Drexel Collection

[antoniosz]

Collecting does not have to be expensive. Here is my collection of

Drexel pens. Nice colors, el-cheapo pens from late 30s and 40s (I guess).

Included are also so ephemera. A small piece of FP history.

Any additional info about this company is appreciated.

 

http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b325/azavalia/drexel0306.jpg

Edited April 19, 2007 by antoniosz

[weepstah]

Antonios,

 

Neat pens. I like the decorative capbands. With a name like Drexel, I was thinking it might have been a local brand to the Philly area. How have you found the quality of pens to be? Nibs, plating, etc...

 

TIA

 

weepstah

[antoniosz]

Antonios,

Neat pens. I like the decorative capbands. With a name like Drexel, I was thinking it might have been a local brand to the Philly area. How have you found the quality of pens to be? Nibs, plating, etc...

weepstah

 

I also was somehow Drexel U. related but it was not

I mostly enjoy the pencils and the combos With a transplanted nib and feed can become writers

 

The quality is ... el-cheapo. Gold plated, folded tine nibs. The plastics have characteristic defects, for example when the cap is formed from tube the closing of the top is incomplete of with a visible crack etc. But the colors are really even nicer than in the picture...

[antoniosz]

One more addition to this group of nice 30s(?) plastics.

The green is in reality much better than the picture shows:

http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b325/azavalia/greendrexel1.jpg

Edited March 19, 2007 by antoniosz

[antoniosz]

An updated picture of the collection

 

http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b325/azavalia/drexel-09-2007-1.jpg

 

http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b325/azavalia/drexel-09-2007-2.jpg

 

http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b325/azavalia/drexel-09-2007-3.jpg

Edited September 9, 2007 by antoniosz

[antoniosz]

I know that 99.9% may not be interested in this but I am excited tonight as

I think I found out who was making these pens

 

Frank Spors, Le Center, Minn (formely known as Le Sueur)

 

I am not 100% sure but it sounds logical. I know that he was doing business till the late 40s maybe even 50s there.

He started as early as 1920s with the "famous" glass nibbed crescent fillers. It appears to me that this was a mail order business.

Anyone know anything more?

 

Here is also a long shot. Anyone has access to the magazine Coronet v.30 1951 May-Oct.

I am looking for a relevant article around pages 138-140 related to Spors....

 

[philm]

Sorry I missed this post originally. I have received your back channel email and am quite certain that Spors did distribute the Drexel brand pens and pencils. I have responded in kind and look forward to additional information you uncover.

 

Phil

[antoniosz]

Sans comments for the time being...

 

http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b325/azavalia/spors000.jpg

http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b325/azavalia/spors.jpg

http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b325/azavalia/spors001.jpg

http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b325/azavalia/spors002.jpg

http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b325/azavalia/spors003.jpg

http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b325/azavalia/spors004.jpg

http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b325/azavalia/spors005.jpg

http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b325/azavalia/spors006.jpg

http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b325/azavalia/spors007.jpg

http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b325/azavalia/spors008.jpg

http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b325/azavalia/spors009.jpg

http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b325/azavalia/spors010.jpg

http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b325/azavalia/spors011.jpg

http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b325/azavalia/spors012.jpg

http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b325/azavalia/spors013.jpg

http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b325/azavalia/spors014.jpg

[designbydecade]

This is fabulous. Thank you for sharing. Plus, your pens are gorgeous.

[philm]

Antonios,.

 

 

 

Imagine my surprise as I sit in the Detroit airport waiting for a connecting flight and I pull this up. I don't have time to digest this all right now, but at first glance this answers a lot of questions and brings on a few more.

 

Drexels were distributed by Spors, but so were alot of other pens.

 

The big Japanese made pens were available at Spors

 

There were Drexel button fillers?

 

I wonder if Wahl was the manufacturer of the Drexels?

 

I need to look closer in MN antique stores for Drexel Ink bottles..

 

Too much to read but gotta catch a plane.

 

Thanks for showing pictures of the new catalog. I will try and read it at the hotels or when I get back home this weekend

 

Phil

[dhlr14454]

Although I know it isn't a Drexel: there's an ink making pen? That's pretty wild: I wonder how that worked--where did the ink-stick go? What held it in place? Five sticks in a pack, but each stick only good for 2-to-4 uses?

 

I wonder if there was a market for "instant ink" in general. As I don't know much about it, I guess not.

 

Anyway, this is a fascinating thread.

[Johnny Appleseed]

Although I know it isn't a Drexel: there's an ink making pen? That's pretty wild: I wonder how that worked--where did the ink-stick go? What held it in place? Five sticks in a pack, but each stick only good for 2-to-4 uses?

 

I wonder if there was a market for "instant ink" in general. As I don't know much about it, I guess not.

 

Anyway, this is a fascinating thread.

 

That was either a Camel, or a Sager Ink-maker pen.

 

The Camel:

Camel A pen company founded in 1935 to produce pens that made their own ink when you filled them with water. At the back end of the barrel, built into the button filling mechanism, was a replaceable cartridge that contained an ink pellet. Unlike the ink pellets for trench pens of World War I, the Camel’s pellet was intended to be good for many fillings, up to a year’s worth. The concept was good, but the execution was unsatisfactory, and Camel was out of business by the end of 1938. Shown here is a “junior” sized Camel. See also Instant Ink, trench pen.

 

From - Richard Binder's Fountain Pen Glossary

 

There was a market for instant ink, back in that era, particularly for ink pellets. A single pellet could be reconsitituted in a bottle, or dropped into the barrel of an eyedropper-filled pen and then the rest of the barrel filled with water. In WWI a few companies marketed "Trench Pens" that had a built-in container in the back for storing extra ink-pellets - they were marketed to send to the "boys in the trenches" - Parker marketed one heavily (and it seems they marketed more than they made). Other companies, including Swan, made more - Swans can be found sold through mail-order catalogs for a few years after WWI. Ink pellets were around at least through the 30s, I think.

 

John

Edited June 5, 2008 by Johnny Appleseed