"Standard" Fountain Pen

[Univer]

Hi All,

 

Two quick photos of a pen I just recently managed to get back into writing condition. The clip is marked "Standard"; there's no barrel imprint. The gold-plated nib - which literally fell apart when I removed it - was engraved "Regal."

 

 

I think it's a rather attractive pen. The royal/cobalt blue is very rich and striking; the uncapped picture comes close to capturing it. (The capped picture required some Photoshop fiddling, so the color isn't 100% trustworthy). The twin mandarin bands really pop. It's hard to tell in the photos, but the very top of the cap, and the very bottom of the barrel, are black.

 

It's a big pen: a touch shorter and a touch wider than a Senior Duofold. It took a #20 sac, but just barely. A #18 might have been an easier fit in the barrel, but there wouldn't be a prayer of stretching it to fit the section nipple.

 

It was actually a struggle to find a suitable replacement nib. You'd think a No. 8 size might be indicated, but the inner cap interfered with all the larger nibs I tried. It's currently sporting a neglected Sheaffer mid-size nib whose platinum plating has begun to wear off.

 

The components (old nib aside) seem to be good quality. The celluloid is thick and has a "feel" similar to Radite or Permanite. The cap band, clip and lever polished up very nicely.

 

Anyway: I did notice an entry for Standard Pen Co. in the "Pen Brands" thread, but nothing more. Does anybody happen to know anything about the brand?

 

Thanks!

 

Jon

[antoniosz]

There was another sighting over at L&P by Jerry (halljer) with the additional information on the imprint that this is from Evansville, Ind.

George and others had no knowledge of this company. Jerry is from that location and could not find any info on the company in the local library

No patents, no Federal Register references, no court cases....

Maybe Jerry could post the photo of his pen to see if it is the same (or similar) to yours.

Edited September 9, 2007 by antoniosz

[Maja]

Hi Jon (Univer),

Found this on www.pensandwatches.com:

Bolles Wm Co.

 

1065 Jefferson Ave Toledo Ohio Early pen maker, went out of business before 1916. Made self filling pens and had a great logo of a pen with arms and legs dipping itself into a inkwell to fill up. Maker of the Standard fountain pen. Some of these pens are just marked Standard and some are unmarked with Standard marked nibs. These were squeeze fillers, you pulled the barrel back and inside was a bladder with a pressure bar inside it.

 

Very handsome pen! I love the yellow bands....

[PelikanPenman]

Very nice looking pen, I must ask where did you find it?

[halljer]

Antoniosz was absolutely correct. I have a cherry red pen with a barrell imprint of the Standard Pen Company, Evansville, IN. Research never produced any fruitful information. My pen is large, about the size of a Big Red Duofold senior. It is lever filled like yours and the nib section looks very similar. I've never taken any good pics of the pen, but will try to this week. I apologize, but my schedule this week is really hectic. I haven't inspected that pen for a while, but if memory serves me correctly, mine also has a wide gold band on the cap that looks very similar to yours. Perhaps together, we can come up with something on this maker. I have some other speculations about this pen that I'll elaborate on later.

 

Best regards,

 

Jerry

[Univer]

Thanks, all, for the replies. I would welcome the opportunity to learn more about this maker - Jerry, I look forward to your speculations, and to photos of your pen. (If you've resacked it, do you happen to recall what size sac you used?)

 

Maja: interesting info on what I would take to be an earlier Standard Pen Co. Maybe the later company was a successor, or maybe they simply started using the name on their own.

 

PelikanPenman: this one rode along in an eBay lot of pens and pencils, most of them unremarkable. It was the vivid blue (and the "mandarin" trim) of this pen that induced me to bid. I'm glad I did.

 

Cheers,

 

Jon

 

 

 

 

[Johnny Appleseed]

There was also a "Standard Self Filling Fountain Pen" made by the Berk Brothers in New York. They received a "Cease and Desist" order from the FTC for fictitous pricing in 1920s, for "selling fountain pens in boxes or containers upon the outside of

which is printed or stamped the words, 'The Standard Self-Filling Fountain Pen, $1.50,' such fountain pens having never been sold for more than 25 cents." However, this is much earlier than the pen here.

 

Either way, there were definitely a few "Standard" pens out there.

[Maja]

Maja: interesting info on what I would take to be an earlier Standard Pen Co. Maybe the later company was a successor, or maybe they simply started using the name on their own.

Yeah, the one in my post above definitely seems too early to be the manufacturer of your pen, Jon. As Johnny A. said, there seem to be a few different "Standard" pens out there. It kind of makes me scratch my head over copyright issues re: the brand name, though...