 18ct gold and diamond pen prices at around £27,500.

The Jack Row ‘Architect’ Collection is available exclusively at Harrods within the UK and can be viewed in the Harrods Writing Room, located on the lower ground floor of their Knightsbridge store.

Outside the UK, the Jack Row ‘Architect’ Collection is also available at lacouronneducomte.nl (Netherlands) and pianki.com (USA).

Visit www.jackrow.com to find out more about the designer and Architect Collection.

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HOW TO WIN A PEN

IN A US STORE LOTTERY! JIM MARSHALL WAS FASCINATED BY THIS POINT OF SALE – POP – AT THE CHICAGO SHOW This fascinating and rare item was on David Ushkow’s stand at the recent Chicago Show. I was informed that this was a popular item in local stores in the 1930s depression, although I would date its origin rather earlier in the 1920s flat top fountain pen period. It would have been on the counter near the cash till of a store where cigarettes, soft drinks, groceries and hardware were sold. The local store would have been the equiv-

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alent of the modern 7 ELEVEN or A&P. For 5 cents one selected a hole in the grid at the bottom and with a punch made

by Hamilton Punches, forced it through the metal foil. This action pushed out a rolled up strip of paper with a number on it. If it matched a number listed on the front, the lucky winner would claim his prize.

The Wald company in Kansas were specialists in such store promotions and the original packaging on the back origi-

nally contained Hamilton punches. This 1920s/30s equivalent of modern scratch cards was a lucrative item for the storekeeper, tempting and extracting 5c from the impoverished during the depression.

All the 5 cents added up to $50, when the board was completed.

The odds of winning a Duofold ‘lookalike’ fountain pen was 330 to 1 but the cigarettes were the incentive as they cost about 13c per pack in 1930.

David kindly let us photograph the item rather than buy it but for anyone interested it is still for sale. (www.pen-site.com)

SHELDON WANTED COLLECTOR WILL PURHASE: PENCILS, POCKET COMPANIONS, ESCRITOIRS, TELESCOPING BLANCES, EVER POINTED PENCILS, PENCILS WITH BALANCES, TOOTHPICKS – ANYTHING MADE BY JOHN SHELDON. Also interested in the items pictured and discussed in Western Writing Implements by Michael Finlay.

Especially the following or similar (numbers refer to figure numbers in WWI) pen knives (48,49,62–116); nibblers 126,137); penners (213–215); pens (260–266) and other like quality items.

Must be in top condition and accurately described.

Dimensions required. Pictures helpful. References to Sheldon book, Finlay book make things easier.

You must name your price.

While I may make a counter offer, you must be prepared to sell at the amount you quote.

Settlement by wire, paypal or by arrangement that suits you.

Contact Bruce H Axler POB 231288 Ansonia Station New York, NY 10023 USA Email: brucehaxler@hotmail.com Phone: 212 579 0348 Fax: 646 417 6024

E-mail: tmawhorter@columbus.rr.com

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THELAUNCHOF THEBLACKBIRD

FOUNTAINPEN

IN1910 Aimed at arousing the interest and curiosity over a product or brand Wikipedia defines this advertising tactic as consisting of a series of small, cryptic, challenging advertisements that anticipate a larger, full blown campaign – a campaign to ‘tease’ the audience.

Today teaser campaigns can be found in big-budget film advertising to create a buzz around a film. For example, the distributors of the Da Vinci film placed various encrypted clues in movie trailers and interviews to tease the public well before the release of the film.

It is also widely used in my own industry of publishing to get bookseller and public recognition before the publication date of the book.

But here over 100 years ago we see Mabie Todd and Co use the strategy to great effect to launch their cheaper brand of fountain pens.

The three cards were sent to Messrs A Crisp & Son of 22 High Street,

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Lowestoft, but I think we must assume that all Mabie Todd’s accounts and customers would have received them.

The first card has no marks of recognition for the stationer, the front of the card illustrating 24 stylised blackbirds and the original nursery rhyme contained in a central box. The back of the card showing no clue to the sender apart from the London WC postmark and the stencil printed address of the stationer, presumably if this was normal MT&Co practice to address their correspondence in this way, that would have been a bit of a clue.

The first card was posted on 31 May 1910. Ten days later on 9 June the second card was sent.

This time the pie (with a Blackbird crust) is the centre of attention accompanied with the question “Have a Pie ?”

The nursery rhyme is there again but this time with the words adapted to promote the fountain pens.

Sing a song of Five Shillings, Come right in and try Four and Twenty “Blackbirds”, Baked in a pie.

When the pie is opened, The birds begin to sing, “We are dandy fountain pens Fit for any King”.

The back of the card now has the major clue of the Mabie Todd logo MTCO.

THERE IS NOTHING NEW IN MARKETING ACCORDING TO MIKE BRYAN WHO THINKS THESE THREE POSTCARDS ILLUSTRATE THE POINT PERFECTLY. HE SPOTTED THESE EXTREMELY RARE AND EPHEMERAL SURVIVORS OF A MARKETING TACTIC VERY MUCH IN USE TODAY – THE ‘TEASER CAMPAIGN’.

a Pie shaped piece of point of sale containing 24 Blackbird pens. What a piece of cardboard engineering that must have been, I do hope one has survived somewhere!

The card suggests that the Nursery rhyme will “play it’s part” in gaining recognition from the public.

The back of the card now has Mabie Todd’s address in full and the tease has been fully revealed.

There is more than a bit of a mystery however in this teaser campaign as the November 1911 edition of The Stationer’s Gazette reports on the launch of Blackbird, showing the Blackbird Pie show-card. Such a report 18 months after the teaser postcards may indicate a particularly slow minded

trade press or even more unlikely a particularly long tease but it is probably most likely to be indicative of some unforeseen difficulties in the logistics of the pen production and its availability.

For the philately minded it might be of interest that the three cards all exhibit three different postage methods. The first card having a rubber stamped halfpenny paid roundel, the second a franked halfpenny stamp, and the third a halfpenny postage paid linear franking.

A (Arthur) Crisp & Son were booksellers and stationers in Lowestoft, and published a book on the trial of the Lowestoft witches in 1901, and printed and sold postcards of Lowestoft church in the 1920s. Crisp seems to be a major local surname as a Tom Crisp, a Lowestoft boy, posthumously received the Victoria Cross for sinking a U Boat from his fishing smack ‘Q ship’ in 1917.

If any members have other postcards that may have been in the series I would love to hear from them.

The last card in the trilogy was posted in July, the date mark being somewhat indistinct and seems to have been posted around the 25th. If this is the case there may be a missing card or two from the sequence as this seems a longish time to wait after the first two cards.

All is revealed in the last card . . . that the card is ‘issued by the Swan Pen Makers’ that the new pens will be 5 shillings and that stationers can receive

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ANUNWANTEDGIFT GEORGE VI GILT WRITING SET, HATED BY THE QUEEN MOTHER BECAUSE IT WAS A GIFT FROM EDWARD, SELLS FOR JUST £5,000 A desk writing set used by King George VI sold for £5,000 pounds when it went under the hammer on 10 May 2012. The turquoise gilt set was given to the King by his brother the Duke of Windsor, shortly after he abdicated in 1936 to marry divorcee Wallis Simpson. It includes a letter rack, an inkwell, roller blotter, pen tray, paper knife, and stamp box, each with the king’s nickname, Bertie, engraved on it.

The artefact, which had been expected to fetch up to £8,000, was snapped up by a collector after being sold at Special Auction Services in Newbury, Berks. The writing set engraved with the initials D & W, which stands for David and Wallis.

There, but for the grace of God is inscribed underneath. After the King’s death in 1952 it was given away by Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother.

Thomas Plant, director of Special Auction Services in Newbury, Berks., said: “The age of writing maybe dead but this is a marvellous piece of history. The Queen Mother wasn’t a great fan of The Duke and Duchess of Windsor after the abdication and as a result did not like the writing set, which she gave away.”

Auctioneer Neil Shuttleworth said: “It could well have been used by the King to write the speeches that inspired the legendary film. It has a rich and colourful history, spanning a rather poignant period of war time in our nation’s history.”

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THE SUCCESS OF ONOTO AS A BRITISH PEN COMPANY MANUFACTURING MODERN LIMITED EDITIONS AND REGULAR ITEMS APPEARS TO CHARLES WHITEHEAD TO HAVE GENERATED A RENAISSANCE IN OLDER PENS

The Magna was always a sought after model but prices of good black Magnas are now reaching £500 or more, and one dealer recently said to me that he could almost ask any price he wanted for a coloured Magna.

There are a few vintage Magnas in my collection and one or two modern editions including, of course, a Presidents pen. To me Onoto over 2011 and into 2012 seems to have taken a leap in popularity and in the company’s ability to take on more appealing editions.

Onoto has only been manufacturing again for six years and now produces pens with a quality of workmanship that cannot be denied. The move of the flagship range – The ‘Magna’ into a variety of colours – Black, ‘President’ blue, Havana brown, orange and red and then complement it with another model, the Churchill, says to me that there is a level of maturity in the company and it has found its position in the marketplace and surely is a sign that ‘we have now arrived’? Again!!

The first pen of 2011 was the Overlay number 1, featuring the work of Henry Simpole. This was a full overlay on barrel and cap of a slimmer, elegant pen that would grace any collection.

Later in the year, and on display at LWES 2011 was the Heritage plunger filler with the silver filigree cap again by Henry. The first Onoto plunger filler for over 50 years, this was a larger pen in

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the style of vintage plunger fillers. If you have seen these pens you will know that the name of Onoto runs cleverly through the wonderful Henry Simpole artwork.

I am a big fan of my Magna in Havana Brown; I use it frequently at home with Parker Mocha ink. I was very taken with the limited edition Magnas in orange and red (only 20 of each) that

The Onoto Number 1 overlay

Onoto Magna in Burnt Orange

were produced during 2011 and which sold out very quickly. The Magna is now one of the flagship ranges of Onoto and having been produced in five different colours one wonders “what next�? Well in 2012 a duck egg blue is to be produced followed later in the year by a tortoiseshell colour. I am not yet aware of the edition numbers but if they are to be only 20 of each then they will sell very quickly I am sure. In addition, all the Magna Classic models will be offered with either silver or gold-plated fittings; so if you want a black and gold Magna Classic it is now available!

Onoto Magna in Burnt Orange

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The Onoto Sir Winston Churchill

The Churchill has been produced with the approval of the Churchill Heritage Ltd in association with Curtiss Brown. It features the wellknown WSC initials used on many cabinet papers as well as a casting of the Spencer-Churchill crest of the lion and the gryphon from the great man’s signet ring. It is in blue pinstripe (high density black, pure white and pearl blue) which gives the pen a very distinguished appearance I was lucky enough to buy the pilot of the Churchill range that Onoto donated to WES for sale in the LWES 2011 auction and a very lovely pen it is too.

2012 opened with the announcement at the end of January of a larger Churchill called the Chartwell, which has 23ct gold nib, cap band and clip. It is a BIG pen weighing 90 grams of sterling silver! To give it perfect balance and to sit comfortably in the hand, the barrel has been made extra long – 134mm – from the barrel end to the tip of the nib.

The total length of the pen with the cap screwed on is 157.5mm (6.2ins). A mammoth of a pen in an edition of 200 pieces, and retailing at a little over £1,000 this is a serious investment for a collector.

February had hardly got going when four new pens were announced; this time celebrating the 200th anniversary of one of England’s best loved authors, Charles Dickens. There are subtle differences of colour in the interleaving stripes to the barrel and the cap. The Copperfield is black with silver and white, the Nickleby is black with red and white, the Chuzzlewit is black with maroon and white and the Pickwick is black with grey and white. These were launched to the public at the South West pen show in Bristol on 12 February, less than a week after their formal announcement to the collecting world on the birthday of Charles Dickens.

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The Charles Dickens range celebrating the 200th anniversary of the author’s birthday.

Sterling Silver Aviators pen

Plans for the future in 2012 are for a Sterling Silver Aviators pen with a fluted design and representing the aluminium aircraft of the 1930s. This will be a limited edition of 100 and probably announced by the time this article goes to press.

David Cooper had a prototype at the West of England Pen show in February.

Another new pen is The Burlington, which has been commissioned by the owners of the Burlington Arcade and uses the ‘Night & Day’ pattern in keeping with the style of cigarette cases of the 1920s. These pens are smaller than the Magna – more like the Overlay Number 1 and have large hallmarks around a sterling silver band at the end of the barrel including the Diamond Jubilee hallmark. They were launched in March. The Burlington has an 18ct gold size 3 nib fitted as standard and retails for £495.

The Onoto Burlington

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A special Diamond Jubliee Magna Classic will be launched very soon with a sterling silver sleeve on the cap with a very large 2012 Diamond Jubilee hallmark. It will also be available in 23ct gold plated sterling silver. In fact by the time the Journal goes to press this may already be available.

The Doctors’ pen will be launched in June/July.

This has been designed with a very special Doctor’s clip and supposedly has special bacteria-killing properties so germs won’t linger on the pen!

Finally and despite all the other achievements I

A prototype new Mammoth plunger filler alongside a “standard” Churchill demonstrating the height difference and hence the increased ink capacity.

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suspect the 2012 pièce de resistance will be the new Magna plunger-filler. This is now being called the Mammoth, again resonate of a model from the past, which is hard to find and quite expensive.

This plunger-filler will have an extra-long barrel and hold a lot of ink. It will be longer then the Churchill – approximately 154mm long with the cap on; barrel length to tip of nib is approximately 137mm.

This should be delivered in time for the Christmas market – so hopefully it will be on display at LWES2012.

So, Onoto in 2012 is continuing along the lines set in 2011; another very busy year with lots of new and high quality British made pens being launched: two new major ranges – the Sir Winston Churchill and the Charles Dickens; new colours being introduced to the Magna Classic range; a new sterling silver Aviator’s pen; a vintage-looking Burlington pen; a Diamond Jubilee Magna; a Doctor’s Magna; and a new Magna Mammoth plunger-filler. I think this is a company that is announcing it is here to stay and it is good to see a British manufacturer prospering and waving the British flag across the world again. What next? Watch this space!

10% discount for WES members.

When ordering quote ref: WES7

fountain pens restoration writing accessories gift voucher sold archive

Buy on line at www.vintagefountainpensinc.com Visit our website or contact Chris Robinson – Pensmith on telephone 07932 037630 email info@vintagefountainpensinc.com Pen sales and restoration since 1976

29

FROMPENSTO PARTICLE PHYSICS

AS PART OF ITS 150TH ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATIONS, BIRMINGHAM-BASED PRESSING SUBCONTRACTOR BRANDAUER, WHICH STARTED LIFE AS A PEN NIB MANUFACTURER, WELCOMED THE PRINCESS ROYAL TO ITS NEWTOWN FACTORY TO SHOWCASE THE PRECISION COMPONENTS AND STAMPINGS IT CURRENTLY SELLS ALL OVER THE WORLD. Brandauer, which started life as one of the City’s most respected pen nib manufacturers, welcomed The Princess Royal to its Newtown factory to showcase the precision components and stampings it currently sells all over the world.

Her Royal Highness Princess Anne was introduced to 11 former employees, existing staff that have more than 550 years service between them, recently qualified apprentices and the family owners, which included the co-founder’s four great-great-grandchildren.

HRH Princess Anne with Brandauer chairman, John Berkeley

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She then viewed an exhibition of the many different Brandauer products from the past century and a half, including a tiny lithographic nib that has been in continuous production for at least 145 years, before viewing firsthand the state-of-the-art wire EDM cell, tool room and upper press shop that is currently making vision system electrodes for a global automotive client.

The visit ended with HRH Princess Royal unveiling a plaque – made by fellow Midlands Assembly Network member Advanced Chemical Etching – to mark the 150th anniversary.

John Berkeley OBE, Chairman of Brandauer, picked up the story: “Back in 1887, our co-founder Joseph Letière Petit produced a pen bearing the Royal Coat of Arms to mark Queen Victoria’s Golden Jubilee, so it is a great honour for us to welcome a member of the Royal family here to celebrate our own important milestone.

“Before companies like Brandauer were established, people were writing with birds’ feathers sharpened to a point.

The introduction of the steel pen revolutionised writing habits and today we are still at the forefront of innovation, supplying

critical components to clean energy generation units and to ground-breaking projects, such as the Large Hadron Collider that will help transform our understanding of the Universe.”

He continued: “The Princess Royal was especially keen to learn about our commitment to training and our desire to use the 150th anniversary to inspire young people, promoting engineering skills and opportunities for the future.

“People have always been the bedrock of our business. Our longest serving employee ever was Mrs Fanny Phillips, who retired in 1961 after 71 years’ service.

Today, all of our workforce, both young and old, share the same commitment to innovation and manufacturing excellence.”

Heading for a record £9m annual sales this year, Brandauer currently exports 75% of its products overseas to more than 20 countries, including millions of components to the United States and China.

The factory tour, which was led by former apprentice and now Managing Director David Spears, featured an indepth look at a recent international contract win with a tier 1 automotive supplier.

Estimated to be worth £700,000 per year, the order involves the production of specialist components for use in rear view mirrors on premium cars including Audi, BMW, VW and Porsche.

The visit ended with HRH Princess Royal unveiling a plaque – made by fellow Midlands Assembly Network member Advanced Chemical Etching – to mark the 150th anniversary.

NEWNAKA-AIPEN ON 5 JUNE 2012 IN LOS ANGELES, CLASSIC FOUNTAIN PENS INC, IN COLLABORATION WITH NAKAYA PENS, WAS PROUD TO ANNOUNCE THE LAUNCH OF A NEW FOUNTAIN PEN – THE ‘NAKA-AI’ Tokyo-based Nakaya Pens known throughout the world for its handcrafted Urushi lacquer pens, has created this pen for exclusive sale through Classic Fountain Pens Inc. and its website wwwnibs.com.

“Our customers love Nakaya pens,” explains John Mottishaw, the owner of Classic Fountains Pens and wellknown for his nib customisation work.

“The Naka-ai was designed to meet the needs of customers who love the simplicity and elegance of the Nakaya Piccolo, but who want something longer and with a tapered end. Many people feel Nakaya’s long tapered desk pen is the ideal writing instrument for balance and comfort, but find it impractical to carry in the pocket. The inspiration for this pen comes from the long handle of an artist’s paintbrush.”

The Naka-ai, he says, combines many of Nakaya’s most distinctive design elements in a single model. “We have managed to maximise the length of the barrel and minimise the cap. The word Naka-ai translates as ‘middle’, suggesting this as a pen that is in the middle between the very popular but shorter Piccolo model and the very long Nakaya desk pen. I see the virtue of the middle way.” John Mottishaw contributed to the design of the Naka-ai in collaboration with Nakaya master pen designer Shinichi Yoshida.

The Naka-ai will be available exclusively through Classic Fountain Pens Inc., the sole Nakaya pens retailer to the English speaking world. Like most

Nakaya pens, the Naka-ai will be made available either with or without a pocket clip, and can be equipped with any of the standard range of Nakaya 14k nibs, in sizes ranging all the way from Extra-Extra-Fine to Double Broad and Music. Plated and two-tone nibs are also available, as are rhodium, ruthenium, and rose gold plated clips.

A ballpoint version will also be offered.

Tokyo-based Nakaya has been creating handcrafted Urushi pens for more than ten years. An artisanal offshoot of Platinum Pens, one of Japan’s largest pen manufacturers, the company is composed largely of senior Platinum artists and craftspeople who create each Nakaya fountain pen on a by-hand basis. Urushi lacquer and Maki-e work is also done on the pens in the Wajima region on the west coast of Japan. This extreme attention to the craft of pen production has gained Nakaya a worldwide reputation for creating quality writing instruments of extraordinary beauty.

Classic Fountain Pens Inc., founded by nib specialist John Mottishaw, provides a wide variety of high quality new and vintage fountain pens, as well as books, inks and accessories, via its nibs.com website. John is also wellknown to fountain pen enthusiasts for his expert nib customisations and repairs. The nibs.com website provides a wealth of information for fountain pen users, including articles on pen maintenance, nib selection, and customisation options.

Prices for the new Naka-ai fountain pen start at just $450 for the Black Urushi model, with most solid and tamenuri colours available for $550. Pre-orders are now being accepted, with the first pens expected to arrive by mid-summer. Customised designs and hand-painted kanji lettering are also available on a special order basis.

To see the wide variety of Nakaya colours and options available, visit their website www.nibs.com/NakayaMainPage.html. More information is available by calling Classic Fountain Pens at (323) 655-2641, or by e-mailing info@nibs.com.

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STAMPBOXSTUDYCIRCLEAUTUMN2011MEETING

SPRING-HINGE ON A GOLDEN OCTOBER SATURDAY, MEMBERS OF THE STAMP BOX STUDY CIRCLE MET AT THE HOME IN SUSSEX OF ONE OF ITS MEMBERS, AND SPENT A FASCINATING AND ABSORBING DAY TOGETHER. THE PRE-DETERMINED THEME FOR THE DAY WAS SPRING-HINGED STAMP BOXES AND CASES WIDENED TO INCLUDE BOXES AND CASES USING A SPRING IN WAYS OTHER THAN WITHIN THE HINGE, SUCH AS SPRUNG DISPENSERS. THE DISPLAYS INCLUDED A GREAT VARIETY OF ITEMS IN A WIDE VARIETY OF MATERIALS, COVERING THE PERIOD FROM THE 1850s INTO THE 20TH CENTURY. WE MAY HAVE BEEN A SMALLER GROUP THAN USUAL ON THIS OCCASION, BUT THERE WAS NO DIMINUTION OF ENTHUSIASM FOR OUR SUBJECT OR OUR ENJOYMENT AS WE AVIDLY COMPARED AND DISCUSSED THE VARIOUS ITEMS WE HAD BROUGHT TO THE MEETING AND LEARNED A LOT FROM EACH OTHER IN THE PROCESS, WRITES JEAN ELLEY.

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Prior to any of our meetings, I try to do a little background research for the chosen theme. On this occasion, it had been easy to discover how sprung dispensers work, but I had found it almost impossible to find out anything about sprung hinges. Luckily, one of the two speakers (Daniel Bexford, a silver expert) at the WES meeting in London earlier in October on ‘conserving your collections’ had kindly enlightened a member of our group. The key component within a sprung hinge is a torsion bar – details are given later in this article.

The application for what must be the earliest Registered Design for a stamp box was submitted on 29 October 1850 by Charles Maschwitz Junior, a commission agent, of Birmingham, and was given the RD number 2502. The box that he proposed had several compartments, lined up together. WES Journal 51 of March 1998 carried an article by Derek Deadman in which he illustrated the submission document, but he also said that no example had been recorded.

A plate, with a frame on three sides, is fastened on the top of the box, which slopes slightly from back to front. A helical (coiled) spring is placed within the box so that it presses the plate upwards.

Depressing the plate with a finger allows the stamps to be placed in a pile on the plate. The submission further explains: ‘When it is wished to remove a stamp it is only necessary to press the forefinger upon the topmost stamp and slightly to depress it when by drawing it forward it readily slides from out of the compartment containing it without bringing any of the under ones with it. . . The object of my design is to facilitate the application of postage stamps’. While Mr Maschwitz referred to his design as a box for stamps, we would probably call this a stamp dispenser.

Since the 1998 article was published, it has become apparent that at least one example had been made in 1850. A more modern example also exists, made in Sorrento Ware, in the late 19th century,

or the early 20th century. Part of a label is still on the older box, which shows the date of 1850 with some lettering.

The earlier example seems to be made in brass, and is covered in red leather. Its height is 6.8cm tall at the back and 6.4cm at the front. The top is 2.8cm by 3.5cm and the base is 3.4cm by 3.8cm with a surround which is 0.8cm high.

The more modern example is made in olive wood, with an oval marquetry panel on the front, with the name ‘Nice’ below the panel, showing that it had been made as a souvenir item for visitors to the French Riviera. This box is of a similar height to the earlier one, but is slightly larger – its top measures 3.8cm by 4cm, the base is 4.3cm by 4.4cm with a surround which is 1.8 cm high.

Two years after the Maschwitz design was awarded Registered Design status, Myers & Sons of Birmingham sought

The Maschwitz dispenser box

EDSTAMPBOXES registered design status on 14 July 1852 for a design similar to that of Mr Maschwitz but with the addition of a dampener bowl at the base of a fivecompartment box. It was granted the provisional number 442.

The sprung dispenser mechanism described by Mr Maschwitz has been used in several types of stamp case made in the UK and the USA. One English example is a silver locket/pendant case which opens to access the stamp dispenser – Birmingham hallmarks for 1898 and 1899 are typical on these. A USA example that can be dated is a sterling silver double-sided case, with a dispenser in each side – the cartouche on one lid of this example is engraved with a monogram, the cartouche on the other lid with ‘98’ and it is marked patent 1895.

Also made were combination cases in which one or more circular plates for

dispensing coins (often to accommodate a Sovereign and a Half-Sovereign) sit alongside a rectangular plate for dispensing stamps.

A more recent example of the use of a sprung dispensing plate was in 1983, when the £1 note became a £1 coin in this country. At that time, many little dispensing cases were made for this new coin, using exactly the principle which is described in the 1850 document.

As mentioned earlier, the key component for a sprung hinge on a box is a torsion bar within the hinge. The barrel of the hinge itself is formed of alternate ‘knuckles’ on the top of the

back of a box and on the back of the lid.

These knuckles are aligned, and for a simple hinge a rod of the correct length (ie the width of the box) is inserted and sealed in place at the ends – on a silver box this would be by a plug of silver solder. For a ‘sprung’ hinge, it is not a rod which is inserted but a torsion bar.

In small boxes, this is flat and very small – perhaps as little as 1mm wide. The bar is twisted to give it the necessary tension and then it is sealed in place. We had a practical demonstration at our meeting of how a torsion bar can be twisted to give it the tension necessary using a redundant hacksaw blade (from which the teeth had been completely removed for safety).

Sorrento Ware dispenser box

A silver, single compartment sprung dispenser ‘locket’ case

Torsion bar

A sterling silver, two compartment, double-sided dispenser case made to a USA patent of 1895

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STAMPBOXSTUDYCIRCLEAUTUMN2011MEETING

Mousetrap

French papier mâché three-compartment box

Silver watch-case style stamp case with a sprung dispenser

The torsion bar within the hinge can be fixed so that the box on which it is installed self-closes, and there are many examples of stamp boxes like this. Most boxes of this type were made of silver, with hallmarks which date them to between 1894 and 1927. These include the trough-shaped boxes (of one or more compartments), standing on small feet, with frames for stamps on their lids, as well as a variety of other desk-top boxes, again with one or more compartments.

Examples also exist in materials other than silver, such as French boxes in leather or in papier mâché with facsimile stamps on the lid. There are also leathercovered boxes on a card base with a lid of silver which in some instances forms a frame for one or more stamps, and other examples of metal boxes covered with leather which also self-close.

Multi-purpose cases were made which contain several sections and can accommodate several different items.

At the meeting we were able to see a white metal multi-purpose case, engraved ‘From KB to GB Xmas 1890’ which has a calendar for 1890 fastened

34

inside. It has two spring-hinged compartments, one opens to reveal a holder for cigars or cigarettes, a memo pad, a business card holder and two small tool holders. The smaller compartment opens to give access to a match holder and striker and two compartments for stamps. The design was patented by A Lines, H Bunn and J Mason of Birmingham on 3 September 1889 – the patent number is 13857.

An example which can be found in most collections of stamp boxes and cases is a combination Vesta and stamp case made to a design registered in 1902.

It is made in the form of a book, with the front cover opening to a Vesta (match) case and the back to a tray with two compartments for stamps. Both covers have self-closing sprung hinges. Further research after the meeting revealed there was much more to this item than was at first apparent, and this theme was revisited at the spring 2012 meeting – a separate article is in the pipeline.

With use over time, it is possible that the tension within the torsion bar lessens and the lid will not snap shut

quite as smartly as it once did. If a box is sitting on a desk, the lid will sometimes simply close by its own weight. One way of discovering whether a lid has traces of a ‘sprung hinge’ is to hold the box on its side and see whether the lid moves towards the base of its own accord. It would be a very difficult and tricky job to replace a torsion bar, and finding a suitable steel bar would be only one of the challenges.

If the plugs at the end of the bar become loose, the only way to repair the hinge would be to replace the bar with a rod which would have no tension.

A torsion bar within a hinge can alternatively be used to hold a box or case open rather than hold it closed.

However, this use of the spring hinge also needs a mechanism to hold the box closed: the clearest illustration of this is a watch-case where a button is pressed to make the case spring open.

This technique had been in use from the 18th century so its subsequent adaption for stamp cases made in the late 19th century should be no surprise. Some stamp cases of this type also have a

Silver, two compartment ‘Peg-style’ case

Silver locket-style pendant case made to Patent 4133 of 1883

sprung dispenser inside them where the stamps are stored.

A more unusual design uses the torsion bar hinge in both ways on a silver, three-compartment box. A hinged extension to the lid clips over the base and holds the box closed. When that extension is released, the sprung-hinged lid itself springs open. You need to be careful of your fingers when opening or closing this box as it is quite fierce – it is hallmarked London for 1894.

There is yet another way in which stamp cases can make use of a spring, and this is a ‘helical torsion spring’, which sounds very technical, but everyday examples include the oldfashioned clothes peg and a mousetrap In a stamp box, this type of spring cannot be seen from the outside but may be visible on the hinge when the case is open. The coiled spring extends into a ‘loop’ which presses onto the inside of the case and holds the stamps in place. This design was protected by S R Edwards’ Patent 4133 of 1883.

The example shown is in silver, hallmarked in Birmingham. At the

meeting we were also privileged to see the same idea used in a locket-type stamp case suspended from an oval brooch. This is a delightfully feminine item, made in what could be gold filigree, or in base metal which has been gilded, and it could well have been made in Italy or the Middle East (there are no hallmarks). The brooch itself is a horizontal oval, its filigree pattern of lacy petals surround a marquise-cut (pointed oval) blue stone set in a solid frame.

The case itself is suspended vertically from two chains, one at each lower end of the brooch, and the filigree and central stone design is repeated on the front of the case which opens to a single stamp compartment.

A further example of the use of a helical torsion spring (invisibly this time) is a little two-compartment silver case, hallmarked in London for 1909, which when closed holds the stamps safely in place in their tray; when the hinge side is pressed, it opens sufficiently to allow a stamp to be accessed.

We enjoyed a fascinating day, having hit upon a rich and rewarding vein to

explore with an opportunity for further research in the future.

This report really has been a group effort this time, and I am most grateful to several other members of the Study Circle for helping me in its preparation, for providing information, for checking details and for supplying photographs.

The Circle usually meets twice a year, with the display theme decided in advance.

Meetings also discuss a variety of matters of interest to the Circle, whose website www.stampbox.org.uk is an extremely useful resource and reference tool.

For any further information on the Circle, please email jse29@talktalk.net

Reference: Brass stamp boxes and cases between the years 1850 and 1874 by Derek Deadman, WES Journal 51 of March 1998

35

THEBONZOF

IN THE 1920s THERE WAS A CARTOON CHARACTER THAT RIVALLED ANYTHING THE DISNEY CORPORATION HAVE EVER PRODUCED. HIS FAME WAS WIDESPREAD, WITH FANS IN FRANCE, GERMANY, SCANDINAVIA, CZECHOSLOVAKIA, THE USA AND OF COURSE IN HIS HOME COUNTRY OF GREAT BRITAIN. HE WAS A DOG. HE WAS BONZO. MIKE BRYAN WRITES.

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Bonzo was the creation of graphic artist and cartoonist George Studdy who was born on the 23 June 1878 to Ernest and Constance Studdy at the family home in Devonport in the county of Devon. George’s father served as an officer in the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders. George was educated at Clifton College, Bristol and Dulwich College.

He left Dulwich in the summer of 1896, and made a couple of career false starts as an apprentice engineer and a stockbroker. Over the next couple of years he started classes at the Heatherley’s Art School in London and spent a term at Calderon’s Animal School to study animal anatomy as well as drawing.

Having managed to sell some drawings to a few publishers, he was commissioned by several newspapers and magazines to draw action scenes for articles on the Boer War. He was soon being published in Boy’s Own, Comic Cuts, The Graphic, The Tatler and most notably The Sketch. It was at this time he started his long relationship with Valentine’s Postcards of Dundee.

In 1912 George was commissioned by The Sketch to produce a weekly full-page drawing and the occasional dog appeared but it was not until after the Great War that the magazine’s editor expressed a particular interest in ‘The Studdy Dog’– which George had developed over the past few years – suggesting they gave it a trial in the magazine. It was The Sketch’s editor, Bruce Ingram, who suggested the name, Studdy himself being less than enthusiastic.

The first cartoon appeared in 1921 and it proved an instant success, still only known as ‘the Studdy Dog’ the public demanded to know his name. On 8 November 1922, it was announced to the world that the little dog was called ‘Bonzo’.

The fame of Bonzo skyrocketed. A series of Children’s books developed by Studdy, were published featuring his antics. He appeared in many advertisements, selling everything from tobacco, cars, soap, and polish to confectionery and pickles. He was also featured among the first neon signs put up in London’s Piccadilly Circus in 1924.

The postcards were particularly popular with George drawing up to 500 images for Valentine’s alone. Bonzo appeared everywhere. There were perfume bottles and inkwells, china figures, jugs, ashtrays, plates, cups and saucers, condiment sets, and soft toys, and at the top end of the range there were porcelain figures from both the Royal Doulton and Royal Worcester factories. Spears produced several games featuring the dog – including a variation on Snakes & Ladders called ‘The Bonzo Chase Game’, and jigsaw puzzles were made by AVN Jones & Co. In 1924 New Era Films produced 26 ten-minute films starring Bonzo which were on general release in cinemas throughout late 1924 until the end of 1925.

FOUNTAINPEN

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Bonzo’s popularity was not lost on fountain pen manufacturers, with Mentmore releasing a Bonzo fountain pen for the Schools’ and Children’s market in the same year capitalising on the current Bonzomania. The pen itself is not a great example of the pen makers craft, it is a fairly standard black vulcanite lever self-filling flat top with an accommodation clip and a gilt wide cap band. The nib was gilt steel and the barrel is of course marked Bonzo. The only real mark of differentiation to hundreds of similar pens marketed in the 20s was a red ring on the section. This red ring must have stood out like a beacon in classrooms around the country and the world, telegraphing to envious school children that the owner had a ‘Bonzo’ pen.

Schoolchildren of the mid 1920s must have felt the same excitement for their Bonzo pens as I did in the 60s on receiving a ‘Man from Uncle’ pen (with invisible ink) as a birthday gift. Whilst the pen is relatively anodyne the box it came in is certainly not, illustrated with an enthusiastic Bonzo retrieving the pen whilst creating havoc with tumbling inkwells on the top of the lid and many miniature Bonzo’s around the sides of the lid striking various poses. The lid also reveals that the pen is fitted with a patent interchangeable nib and feed holder; the red-ringed section, nib and feed were a single unit that apparently could be taken out and replaced with ease.

Bonzo’s popularity waned over time but he did manage a renaissance as the muse for ironic and comedic 1960’s rock group ‘The Bonzo Dog Doo Da Band’. I am sure I might have been using my ‘Man from Uncle’ pen to do my homework whilst listening to I’m the Urban Spaceman on my Fidelity stereo.

It must be about time for another Bonzo comeback!

Acknowledgements I would like to thank Richard Fitzpatrick, a renowned Bonzo expert who supplied the photographs and whose website is the primary source for this piece. For those who would like to know more about Bonzo please do take a look at Richard’s website www.bonzo.me.uk

38

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A PEN IS FOR LIFE

NOT JUST FOR CHRISTMAS! THE FOLLOWING SMALL PIECE IN THE DAILY TELEGRAPH BY CHRISTOPHER HOWSE GENERATED AN ENORMOUS POST-BAG FOR THE PAPER’S EDITOR

‘

Now that greengrocers use computerised tills, and even betting shops have midget ballpoints, one can go through life barely catching sight of a pencil – until polling day. At the deserted primary school, with jocular polling clerks and the outdoor smell of an indoor floor being trampled by wet footwear, we find, waiting in the pegboard booth, the unsung friend of democracy, the short fat pencil tied to a bit of string (plastic, though perhaps in traditional parts – Alnwick, say, or Stretton Sugwass, sisal may survive). Do the graphite grinding-sheds of Keswick rely on this perilously seasonal trade?

40

’

Replies from Daily Telegraph readers started to flow in following the publication of a letter from Tony Mayston from Buckingham earlier this month. Mr Mayston simply wrote: ‘When did you last see someone using a fountain pen?’

The day after his letter was printed teachers, barristers, wine-tasters, aromatherapists and registrars all contacted the paper saying how they prefer using ink pens to biros or ballpoint pens. Here is a small sample: ✍ Christopher Howse mourns the missing pencil. I would direct him to any IKEA store. There he can pick up hundreds for use with a little pad to note down his purchases.

Mr Howse is clearly neither a golfer nor an astronaut. Every golf course gives out pencils with scorecards.

When did you last see someone using a fountain pen?

Tony Mayston, Buckingham ✍ When did I last see someone using a fountain pen? Yesterday. As a registrar of births, deaths and marriages, I am legally required to do so, using registrar's ink, which as I remind our informants, never fades.

We have records going back to the start of civil registration in 1837, and every word is still perfectly legible.

Lucinda Henderson Stourbridge, Worcestershire ✍ My husband uses a fountain pen to write up his wine-tasting notes – I won the pen in one of The Daily Telegraph’s crossword competitions. He loves using it, as it improves his handwriting.

Michele Platman, Birmingham ✍ At my children’s prep school all pupils from 8–13 years are forbidden from writing with anything else. Furthermore, they stand up when an adult enters their classroom, address their teachers as Sir or Miss and still say grace before each meal.

Mobiles are prohibited and Facebook is blocked on the school intranet. What more could a mother of teenage twins wish for?

Kirsty Blunt, Sedgeford, Norfolk ✍ I use a fountain pen all the time, as my writing with a biro is illegible. I only resort to biros when addressing envelopes in case the ink runs in wet weather.

I suppose one could use indelible ink, but I would never get it off my fingers.

Virginia Snow, Taunton, Somerset ✍ At my aromatherapy practice, I use my trusty Parker fountain pen to write up my patients’ notes in italic longhand.

Pat Frampton, Farnham, Surrey ✍ I hope Patricia Essex is managing to keep up her supply of turquoise ink. I started using brown ink in my Parker fountain pen in 1970, but it became increasingly difficult to come by. However, I managed to build up stocks of three brands, each of a somewhat different hue – one British, two German – which I expect to outlast my need for them.

Neville Teller, London N13 ✍ I use a fountain pen to write cards and letters, and have just completed 70 place settings for a Rotary charter night dinner. However, I need to use a pencil with a rubber on the end to do The Daily Telegraph crossword.

Vanessa Chalmers, Skipton, North Yorkshire

✍ When I joined the Army, officers were expected to sign all correspondence using a fountain pen as a sign of mutual respect, not unlike the principle behind saluting. Most of us still do.

Mike Huntley, Salisbury, Wiltshire ✍ I write the initial composition of my letters to the Editor with a fountain pen, before sending them by email.

John Holmes, Crookham, Hampshire ✍ Ballpoint pens were forbidden at the school, so the fountain pen carried a cachet similar, I imagine, to the brand of mobile phone by today’s youngsters; I was lucky enough to possess a Sheaffer, which I liked to think made me appear pretty ‘cool’. ✍ From the mid 50s until about 15–20 years ago I wouldn’t have dreamed of using anything else, but by then PAPER QUALITY had deteriorated so far that I found myself obliged to carry a secondary pen: modern newsprint doesn’t take fountain pen ink without blotting so that’s the crossword out, and halfway decent greetings cards frequently have some kind of waxy surface which means you have to sit and stare at wet ink for ever – and don’t even consider signing your new debit/credit card with a fountain pen. ✍ In my approaching dotage, I reached the compromise that I will never write any personal letter with anything but a fountain pen, and currently pay approx. £11 at WHS for fifty sheets of reliable notepaper and twenty envelopes to pop them in – it seems a lot to me, but there again I can remember buying petrol for my bike at 3/9 a gallon!

✍ I used to have a very nice Parker fountain pen with an oblique nib, until some kind person half-inched it when I foolishly lent it to a group for signing a visitors’ book. In recent years I have switched between a Sheaffer and a Waterman’s, both excellent fountain pens. Like other commentators, I receive surprised looks when I bring it out to write cheques. My biggest complaint is that birthday cards and their envelopes often have an odd surface, which causes ink to take ages to dry.

Retailers say fountain pens are increasingly prized as luxury purchases while The Daily Telegraph has received more than 100 letters from readers in the past months espousing their love for them.

Amazon, the online retailer, says that sales of fountain pens have doubled since January, compared to the same period the year before.

Parker, which has made pens since 1888, has reported a ‘resurgence’ in sales, while Lamy, the German penmaker, says that sales rose by more than 5% in 2011, according to the BBC. Stationary chain Ryman has seen a 10% rise in sales in the last six weeks. ✍ Judy Miller from Toller Porcorum in Dorset said that she still uses the Parker 51 that she confiscated from my nine year old son in 1975. “I told him it was too expensive for him. He had swapped it for five marbles,” said Ms Miller.

✍ Sharon Hughes, a buyer for department store chain John Lewis, said that people relish returning to traditional objects during tricky times.

“They are an old-fashioned thing but people like the personal touch. It is nice for things to be handwritten and not having everything via email.” ✍ Gordon Scott, vice-president for office products at Parker pens in Europe, the Middle East and Asia, said that pens have become a fashion accessory. “The relationship we have with a fountain pen is changing from it being a working tool towards more of an accessory,” he said.

The revival in fountain pens could prove lucrative for some people. ✍ Christopher Egerton-Thomas, said: “People who have abandoned their fountain pens will do well to check their drawers. My four old Parkers have been valued at £1,200. They are collectors’ items.”

Others are not so sure about the economics of fountain pens. ✍ Andy Wright from Codicote in Hertfordshire, wrote: “I use my father’s 60 year old Parker fountain pen.

“However, I was shocked when I had to pay £6 for a small bottle of ink.”

As well as claiming that ink pens improve their handwriting, readers said that traditional pens flow better than plastic biros.

41

BOOKREVIEW

WESTERN WRITING IMPLEMENTS in the Age of the Quill Pen

by Michael Finlay 198 pages 365 illustrations – 21 in colour The Pen & Pencil Gallery £25

In 1990 three books were published that have had a significant effect on collecting writing equipment. These were – Joe Nickel’s book, Pen Ink and Evidence, which was reprinted in softback form in 2004; Jean-Pierre Lacroux and Lionel van Cleem’s La mémoire des Sergent-Major which was originally in hardback plus an Italian softback version which is extremely difficult to find; and Michael Finlay’s book Western Writing Implements in the Age of the Quill Pen, available only in hardback.

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All three books were primarily concerned with the spectrum of writing equipment available before the 20th century and referred only casually to fountain pens. These three books were a major step forward from Joyce Whalley’s excellent book Writing Implements and Accessories, published in 1975.

The two 1990 European publications were printed in small quantities because the demand was not expected to be excessive and it has taken about 20 years to exhaust supplies. By about 2010 with no supply, the prices of both books had increased to absurd levels; this was a shame because both books were almost essential reading for writing equipment collectors.

In the period from 1990 to 2000 books had been written on fountain pens and a few on inkwells but nothing had replaced these two classics. The quality of both books has withstood the passage of time and consequently Dr Jim Marshall was enthusiastic about reprinting Michael Finlay’s book. The aim was to make it available for collectors at a sensible price but with the work and printing cost, this was never commercially interesting.

Nevertheless, he acquired the copyright from Michael Finlay with the reservations that the book would not be a second edition but a facsimile, it was produced exactly as the original with a slightly reduced page size (about B5) and a soft back.

Many readers will be familiar with the book that sold for £37.50 when it was published but more recent collectors will be unaware of the rave reviews in 1990.

The Antique Collector, The Valuer, The Independent, The Antiquarian Book Monthly Review all pronounced it as a scholarly and excellently researched book that would become a work of reference. It was selected by the Daily and Sunday Telegraph’s book reviewer as one of the 1990 Books of the Year.

The summary in 1990 is as relevant today as it was then. Previous accounts have placed the earliest record of the quill pen as circa AD 630, a date which has to be revised in the light of evidence presented in this book. From not later than AD 547, its continuous use upto and into the present century is examined, together

with a wealth of detail on the preparation of quills and the cutting of the pen for different styles of handwriting, and feathers most commonly used in its making.

As a collector of writing equipment related to the quill pen the author has, to a large extent had to discover for himself, mainly from unpublished and ephemeral sources, both what formed the everyday paraphernalia of the scribe, and how it was used.

The result is a fascinating assemblage of information, which will be of interest to the social historian, the collector, to the modern-day scribe and to the curious in general. There are chapters on the scribes knife, mechanical quill cutting devices, ink, parchment and paper, pounce and pounce pots and inkhorns, inkwells and inkstands. Also covered is the early history of the fountain pen, which finishes where most accounts start, with Waterman in 1884, and experimental metallic pens before mass production; the lead pencils discussed at length and appropriately, the final chapter covers seals and sealing. The illustrations, over 400 in all, including details form an important reference, much, of which is not available elsewhere.

After building up his impressive collection, Michael Finlay moved onto other areas, such as coins, mining tokens, mortars, lighting and domestic household items and their use. He has written more books on these subjects but our interest is focussed on his classic 1990 publication.

His collection was sold to numerous collectors and not surprisingly his good friend Phillip Poole, to whom this book was dedicated, promoted a number of the sales of the rare illustrated items. The pencil chapter was dear to the author’s heart, with it’s origins and story linked to Wad and Borrowdale, so it is most appropriate that Jim Marshall also a devout Cumbrian has published this classic.

Those of you who could not afford the hardback can now browse the pictures or read the authoritative story of early writing equipment. The Pen & Pencil Gallery has done a service to all new collectors by making this classic book available for £25; while writing this review the current price on the internet for a hard back new Finlay is £350 second hand from £150 (La mémoire des Sergent-Major has a €150 starting price on Ebay France – perhaps that will also be reproduced soon!)

Montblanc #146G green striped pen and pencil set with “Masterpiece” cap band. Estimate $1,500 to $2,500.

AT AUCTION

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ZAITPENS

IN 1920 A RUSSIAN IMMIGRANT MASTER CARPENTER AND CABINET MAKER, NEWLY ARRIVED IN THE UK, WAS COMMISSIONED TO MAKE A WRITING DESK FOR A WEALTHY LEEDS BUSINESSMAN . . .

Having arrived in England with little more than the tools he carried in his bag, Nikolay Petrov, had more than a challenge on his hands.

But, as was the nature of workmen in those times, the challenge was accepted and, ultimately, the commission was completed. But to Nikolay Petrov no desk was complete without the means to use it.

And nothing was worse than wasting wood, even offcuts from a completed piece. So, borrowing a lathe, he turned some pen holders for his customer, using any scraps of wood he could lay his hands on. This became his unofficial trademark and these scraps would frequently come from the wood he had used in his cabinet making.

But making pens was little more than a pastime as Nikolay Petrov became a successful businessman with commissions for his work from across the country.

He continued to make pens in his spare time; often just to give away. Eventually he moved into using olive wood. Whilst a notoriously difficult wood to turn it has qualities that make it particularly good for pen making, as it is strong and has an excellent grain. As is the way with wooden pens, each pen has a unique personality and this is an ethos on which the company still manufactures and trades today. Zait pens, (Zait is the old Aramaic name for olive wood) is still trading over 90 years on from those early days in Leeds. It is owned by the third generation of the family and now there is a fourth generation also in the trade.

The wood they use is at least 2,000 years old as that is the time it takes for the wood to mature. The wood is sourced from Spain, Greece or Turkey, indeed anywhere where the olive is part of the staple diet. But it is Jerusalem Olive Wood that is the finest and with the deepest grain. It is also the most difficult to find.

Nikolay Petrov’s business (by this time he had changed his name to Seymour) was handed on to his son, Stanley. Nikolay died in 1957.

Stanley had purchased the firm of Scottish Veneers Ltd from his wife’s father and built it up, in time, into a large international company.

Scottish Veneers was sold on to Mallison Denny and is now incorporated into Sajemay Ltd. Stanley too continued with pen making as a sideline, again often giving pens away as inducements to customers or as a ‘thank you’ for orders when they were complete. Sadly much of the pen making business and the records were destroyed by fire in 1975 but Gary Seymour, the third generation, is still making pens today. And still in 2,000 year old olive wood.

This is artisan pen making at its best – pens are crafted for specific collector markets and there are enough orders on the books to keep the factory functioning despite a worldwide recession.

Mechanical parts are resourced from far and wide with the barrel and cap being finished by hand. The passion of the grandfather seems to have spanned the generations. Gary told me that his introduction to carpentry was simply to “get on with it” as Stanley was too busy running his company to spend too much time training his son. That depicts the strong entrepreneurial flavour of this company which now uses state-of-the-art equipment to manufacture the barrels and caps and both Gary and his two sons are involved in the business today.

Gary likes olive wood in particular because of its unique beauty.

Each pen takes on average four days to make, from start to finish and is presented in a fine olive wood display box. At £300 to £400 with the quality of the wood and the workmanship involved these have to be very reasonable prices.

44

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45

BOOKREVIEW

Penol Pens and Pencils

By Joao P Martins & Michael Miloro ISBN non Publisher: Privately printed (Blurb) Publishing Year: 2012 1st Edition 1st Print Language: English Book Format: Hard Cover Book Dimensions: 20.5x25.5cm 117 Pages

Review by David Shepherd

46

Regular readers of the WES Journal will be familiar with the Danish brand of Penol Pens. In No 80 Winter 2007 and No 81 Spring 2007, João Pavão Martins, a Professor of Computer Science in Lisbon, Portugal, wrote two articles about Penol, an offspring of the depression. In conjunction with Michael Miloro, an American doctor, those articles have been expanded into a small book about the pens and pencils developed and produced exclusively by Chr. Olsen, the distributor of Parker pens in Denmark. Olsen began manufacturing its own brand of pens and pencils, trying to attract the lower end of the market that could not afford Parker pens. While looking for a name for this brand, the telegram address of the company ‘parkerpenol’ proved to be the inspiration of the name Penol. The factory was located at Emdrupvej 28a, Copenhagen.

It may seem strange that two authors from opposite sides of the Atlantic have collaborated on a book about the history and manufacture of a brand of Danish pens. On many occasions over the past several years, independently of one another, both of them have travelled to Denmark. During their visits, they took time to search antique stores and flea markets throughout Zealand, Funen, and the Jutland peninsula of Denmark, where they often came across Penol pens, which, despite their attractive appearance, did not seem to arouse much interest with local fountain pen collectors.

When João began collecting pens, Penol models were plentiful in Denmark and available at very reasonable prices; Michael was not so lucky, having arrived on the scene nearly a decade later. Both authors began buying Penol pens, first as a curiosity, and later as an obsession.

As their collections grew, they began to research the company’s history, its production and development.

Since there were no knowledgeable collectors of Penol pens, the quest for information was difficult. Furthermore, living in Lisbon, Portugal, and in Omaha, Nebraska, several thousand miles from Denmark, and not

speaking or reading Danish, was a further hindrance to their task of acquiring information about this Danish company. But, using their research and scientific skills, armed with persistence and a Danish-English dictionary, as well as friends in Denmark, the quest began.

The book traces the origin of the company in 1932, through the period of German occupation from 1940–1945, to the post war period and a time when Parker again dominated the Danish market. There is some speculation as to the origin of the Penol brand name and these are discussed early on.

It is surprising that a small company, in a small country, and in a very troubled economic and social period (the Depression and WW2), was able to produce such a variety of high quality models.

The first Penol pens were based, not surprisingly, along the lines of the bestselling flat-top Parker Duofold and were produced in three sizes, Penol No.1, No.2, and No.3, the largest one, No.3, being about the size of the Duofold Special. The early models show that Penol ordered many parts from outside suppliers; the clips have no imprint and show quite a large variety (their shape was dependent on who manufactured and supplied them) and they have 14ct warranted nibs.

At the beginning (1932–1934) Penol produced no magazine advertisements, probably due to the difficult economic conditions. Little by little, as the financial situation improved in Denmark, Penol’s model range was expanded with the addition of models with stepped cap ends.

The German occupation (1940–1945), together with the German preference for black pens, reversed the colour range offered by Penol. The dominant colour in pre-war years was coral red, whereas by the 1940s it was black.

The book is well researched and illustrated.

There are many technical drawings of the Penol models and examples of advertisements. It will appeal to all lovers of fountain pen history and especially to Parker and Montblanc aficionados.

‘PEN PROFILE’ CALL FOR ENTRIES! The editor would like to hear from members who wish to feature in Pen Profile. Please send details of what you collect, best finds, areas of expertise, burning questions, latest acquisitions and dream finds.

Details to the Editor: David Shepherd 60 Surrenden Crescent, Brighton BN1 6WF ) 01273 554378 david@parker51.co.uk

Arian Antiques An eclectic mix of antiques and collectables

www.arianantiques.co.uk 10 High Street, Shrewsbury SY1 1SP 01743 245950 sales@writehere-uk.com www.writeherekitenow.co.uk

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WESJOURNAL

ADVERTISING RATES READERSHIP AND DISTRIBUTION

A largely professional body of 500 members, and up to 1,000 readers who collect writing equipment and associated ephemera. Distribution is by mail direct to Society members, including dealers, manufacturers and retailers of writing equipment.

MECHANICAL DATA Page size: (A4) 297mm d x 210mm w Bleed: 303mm d x 213mm w Type area: 255mm d x 185mm w Mono 1/4 page ads 125mm d x 90mm w Mono 1/2 page ads 125mm d x 185mm w Mono full page ads 255mm d x 185mm w Colour 1/6 page ads 80mm d x 88mm w Colour 1/3 page horizontal ads 80mm d x 185mm w Colour 1/2 page vertical ads 255mm d x 88mm w Colour 1/2 page horizontal ads also available Confirmation of advertising bookings must be received by 24 January for Spring issue, 15 May for Summer issue, 8 September for Autumn issue. Artwork/copy should follow no later than two weeks after the dates shown unless prior arrangements have been made with either Mike West or the editor.

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SUPPORT THE PUBLICATION AT THE HEART OF THE WORLD OF WRITING EQUIPMENT! RATES EFFECTIVE FROM JANUARY 2012 Members

Non Members

MONO RATES Quarter page Half page Full page Inside front/back cover Single page flyers (inserts)

£30 £50 £80 £120 £100

£45 £75 £120 £180 £150

FULL COLOUR RATES 1/6 page 1/3 page 1/2 page (horizontal or vertical) full page Inside front/back cover Back cover

£33 £63 £90 £175 £250 £275

£48 £90 £130 £250 £360 £400

For further information check out www.wesonline.org.uk.

If you advertise in the journal your ad is also placed on the much visited WES website www.wesonline.org.uk until the next issue of the journal.