One painting, one pen, one dedication...one friend...

       His name was António Maximiano Nunes, but everybody knew him as “Max”. He was a dermatologist, had forty seven years old and was crazy about Fountain pens (just like me): on January 14^th of 1997, without any warning, he left us forever, leaving a profound sadness to all those who prived with him.

       Max was a rare person! Not one of those that started being good just because they left this dimension, but a real man who was a true friend to his friends and sucked the narrow out of life.

We participated together in several Bonham's Auctions in London as well as “Pen shows” in the United States of America, where we could obtain good exemplars to our fountain pen collections; it was frequent that during the auctions we had to come to an agreement between us or with other friends that went with us, in order to avoid competition for the same pen; or, in other cases, there were no prior agreements, and from the moment when one of us lifted the paddle (or in this case the card) and told the other: stay still “this one” is mine! It always worked out immediatly, no questions asked.

       I can still recall one auction where a Waterman 416 fountain pen, with coral ebonite with silver overlay, a rare pen that Max was eager to have; the room was full, there were many people interested but Max was decided not to let it go. I remember he lifted the card in a determined way and didn't put it down until everyone else did before – the pen was finally his for the amount of three thousand and eight hundred pounds; that night there was a celebration, Max was absolutely thrilled!

       This story about the pen is related to another story that touched me even deeper. Max was a very good drawer and had the habit of offering friends a portrait in charcoal, made by him, inspired in pictures also taken by himself; and, that was how on my birthday I received as a gift a “picture-portrait” in charcoal with a very particular dedication.; Max had the patience of filling the pen (and I say patience because the referred pen was an eyedropper from the beggining of the century and it had to be filled with a dropper) and, drawing it, using it not only in the drawing but in the dedication itself!

       This fact is revealing of the imense sensibility of this man, sensibility which he put at use in his daily life, either with his family, with the people who he related to, or in his practice as a dermatologist.

The emptyness and the sadness remain, but the example of this way of living remains as well, and that, I think was a good spiritual heritage that Max left us!

            So long my dear friend!

Legend: In medallion, portrait of myself in charcoal by Max. Above, the drawing of the Waterman 416 with silver overlay, eyedropper, bought in auction.

The celebratory dinner at Montpeliano restaurant ! from left to the right: António Gagean, M. Conceição Neves ( Max's wife ), Ana Paula Leite, Luiz Leite and Max.

PENOL PENS A new and wonderful book from João P. Martins and Michael Miloro

You can see some pages ( only some pages ) of this fantastic book  or order it on this link:http://www.blurb.com/books/2989918

CONKLIN CRESTOR the unraveled mistery..........

In August 2008 during the Washington Fountain Pen Super Show organized by my friend Bob Johnson I found a very interesting fountain pen ( first from the left on the first photo ) with no nib, a Conklin feeder and made with a similar plastic used by Conklin on some of their models ( see pen set on the first photo ) ; I also noticed that the lever was not a classic Conklin one but the clip was very similar to the Conklin clips of some ALL AMERICAN CONKLIN models ( check again on the first photo pens nos. 3 , 6 and 7 ) although they have crossed arrows engraved on the top of the clips !
The seller asked me something like forty dollars and I bought the pen because I found it very nice.
Again,  during a Washington Fountain Pen Super Show but this time in August 2011 I saw a similar pen gray with red speckles with a CONKLIN feeder and a warranted gold nib ( second pen from the left on the first photo ). Another forty dollars and I was more intrigued than when I bought the first one !

The first three photos were worked on by my friend João Pavão Martins to whom I wish to thank.

Second photo with details of the first three pens: two Conklin Crestor and one Conklin All-American

After coming back home from the Show and still during the year of 2011  I bought on Ebay a similar jet black pen set ( same engraved clip, same lever filler, same Conklin feeder and same Warranted gold nib ) but this time inside a Conklin box !!!!! It was too much coincidence ( third photo ) .

During the month of January 2012 I bought on Ebay another similar pen in jet black but this time with a barrel´s imprint:  CONKLIN CRESTOR made in USA   !!!!!! The mistery was unraveled four years after I bought the first pen !!!!! See next photos.

Now, the next step is to discover to what enterprise ( ? )  belonged that monogram with crossed arrows because everything points toward a custom order . What do you think ?

THE SOUTH BEND PEN !!!!

This was a Pentrace message board Sunday post on the  18th of December of 2011


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I love pens no matter the price , the fashion, the material , the filling sistem the nibs etc. etc etc. etc. and I love to learn about the stories about the companies and inclusive sometimes about the previous owners.... it's a whole world to discover and it's for me one of the funs of the hobby !!!! This time I'd like to present to you a wonderful modest eyedropper pen in mottled red hard rubber with an hexagonal shape ( only my third one with this shape ) wich has a mysterious barrel's imprint: THE SOUTH BEND . To acomplish with Paul's request to not re-plow old ground ( and I usually try to do it ) I did choose this pen . The pen came inside an Eclipse very old box and there are some questions to answer: 1 - Was SOUTH BEND a pen manufacturer OR a CUSTOMER who ordered these pens ( inside the Eclipse box was another similar pen with a distorted cap ). 2 - If some company made these pens to a customer could be ECLIPSE ? The pen is a good quality one at a level of a Parker or a Wirt ( and I add a photo of my two other hexagonal pens in order you can compare them. 3 - IF John Roede was right in the articles he wrote about ECLIPSE, Marx Finstone the founder and first president of the company arrived in USA in the year of 1906 and found the company in 1910 . These pens were for sure made between 1895 and 1905 !!!! So here they are , the questions I'd like to be answered by at least one of you! Now the pen and the box:

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A REPLY from PAUL BLOCH: <><><><> <><><><><><><><> <><><><> <><><><> <><><><> Looks like some digging has turned up a possible answer: The Rupert name on the pen box is that of a prosperous (originally German) farm family located in South Bend PA from the 18th century until the present day. The pen - an octagonal, overfeed eyedropper - was made by Wirt - in a style known to be his, and of a quality consistent with Luiz' pen - working in that part of the world at that time. Some careful collector put the box and the pen together at some point and just confused things, it appears. Junior G-Man badge was just awarded an Oak Leaf Cluster.

#55 red hard rubber Waterman's pen " Byrd Antarctic expediction "

This is a normal #55 red hard rubber WATERMAN'S pen with a special barrel's  imprint  allusive to  one of BYRD'S Antarctic expedictions. They are very hard to find in perfect condition and if you think that you can do the imprint in a common #55 pen let me tell you that this imprint have some particularities that only a well known collector can distinguish !

More about this in:


http://www.south-pole.com/p0000107.htm

BLUE AND BRONZE ( or brown and blue or blue and gold ...whatever ) FOUNTAIN PENS............

PARK ROW, EVER-READY, KEYSTONE, MARXTON, MONROE  pen set standard size ( ALL ECLIPSE MADE ).
PHOTOS WORKED ON BY João Pavão Martins.

 AMBASSADOR PEN ( J. HARRIS made NY CITY ) , NO NAME COMBO,  E. FABER PEN, PARKER THRIFT TIME,  STYLECRAFT PEN SET,     BLCKBIRD CLIPLESS MODEL and finally an advertising British pen probably made by MENTMORE ( and belonging to the private collection of my friend João Pavão Martins )

 WHALTAM, MARATHON , MONROE ladies size ring top , MONROE ladies size with clip and AMBASSADOR  ( J. HARRIS made, NY CITY  )







 CARTER'S ladies size, WATERMAN'S 92 V , WATERMAN'S PATRICIAN  PEN SET ladies size

 BLACKBIRD PEN AND BOX  ( SWAN made )

 FRANK, WEAREVER ( David Khan ) and PIONEER PEN SET ( David Khan top of the line )

JOHN BULL PEN and box ( British made pen related with Conway Stewart )

WATERMAN'S PATRICIAN, EVER - READY combo ( ECLIPSE MADE ) AND OVERSIZED MONROE ( ECLIPSE MADE ) .

 STEPHENS #56  ( British manufacturer )

AN EPENCO AND A "NO NAME" PEN SET VEST POCKET SIZE

AN OVERSIZED ECLIPSE PEN SET AND BOX

J. HARRIS pen and sub brands . Third tier pens ? YES they are!!! But have a look please!

• The photos of the plastic pens were worked on  as usual by my friend João Pavão Martins to whom I wish to thank.

J. Harris a NY City pen manufacturer , I would say a less known pen manufacturer is considered by the old fountain pen collectors community as a third tier pen maker. Anyway they made interesting pens in black chased hard rubber  with different filling mechanisms: Eyedropper, matchstick filler and lever filler .
In his article published in PEN WORLD MAGAZINE from June 2011, Richard Binder wrote: J. HARRIS & SON was located in New York City. The company got its start during the era of slip caps and hard rubber , and survived  into the late 1940s , renaming itself somewhere along the way to become  the MAJESTIC Pen Company. Early examples of Harris's work include the cone cap lever filler and the screw cap matchstick filler shown above . By the end of the 1930s MAJESTIC was cranking out a wide variety of very atractive pens that were decently made but still suffered from thin metal parts with thinner gold plating . Most had untipped steel nibs , but top line MAJESTIC pens still carried gold nibs as in the old days. HARRIS sold pens under the AMBASSADOR , UNIVERSITY and CONGRESS brands as well as under its own name. ( Richard Binder in Pen World Magazine , June 2011, pages 68 and 69 ).
I would like to add to this information the following: HARRIS also made pens under PRESIDENT brand .
Some MAJESTIC pens has no gold nibs but gold plated with its own imprint.( see photos ).
Any further information  to lleite@netcabo.pt  about this pen manufacturer will be welcomed and published in this blog.

 PEN WORLD MAGAZINE ,  June 2011 .  Text by Richard Binder

 Three black hard rubber matchstick filler  pens with same size and shape: from top to bottom, a BAIRD & NORTH, a J. HARRIS ( printed on the magazine and finally an AIKIN LAMBERT .
BAIRD & NORTH was a silversmith and if they made some nice overlays ( for Crocker as an example ) they did not make pens! So some pen manufacturer  made this one. AIKIN LAMBERT AND J. HARRIS , both are now recognized as fountain pen manufacturers but... the same size and shape are too much coincidence !!!

Detail of the nibs ( no detail of the J.HARRIS nib printed in the magazine )

Detail of the sections ( compare again with the section of the J. HARRIS pen printed in the magazine )

And finally details of both matchstick fillers mechanisms

MAJESTIC PENS

 More MAJESTIC fountain pens

 More MAJESTIC fountain pens ( ladies size )

Another Majestic ladies size, made with a nice and unusual plastic!

More MAJESTIC fountain pens ( first three from left ) , two ALL AMERICAN Conklins , a SWAN SWALLOW made with the same plastic........and finally a small WEIDLICH !!!!

 AMBASSADOR  pens

From the  left to the right: an UNIVERSITY, two CONGRESS and two PRESIDENT pens

Details of two MAJESTIC gold nibs in diferent sizes

Detail of a MAJESTIC gold plated nib ( gold plated completely lost )

Detail of the poor quality of gold plating in these nice pens

Detail of a very nice MAJESTIC  clip. You can find traces ( or inspiration )  based on  this clip in some very expensive modern pens ( David Oscarson pens for example )