History of the Wahl "All Metal Fountain Pen"

[Guest Denis Richard]

I would love to hear the story of these pens. I think they are much under appreciated at the moment.

 

http://pagesperso.laposte.net/fpnet/w3.jpg

 

Denis.

[Maja]

Ah, one of my favourite types of pen..... I guess we'll both be watching Ebay and the pen message boards for sales, eh Denis?

 

I am only a fan of these pens, not any sort of expert (I am hoping that Syd the "Wahlnut" will help us out), but there are a few excellent online articles (complete with gorgeous photos) on this subject :

 

At Jim Mamoulides' PenHero site:

http://www.penhero.com/PenGallery/Evershar...rtDecoMetal.htm

and

http://www.penhero.com/PenGallery/Evershar...talPatterns.htm

 

At David Nishimura's VintagePens site:

http://vintagepens.com/wahl_engine_turning.shtml

 

At home, I have:

--a 4 5/8" gold-filled slim flat-top pen in the "Ripple" pattern (with a #4 Wahl nib)

--a 4 3/8" silver-filled slim flat-top pen in the "Check"/"Unique" pattern (#2 nib)

--a 3 5/8" gold-filled ring-top pen in the "Grecian Border"(#2 nib)

--a 3 5/8" gold-filled ring-top pen in the "Wave"/"Zigzag" pattern(#2 nib)

The gold-filled pens all have a gold-filled section, which I think looks much nicer than a plastic/hard rubber section

--a 5 1/4" gold-filled flat-top pencil in the "Check"/"Unique" pattern

--a 4" gold-filled ring-top pencil in the "Grecian Border" pattern

 

They are all lovely, in my humble opinion, but your sterling silver pen (your current avatar) tops them all! Nice purchase!

[Wahlnut]

I really do not know how this list works. there are a number of forums with the same question. I wanted to answer Denis and did so on P'trace, but I see many folks are also dialoging on the topic here, so in the interest of reaching many, I will copy what I already wrote here. Hope this answers the question satisfactorily.

 

 

I would venture to say it is from 1921/2. They dropped the "Patent Applied For" by 1923. The tell-tale indications are the indented ring design at each end of the engine turne portions of the barrel and cap. The pen you have in Sterling with a #4 nib is the Wahl All Metal Pen model #543C.

 

Just to flesh things out a little more. Whal made metal pens (not all metal pens)in 1919/20. They had a different lever with a raised "spine" along its length. They were NOT "patent pending" even though earlier, because they were NOT "All Metal Pens" which was what the patent was all about on your pen. They were overlay pens where the metal was covering a hard rubber inner liner or sleeve. The All Metal Pen did not have any inner sleeve and it allowed a much fatter sac therefore, and the company made a big marketing campaign about the greater ink capacity of the all metal pen.

[Guest Denis Richard]

Hi Syd,

 

I posted in this section to request general info about the "All Metal" line, and in the other to request specific information about the model I have. But your post in welcome in both thread.

 

Denis.