Request for info on Onoto Pen

[richardandtracy]

I wonder if anyone could help me.

I have just inherited a fountain pen with my grandmother's jewelery. Until yesterday I'd not even heard of the make. I've done a little research on the maker, but cannot find any examples similar to the pen I have. Can anyone enlighten me as to its rough date and rarity (or otherwise!). Would it have been a man or woman's pen? Also I'd like to know a rough value (I suggest 4 bands - negligible, low, moderate, high, and I leave the decision to the allocation of the bands to you). I'm not going to sell the pen as it was certainly my grand mother's and possibly my great-grand mother/father's. If the value is moderate/high I may consider getting it restored to working order, otherwise it'll be kept as a keepsake.

 

The pen is a gold coloured 'Onoto'. The cap has no clip. In the middle of the cap there is a hallmark with a sideways '9' in a diamond which pierces a rectangle containing the characters '.375'. The majority of the cap is covered in a waves pattern. There are four breather holes. The cap is a slip-on cap, and is lined with a black plastic like material.

The section is smooth, except for a worn hallmark, which is unreadable but has the same shape as the one on the cap.

The nib is gold coloured, has the marking 'DELARUE ONOTO LONDON' and is pierced with a heart shape. The feed is smooth on the underside.

The barrel is gold coloured and has hallmarks, one similar to the the one on the cap, and a set of four square markings similar to hallmarks found on jewelery which seem to read D L R Ld. There are 2 further small circular hallmarks, which are worn and I cannot read them. There is a straight knurled ring just above the section, then the majority of the barrel is covered in a fairly worn wave pattern. At the top of the barrel there is a cap which may be unscrewed using a knurled ring. This cap withdraws just enough to reveal a plunger, which is seized.

Overall length capped is 149mm, uncapped 147mm, posted 182mm. Diameter 10mm.

The pen came in a worn leather covered wood & fibreboard box. The leather is either dark green or black with tooled lines. The lining is white silk on the lid, and velvet on the base with a full length recess for the pen. A normal jewelery box catch is used to close the box. The white silk is ink stained and has been destroyed in one area by black ink. The gold writing on the silk is still readable, saying 'ONOTO THE PEN', with 'THE' being underlined in smaller characters.

Box size is 178mm long x 33mm wide x 29mm high.

 

Any information would be appreciated.

 

Regards

 

Richard.

 

[WillAdams]

I came across a reference to this while on vacation:

 

I looked through a copy of the Jonathan Steinberg _Fountain Pens:The Collector's Guide to Selecting, Buying and Enjoying New and Vintage Fountain Pens_ book (Courage Books, copyright 1994, Quintet Publishing) while on vacation (it was in the kids' room at the bed-and-breakfast we stayed at while in Philadelphia to see King Tut), and actually transcribed a short passage (from pg. 33) into my notebook:

 

``... until the early years of the 20th Century, when Thomas DeLaRue introduced the Onoto piston-filling pen into Japan. The pens were called Onoto principially because the word could be easily assimilated into a large number of languages, and DeLaRue marketed them all over the world. The filling system had been invented, apparently in his spare time, by a George Sweetser, whose full-time profession was a vaudeville performer doing a transvestite act on roller skates.''

 

You couldn't make this stuff up if you tried.

 

There's also 6 pages of search results for ``Onoto'' here on FPN, some of which looked helpful.

 

William

 

 

Edited September 25, 2007 by WillAdams

[richardandtracy]

  WillAdams said:

There's also 6 pages of search results for ``Onoto'' here on FPN, some of which looked helpful.

Thanks William. I had already looked at most of the posts on FPN but hadn't seen anything quite like the pen.

 

So far today I've seen two black hardened rubber pens for sale that look identical in shape (but not material) which were given a date of 1915, one at £80 and the other at US$250. This is amazing, both in its age and the fact it might be worth a little more than 'negligible'. It sounds as if the restored pen will be in the 'moderate/high' value bands, so I'll feel obliged to get it restored. I wonder when I'll be able to afford it..

 

Regards

 

Richard.

Edited September 25, 2007 by richardandtracy

[BillTheEditor]

  WillAdams said:

``... until the early years of the 20th Century, when Thomas DeLaRue introduced the Onoto piston-filling pen into Japan. The pens were called Onoto principially because the word could be easily assimilated into a large number of languages, and DeLaRue marketed them all over the world. The filling system had been invented, apparently in his spare time, by a George Sweetser, whose full-time profession was a vaudeville performer doing a transvestite act on roller skates.''

 

You couldn't make this stuff up if you tried.

(cleaning coffee spray off of laptop screen)

Oh, man, I needed a good laugh this morning! Thanks! Now if I can just get that image out of my mind ...

[Richard]

The pen has significant value, but even if it didn't I'd consider having it restored because it's a family heirloom.

 

<begin blatant self-promotional paragraph>

 

Assuming that there are no broken parts, I can restore the filler for $40.00 plus return shipping. I've made something of a specialty of restoring plunger fillers, and my restoration technique uses a replacement shaft seal of Viton® and a urethane piston washer for long life. The two Onoto pens shown here, from my own collection, are both fully restored; the upper one is a few years older than your pen and the lower is about 20 years newer than yours:

 

http://www.richardspens.com/images/collection/zoomed/onoto_overunder.jpg

http://www.richardspens.com/images/collection/zoomed/onoto_threaded.jpg

 

<end blatant self-promotional paragraph>

 

Umm, err, if you ever decide to consider selling your Onoto...

Edited September 25, 2007 by Richard

[jaytaylor]

That is a highly desirable pen, I love Onoto's and can also restore then, although I use cork to seal the barrel end.

 

See link for history -

 

 

http://www.onoto.com/history.asp

 

When you get this restored please do share some photos, this is one of my goal pens.

 

I have just hunted down a De La Rue Pelican pen, these are pre Onoto

 

'PATENT "PELICAN" PEN THOS. DE LA RUE & CO. LTD LONDON'.

 

I recall the rights to the Pelican name were sold to a German company who are now known as Pelican. (please correct me if I'm wrong)

 

 

[jaytaylor]

Here is a link to a more detailed history of Thomas De La Rue, Onoto and Pelican.

 

http://www.penmuseum.co.uk/master%2011.htm

[richardandtracy]

  Richard said:

...The two Onoto pens shown here, from my own collection, are both fully restored; the upper one is a few years older than your pen and the lower is about 20 years newer than yours...

Richard,

You obviously have an idea of the age of the pen. Is it as old as 1915, or somewhat newer? I'm just trying to get a handle on the decade it comes from, and therefore whose it might have been. If post 1909, it can't have been my great-grandfather's, and if post 1930 it's unlikely to have been my great-grandmother's.

 

I'm certainly not going to sell the pen. I'm going to hang on to it like another family item - a mounted leopard skin my grandfather shot between 1927 & 1930.

The leopard was a man-eater and my grandfather, being the senior British Army of India officer in the area, was detailed to shoot it. He sat on a branch 10ft up a tree after staking out a goat and waited. When the Leopard came by he shot & wounded it, but failed to kill it outright. The Leopard was somewhat annoyed with my grandfather, and jumped up on the branch next to him. His second shot killed the Leopard as he fell off the branch.

The skin is all moth eaten and worn, mounted on degraded brown felt, but it's another thing I'd never allow to go, despite the fact that to modern eyes it's a grotesque object with the head mounted into a glassy eyed snarl on a flat body.

 

Regards

 

Richard.

 

[andyr7]

I'm no Onoto expert but I do like overlaid vintage pens!

 

In Lambrou's Fountain Pens of the World (p155) there are pictures of a number of similar Onoto overlaid pens, the closest one to yours in style (though gold, rather than silver) is dated at 1923 and there is another similar silver one, though with a chevron pattern rather than an engine turning on the overlay, dated to 1920. You say the hallmark is rubbed - if you polish the mark and the surrounding area gently then 'huff' on it, with a good book of hallmarks in front of you and knowing the approximate date, you can sometimes make out the actual date letter which would obviously be your best dating evidence. I would have thought that early 1920s would have been about right - if the pen were 1915 or earlier, it would probably have had the over/under feed (as in Richard's top picture) - though bear in mind my introductory sentence....

 

I'm sure Richard would do a fine job of restoration for you, however if you would prefer to use a UK restorer, I would recommend Laurence Oldfield who specialises in (amongst other things) Onoto piston fillers! He will certainly be at the WES show in London on October 7th if you are able to get there, otherwise you can contact him via his website The Pen Practice.

 

Whoever it belonged to, it is a family piece and I feel quite strongly that you should have it restored and kept in the family for future generations!

 

Andy

[twdpens]

  andyr7 said:

I'm sure Richard would do a fine job of restoration for you, however if you would prefer to use a UK restorer, I would recommend Laurence Oldfield who specialises in (amongst other things) Onoto piston fillers! He will certainly be at the WES show in London on October 7th if you are able to get there, otherwise you can contact him via his website The Pen Practice.

 

I was going to give the exactly the same advice! Laurence Oldfield wrote an article in The Journal about Onoto repair. He will be at LWES giving repair demonstrations with the other "pen doctor", Jim Marshall.

 

He's always busy with repairs so you may have to wait a while but it will save a trip over the pond.

 

Martin

[richardandtracy]

Thank you all for your help. I have to admit it's left me with a bit of a quandry. It's obvious I should try to get the pen working again. But where & how soon? I have to confess that spare money is not just tight, it's non existent.

I may/may not attend the LWES. It depends on whether I'll be able to put up with my wife's indulgent smiles (as if she's humouring a headstrong child..)!

 

Regards

 

Richard.

[Methersgate14]

  Richard said:

http://www.richardspens.com/images/collection/zoomed/onoto_overunder.jpg

http://www.richardspens.com/images/collection/zoomed/onoto_threaded.jpg

 

quote]

 

Snap! (gloat starts here... ) I've got both of those - the upper one is a top feed 3000 in hard rubber and the lower one is a 6325 in chased celluloid and mine is currently my favourite pen - amazingly I snaffled it on ebay a couple of weeks ago for not-a-lot-of-money as it had a very dirty nib and I was guessing what the rather poor photos were seeking to convey!

 

The chief delight of Onotos - besides having a filling system that behaves quite well on aircraft - is in the nibs, which are outstanding.

 

Your pen is also a 3000; this was the pen that took De La Rue to the forefront of the fountain pen trade, outside the USA (a market they never bothered with - too much native competition!) and they made them for many years. They are very well made, and will come apart quite nicely.

 

You can pretty much say that De La Rue 3000's turn up wherever the Union Jack once flew. Reams of Colonial Office reports were written with them!

 

Because De La Rue made the Onoto 3000 for donkey's years, and the innards are alswys black hard rubber and did not change, if you did break something on yours you could cannibalise a common or garden black rubber version.

 

An investment in Dr Oldfield's book might be worthwhile...

Edited June 26, 2008 by Methersgate14

[richardandtracy]

  Methersgate14 said:

Your pen is also a 3000; this was the pen that took De La Rue to the forefront of the fountain pen trade, outside the USA (a market they never bothered with - too much native competition!) and they made them for many years. They are very well made, and will come apart quite nicely.

 

You can pretty much say that De La Rue 3000's turn up wherever the Union Jack once flew. Reams of Colonial Office reports were written with them!

 

Because De La Rue made the Onoto 3000 for donkey's years, and the innards are alswys black hard rubber and did not change, if you did break something on yours you could cannibalise a common or garden black rubber version.

 

An investment in Dr Oldfield's book might be worthwhile...

Thank you. I'd never discovered the model number. I've seen another gold one on e-bay towards the end of last year, went for £515. Ouch. That's silly money for a pen as far as I'm concerned. Several gold sleeved ones have been in the hundreds of pounds.

I'm never going to sell the pen.

 

I'm going, eventually, to get Mr Oldfield to look at it as the section needs some gold soldering. In the mean time I am going to get his book, as it appears that he mentions the Onoto's and my favorite (the P61).

 

Regards

 

Richard.