Waterman's 32A, Back in the Saddle

I'm so glad Martin Ferguson let me sneak in at the end of the day at the Baltimore Pen Show. In a few minutes, Martin was able to re-sac my current favorite fountain pen, my grey and red Waterman's 32A, armed with a delicious 14 carat gold flexible nib. I've sincerely missed writing with this pen. To welcome the 32A back into the fold, I filled the new sac with J. Herbin Cacao du Bresil - my most favored ink - and wrote a letter to my pen pal in Australia on some smooth white Clairefontain Triomphe paper.

It doesn't pick up well in photographs, but Cacao du Bresil is one of those inks which evades classification. On first glance, it might look black. On second glance, possibly brown... or grey, maybe even sepia. It's very complex. Cacao du Bresil is the perfect color for the 32A, a pen from the 1930s which reflects the dignified austerity of its time. Seeing that I had a color scheme on my hands, I had to follow through. I bound the letter with a shiny Levenger clip, and packaged the letter into an envelope I made from a Waterman pen ad.

I posted the letter with a few great stamps. I hope this letter sticks out as much as my first letter to this pen pal, which arrived in much flashier packaging. It was a real joy writing this letter, I hope it's the beginning of a lengthy new era with my 32A.

On the Road: Baltimore Pen Show 2012

I find myself in Baltimore about once a month, but yesterday proved a rare event: a good time in Charm City. Held in two beautiful rooms at the Tremont Grand Hotel, the second annual three day pen-fest known as the Baltimore Pen Show proved a mighty fine affair. I arrived late morning on the second day of the show, and was immediately greeted by rows of vintage pens right up my alley. At the show, I had three priorities: find a pretty pen, buy a refill for my Pelikan R600, and repair at least one of my favorite pens currently on the 'injured list.'

Because my collecting instinct has been dormant for a while, there was nothing I was actively seeking at this show. So, I took it upon myself to carefully scan every table of vintage pens for something to catch my eye. As it turned out, the first row I walked down pressed every one of my collecting buttons. There were several tables of all-metal ring top pens and a good selection of dip pens and dip pen holders. I got so caught up in gawking and examining the fine specimens, I completely forgot to take pictures. In any case, I made a mental note of these pens, and continued my journey around the rest of the show.

At the end of the first room was a doorway to a second room, equally as large as the first. It would be here where all of my commercial activity for the day would take place. Strolling around the tables, I found myself at a display of Cross pens, aka pens manufactured by the A.T. Cross Company. Truth be told, I don't care for any of the Cross fountain pen offerings, but I swoon for their classic ballpoint model, the Century. A thin, well-balanced pen with good weight, the Century fits well into both a coat pocket and a hand. Like many pen manufacturers which produce popular models, Cross released the Century in many different finishes. So while I already own three (brown, baby blue, and rolled gold) I still keep my eyes open for variations on the iconic pen.

The selection of Cross pens I was perusing happened to be owned by a former decades-long Cross employee. His table included many rare Cross fountain pens - in which I had no interest, and a couple ballpoints. The one which caught my eye was the fine piece pictured below. Spoiler Alert: I bought it. While I was taken with the pen, the gentleman explained to me that the model, which I believe is the 23k gold-plated Streamers model from the Cross "Jewelers Collection" released in the mid 1990s, was widely panned as unattractive and undesirable.

I think we can all agree, people in the 90s had terrible taste. After engraving, Cross lightly coated the pen so the grooves wouldn't irritate the hand. As a result, the pen has a surprisingly smooth finish. While I knew the pen had to be mine, I exercised some self control, made mental note of the item, and continued on my tour of the show. But at the end, after deciding none of the ring tops or dip pens were items I couldn't live without, I returned to the Cross table and bought the 80s oddity. Pen purchase down, I picked up some rollerball refills for my Pelikan R600 and ogled some excellent quality pads of pen-themed stationery from Anderson Pens.

Then, I sought out a repairman. There were three people at the show doing pen repairs, two of them were focusing solely on nib modification. But luckily, Martin Ferguson of martinspens51.com was there doing repairs. 

I went to Martin with a mere 10 minutes left in the show, so I only had time for one repair. I selected my Waterman's #32A for a quick sac replacement. There are number of filling mechanisms for fountain pens, many of which require a rubber sac to hold the ink inside the body of the pen. Over time, these sacs dry out and crack, rendering the pen incapable of holding ink. The sac in my Waterman's fell apart a little over a year ago, and I've been itching to repair it. Thankfully, in just a few minutes, Martin was able to send my Waterman's back into my writing rotation.

The show over for the day, and the bar rolled out for the exhibitors only after-party, I was the last show attendee out of the door. Leaving the hotel, I was already looking forward to next year's show - because I had a really good day ...in Baltimore.

The Pen is Mightier, But...

It's 65 and sunny in Washington, D.C. Spring is in the air. As such, I'm feeling mighty green. So, today I pulled back the curtains, threw open the windows, and wrote a letter while sitting in the sun.

Feeling a tad industrious, I printed off the newly refurbished Smith Premier Typewriter Co. vintage letterhead image onto 28 lb. Hammermill color copy paper. Then, I picked up my desperately in need of cleaning Parker 45 loaded with Platinum Blue Black ink, began writing - and then promptly capped the pen an tossed the sheet of paper. The 45 was skipping and the Blue Black was bringing me down.

Because each of my vintage fountain pens requires repair, I took a chance on my first fountain pen purchase, a steel-nibbed Waterman Kultur. To load it, I cracked a new bottle of J. Herbin Vert Empire. It was sooo worth it. A fresh pen and some green ink kicked my mood into high gear, and I think the result was a pretty good letter.

Finishing the whole thing off with one of my Levenger paper clips and a homemade envelope made from green card stock.

Normally, I'd wait for a letter to arrive in the mailbox of its recipient before posting about it. But my afternoon cheer didn't want to wait to share The Smith Premier Typewriter Co. image with you, dear readers. If vintage letterheads are your thing, the image is now available for download in the Vintage Letterhead Image Archive. I'm pretty proud of this image, it's relatively good quality and I love the company logo of a typewriter atop a sword and plume, with the line, "The pen is mightier than the sword, but the Smith Premier Typewriter bends them both." Plus, that capital "P" is gorgeous.

Collection Inspiration: Wahl Ring Top

There are soooooo many fountain pens out there! And, like many collectors in many other hobbies, pen enthusiasts often choose to focus their collections around a common theme, whether it be a manufacturer, color scheme, material or era. For a couple years now, I have purchased pens without any single thread to tie my collection together [aside from the fact that each pen spoke to me at some point]. I never actually felt much of a need to focus the collection, I figured that as long as I appreciated all of my pieces that it didn't matter if they were a cohesive grouping. That changed when I purchased my first ring top.

When I first saw this 1920s all metal, sterling silver, hand engraved, lever filling Wahl, I knew that it belonged in my pen case... and that it needed company.

Ring top pens were originally advertised as vest pens for men. They were worn with a short chain that attached to a button hole in the man's vest and were kept in a vest pocket. Later, for reasons not 100% clear, these same pens were advertised to women as ladies' pens, worn on a chain around the neck. Same pens, just different target markets. I've had considerable trouble accurately dating my particular pen, so I'm not sure whether it was advertised as a vest pen or a ladies' pen.

I searched around the internet on multiple occasions, and while I found Wahl advertisements for very similar pens on the Pen Collectors of America website, I'm not totally comfortable saying that the pen I own and the pen advertised are the same.

When I went to the Raleigh Pen Show in June I made a special point of asking around to see if anyone could give me information on my little pen. Unfortunately, no one could really give me any specifics beyond general information on Wahl all metal ring tops. I did, however, find a vintage Waterman ring top with a strikingly similar floral pattern. The Waterman vendor, Alan Hirsch, posited that this particular pattern may have just been a popular trend in the 1920s, meaning that the engravers from Wahl and Waterman probably didn't copy the others' design, but that they were probably inspired by a common third party design. To Wahl's benefit, Alan volunteered that my pen was prettier than the Waterman he was selling. I wonder what species of flower inspired the pattern, any ideas?

I thought for sure that my quest to find out more about my pen had ended, when through our personal correspondence, I found out that Julie from Whatever that she, too, had a sterling Wahl ring top. I held my breath, until Julie posted about her pen on her blog, and it turns out that our pens are twins!

Julie found the same Wahl ad that I did, and she's a tad more inclined than I am to believe that our pens are the very same model as the pen advertised in the vintage catalog.

Historical ambiguities aside, this 4.5"-ish writer is one of my favorite pens. The all metal section is fitted with a Wahl No. 2, a very flexible 14k nib. When the pen arrived in my mailbox, the nib was a bit scratchy, even on the smoothest of papers. So, I had nibmeister Deb Kinney smooth my nib at the Raleigh Pen Show for a nominal fee, and it writes brilliantly.

I don't have a chain for this or any of my other ring top pens, yet, but I do plan on wearing them as vest pens in the future. Can you think of any places where I can get a deal on a sterling silver pen chain [or a double albert chain]?

I was so excited to purchase this ring top, and I look forward to acquiring [many?] more!

Vintage* Pen Tray

As I was studying this summer, I de-stressed from time to time by engaging in a little retail therapy. Among the pen related items I purchased was this fantastic vintage pen tray. The seller advertised the tray as an authentic lacquered piece with gold accents from the early 1800s.

In years gone by, before the age of the fountain pen, when dip pens were the primary writing tool, writers needed a place to put their pens to prevent ink from getting all over their table, blotter, or writing surface. Their solution: the pen tray.

It was typical of finer pen trays to have arms, or a small rack, protruding from the tray [example 1, example 2] to hold the pen above the tray's surface, to avoid getting ink all over the pen. My tray doesn't have this feature, so it's possible [example 3] that it was not originally intended as a pen tray at all. It is possible that my little tray was instead used as a calling card tray - to present visitor's cards to the lady of the house holding visiting hours in her parlor [example 4]. Then again, it's possible that this tray just isn't authentic at all.

While the tray certainly is lacquered, and it does have some wear and tear, it's unclear to me whether it is faux vintage or authentic vintage. It would be neat if the tray actually were 200-ish years old, but I'm not going to put many eggs in that wishful basket. Oh well, whether it's an authentic piece from the turn of the 19th century or a great buy from TJ Maxx, I still can't wait to display it on my future desk.

Pilot Legno 89s: A Pictorial

As you can probably tell, my preferred tool for writing is a fountain pen. I collect them... sort of. I really just keep around as many as I can use, and then I try to sell off those that end up gathering dust to purchase new pens! It's a wonderfully delicious cycle.

Well, I recently made the decision to begin "trading up" my pens, getting rid of many in exchange for a few. The first pen to come to my mail box using this new strategy was a Pilot Legno 89s. The definition of legno is "with the wood." This makes perfect sense when considering how the 89s' barrel is made. The body is made from a kind of compressed wood, where thin slices of wood are pressed under high pressure and impregnated with resin. The exterior is then somehow imprinted with a remarkably authentic looking wood texture.



Released in 2007, only in Japan, the 89s commemorates the 89th anniversary of the Pilot pen company.


The pen comes with a Pilot No. 3 14 carat white gold nib. Mine is a medium, which writes like a western fine nib. Asian pen nibs tend to run more narrow than their western counterparts.


At 4.1" from end cap to nib, the 89s is made to be used while "posted," or capped. To put it in perspective, the 89s is just a hair shorter than an Esterbrook SJ, although it is reasonably, and pleasantly, heavier.


The 89s is a cartridge pen, which means exactly what it sounds like: it takes cartridge ink. But I was lucky enough to score mine with a squeeze converter. To fill, all I have to do is insert the nib into a bottle of ink and press the pressure bar a few times.


This magnificent piece of art walked into my life at a substantial discount by way of a gracious seller over at the Fountain Pen Network. It's been my frequent experience that the people selling pens in FPN's classified section are generally good folks who sell at reasonable prices, all in the name of spreading the fever. The fountain pen fever... of which I was a willing victim.


What instrument do you prefer to write your correspondence with? Do you have any dream pens or pencils (or markers, or paints, etc.)?

The First Carnival of Pen, Pencil and Paper

Everyday Correspondence was fortunate enough to be chosen as a contributor for the First Carnival of Pen, Pencil and Paper! As described by this month's Carnival host, Notebook Stories:

Some carnivals have roller coasters, fried dough, and oversized stuffed animals as prizes. This carnival offers just as much fun and variety, if you love handmade Japanese paper, fountain pens, Filofaxes, and 15-year old spiral notebooks. Every month, a different blog will host this traveling collection of the best posts about pens, pencils, notebooks, and other related topics.
I’m so excited to be launching the Carnival with such a great collection of posts. The submissions were everything I’d hoped for: a wide range of topics from a variety of blogs, some that I knew well and some new ones I’ve just discovered. It was hard to select a few favorites to highlight as Editor’s Picks, so I chose a few from the blogs that were new to me.

Everyday Correspondence's "exhibit" at the Carnival is a post about Thomas Jefferson's fountain pen, which I was able to see on a recent visit to his home, Monticello. For more information about the Carnival, including on how to submit and where it will be hosted next, check out this post over at Notebook Stories.

My favorite post from this month's Carnival is from Monda at Fresh Ribbon, titled Reading the Minutes. It is about discovering an old minutes log from the Daughters of the American Revolution. I enjoyed it because the secretary who kept those minutes probably never realized that she was going to be corresponding the activities of her organization to individuals 70+ years after they were written. And, also, because the post features a letter from Eleanor Roosevelt.

What about you, what is your favorite "site to see" at the Carnival?

A Fountain Pen of Note

One of my favorite exhibits on display at Monticello was Thomas Jefferson's fountain pen. According to the card, this pen, made of silver and gold, was used by Jefferson in 1824, two years before his death on July 4, 1826.

I don't have any pictures of the notebooks mentioned in the display, I did see one and it was quite ingenious. The notebook was a fan style bound collection of credit card sized ivory slats. Jefferson would write on the slats in pencil and then erase for re-use. Brilliantly durable.


The above image is a close up shot of the nib. I apologize for the low quality pictures, they were taken in low light without a flash, per the rules. Below, you can make out the initials "TJ" on the butt of the pen. Though not clear in the photo, they are actually quite legible.


I inquired about replicas at the gift shop, but unfortunately, none were for sale.

NOTE: I found a short blurb about Jefferson's involvement in the creation of the modern fountain pen here. The images displayed in the article are replicas of then pen shown in this post .

Market Watch: Cross.com Summer Sale

I have no affiliation with Cross, but I thought that some of you would like to know that Cross is having a summer sale, and they've got some great deals on fountain pens.

I picked up an ATX, regularly priced at $85, for $30, and it's in one of my most favorite colors, purple!

If you'd like to take a gander, here is the link. They do have limited inventory, so some pens may be unavailable for order.

J. Herbin Lierre Sauvage Review

When writing letters, I almost always write with a fountain pen. Fountain pens give me versatility in both line choice and ink choice. As such, I have many pens with many different nibs, and I have many bottles of ink. The only green ink I have at the moment is Lierre Sauvage, made by J. Herbin.


I have taken images of my review via scanner and digital camera, unfortunately, neither image does full justice to Lierre Sauvage. The scan is much too blue and the photo does not capture the crispness of the line laid down by the pen and ink combination. So, to best inform you about the ink, I give you both images. Click the images to open full size in a new browser tab or window.

The scan (click to enlarge):

The photo (click to enlarge):


For more ink reviews, visit the Ink Review sub-forum at the Fountain Pen Network.

Drool-Worthy Pen Catalog

I have no affiliation with Fountain Pen Hospital, but as a fountain pen enthusiast, I did request one of their catalogs. As it turns out, it's a beautiful volume, deserving of a place on my coffee table.

There are 90 thick, glossy pages of beautiful fountain pens.

Out of pure coincidence, the pens I find to be most attractive all happen to be from German brands: Lamy, Pelikan, Faber Castell, Reform and my favorite, Graf von Faber Castell. Curiously enough, although I love the aforementioned brands, I don't own a pen from any of them. Maybe in time, when my budget will allow.


At the moment, my collection of fountain pens (which I use to write my correspondence) is heavy on American made pens such as: Parker, Cross and Esterbrook.

If you're in the marker for fountain pens, or if, like me, you just enjoy high quality window shopping, I suggest you order this catalog. You can request a free catalog on the Fountain Pen Hospital website by clicking the "free catalog" button next to the header on their website.