What Model Is This?

[fullfederhalter]

I picked up this Wahl Eversharp pen at the flea market last weekend, and cannot find the exact model in my internet searches. It seems like a mash-up of various models of the 1930's. It is shaped similarly to the Equipoised, but it does not have the Gold Seal. The barrel and cap appear to be "green shell", and it has a clip like the second generation Dorics. It has a blind cap which unscrews to reveal a red plastic turning knob in an aluminum filler. It is fitted with a #5 warranted 14kt nib. Any ideas what I bought?

[joss]

your pen has the twist filling mechanism but I thought that this was typically used on Wahl-Oxford pens only:

www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/topic/50661-wahl-oxford-twist-fill-repair/

www.richardspens.com/?page=ref/repair/ox_twister.htm

[Estragon]

I have an identical pen in grey shell. Despite having a profile identical to the "Vacuum Model" (the so-called "round Doric"), I always assumed these twist-fillers were later Oxfords (although perhaps they were simply sold under the "Twist Filler" designation). Will see if I can post a photo of a couple variants in the next couple days. Until then, here's an advert with some relevance even if it doesn't clarify the issue:

 

Edited May 15, 2018 by Estragon

[joss]

Here is a page from a 1934 stationary catalog showing your pen and a drawing of the twist fill mechanism.

The pen pattern is described as "black spiral web". As expected, the pens have a "Wahl-Oxford" clip as opposed to the "Wahl-Eversharp" clip on your pen.

 

[fullfederhalter]

I have an identical pen in grey shell. Despite having a profile identical to the "Vacuum Model" (the so-called "round Doric"), I always assumed these twist-fillers were later Oxfords (although perhaps they were simply sold under the "Twist Filler" designation).

 

Here is a page from a 1934 stationary catalog showing your pen and a drawing of the twist fill mechanism.

The pen pattern is described as "black spiral web". As expected, the pens have a "Wahl-Oxford" clip as opposed to the "Wahl-Eversharp" clip on your pen.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Joss and Estragon, thanks so much for the information. So, it appears that I may have an interesting variant!

[joss]

 

So, it appears that I may have an interesting variant!

 

I am not sure whether it is a variant. Because the twist filler was never used on Wahl-Eversharp pens, the clip on your pen may well be a replacement clip.

[Estragon]

 

I am not sure whether it is a variant. Because the twist filler was never used on Wahl-Eversharp pens, the clip on your pen may well be a replacement clip.

 

The twist filler is a well-known Oxford variant as touted in the advert above and detailed by our resident W-E expert here (https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/topic/32269-wah-oxford-histry/?hl=oxford) and here (https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/topic/50661-wahl-oxford-twist-fill-repair/?hl=oxford). The clip is interesting for having the full W-E trademark, but it's original to this model. Still waiting for the sun to reappear here to shoot a quick photo of my Silver & Black Spiral Web set, which has clips identical but nickel-plated.

Edited May 17, 2018 by Estragon

[Estragon]

Finally got around to snapping a photo of my collection of Oxfords (with white trim):

 

 

Note that the first pen is not an Oxford but rather a "Vacuum Model," as advertised above. My Oxford Twist Filler set (slots 2-3) and the uncommon variant in slot #4 do not carry Oxford imprints, but are accepted to be Oxfords, presumably, on the basis of clip variations and period adverts like the one posted by joss above. The rest of the pens in the tray bear the Oxford imprint on their barrels.

 

The clip on my Twist Filler pen is identical to that of fullfederhalter's pen. Intriguingly, the matching pencil (originally discovered with the pen), was outfitted with the same Doric-style clip sans 'Wahl' stamp.

 

It seems there were wide variations among Oxfords over different years of manufacture – unsurprising considering the increasing budgetary constraints on this low-cost model in the late-30s to early-40s. Examples of the spiral-pattern pen in slot #4, for instance, have been known to crop up with the ball-clip on the green "watermelon" pen beside it (see: https://i.imgur.com/N7NlPwA.jpg), but also with the standard 'Oxford' clip of the 4 pens on the far right (see: https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/topic/294623-my-wahl-wahl-oxford-wahl-eversharp-eversharp-family/?hl=oxford). It's plausible, then, that the Twist Filler Oxford would've also be outfitted with different clips over its span of production.

 

A noble effort to inventory and date the Oxford was posted on these forums some time ago: https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/topic/183924-wahl-oxford-information/?hl=oxford But much of the info there is in need of revision and elaboration, I think, in view of the knowledge we've gained about this model in more recent years.

 

edit: Some confusion appears to have stemmed from joss's advert, which includes a clear illustration of how to operate a twist filler while explaining that it fills "by vacuum." This is technically correct, of course, but unhelpful in distinguishing the advertised twist filler from their one-stroke vacuum/plunger filler models – and for that matter from their lever fillers, which also fill "by vacuum" in sensu stricto. All this could be chalked up to yet another attempt by a manufacturer to capitalize on the cachet of Parker's best-selling Vacumatic.

Edited May 18, 2018 by Estragon

[joss]

That is a tray of beautiful pens, thanks for sharing.

 

The variations of the clip on the 'spiral web' set (pen 2& 3) is interesting. Great that you have that accompanying pencil, indicating that these clips were factory original indeed and not later replacements. You mention that pen 2 has no Oxford imprints: does that also include the nib?

 

As to the term "vacuum": especially Eversharp seems to have used that term in confusing ways for different filling mechanisms. Richard Binder mentions that even the lever filler Dorics with transparent ink vue sections were marketed as being "Lever-Vac" pens (www.richardspens.com/?page=ref/profiles/doric.htm).

[Estragon]

You mention that pen 2 has no Oxford imprints: does that also include the nib?

 

Yes, mine has an Eversharp nib (with a teardrop/loop around the slit) like those found on certain Skylines. Could very well be a replacement, but I did notice that Richard Binder's example (same clip) has a different Skyline/Late-Doric nib sans Oxford imprint: http://www.richardspens.com/?page=coll/col_23.htm

Edited May 28, 2018 by Estragon

[europen]

Beautiful collection, Estragon. How long did it take you to bring them together? Are they all restored to working condition?

[Estragon]

Thanks very much! These have taken me about 3 years of focused hunting and I've just acquired another spiral stripe pen (#4) in green. In my experience, the later lever fillers can be had for bargain prices since they were 2nd tier pens in the first place and people generally don't care much for the Select-O-Point steel nibs. Finding examples without heavily brassed and corroded trim has been the biggest challenge.

 

I've Sherrell Tyree to thank for the vacuum filler overhaul. And I've restored the rest aside from the twist filler. I've only done one other myself, which was quite a chore, and mine has been tinkered with. Someone removed the filler, then screwed it back on too tightly. The plastic around end of the barre isl very thin, so one must be careful not to crack it when unscrewing the threaded filler unit. One of these days I'll return to it and try a couple more tricks to see if I can't loosen it up.

Edited June 6, 2018 by Estragon

[joss]

 

Yes, mine has an Eversharp nib (with a teardrop/loop around the slit) like those found on certain Skylines. Could very well be a replacement, but I did notice that Richard Binder's example (same clip) has a different Skyline/Late-Doric nib sans Oxford imprint: http://www.richardspens.com/?page=coll/col_23.htm

 

Do I understand it correctly then that some Eversharp pens are placed in the "Oxford" family only because of the cap & barrel pattern that is catalogued as being "Oxford", although the pens themselves do not carry any "Oxford" imprint on barrel, clip or nib?

[Estragon]

That's more or less the impression I've been given from Eversharp mavens and various Oxford threads, though I'm not certain as to whether this is based on catalogues and advertisements of the period or merely on conventional family resemblance. And shape of the pen, clip, and lever can serve together as additional indicators. Note also that the OP's pen has not only the same plastic but the same filling system as the one in the advert you posted.

 

Similar taxonomic problems crop up on budget models from other American manufacturers in the late 30s and into the 40s. Aberrations among such Conklins as the All American, the disparate imprints among otherwise identical Sheaffer sub-brand pens, and the progressive convolution of Waterman's numbering system spring to mind. While consistency was important to preserve the distinction of their flagship lineups, I take it things got messier for models like the Oxford, which were churned out to meet the growing demand for inexpensive pens even if this inevitably diminished their quality and quiddity.

Edited June 6, 2018 by Estragon