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After purchasing some pens, as well as being gifted some, all in the spirit of learning fountain pen repairs, here's my first big question mark! I opened this pen without any trouble and then set out to soak it in water to clean out any ink residue. My first surprise was how the nipple looks eaten up. It's hard to the touch on the outside and the black stuff you see on the paper towel comes from inside. I took that crumbly stuff out of there after approx. 30 minutes of soaking. At first I thought the sac had been glued inside the nipple instead of over, but that black stuff doesn't feel like an ossified sac to me. Lightly brushing my fingers over it on the paper towel is enough to make it crumble further. I left some of the black stuff soak in water overnight and it was still there this morning, so I don't think it's ink either. What could it be then? If I rub my finger hard on the section, it gives off a rubber smell, so my guess is the section is made of hard rubber. What would do this to hard rubber? I tried taking a picture inside the section but I can't make it work. It looks like there's solidified black stuff in there that was gooey at one point in time. Bonus points if you can tell me what pen it is because I have no idea! The only writing I can see is on the lever and it says "MADE IN U.S.A." http://i1282.photobucket.com/albums/a522/TigerLady143/FPN%20Photos/2ef7c2331e61aec49bd79780e5c40478_zps1975df16.jpg http://i1282.photobucket.com/albums/a522/TigerLady143/FPN%20Photos/51be3ce50770280bc1d017ab32714179_zps922361ba.jpg Here I inserted a paper towel to make the irregular edge more visible. http://i1282.photobucket.com/albums/a522/TigerLady143/FPN%20Photos/63200f6d1dc95f024ddf26a0eb7bbb3e_zps386e6956.jpg http://i1282.photobucket.com/albums/a522/TigerLady143/FPN%20Photos/49053f4b34c5edadfbd0d85063a3888d_zps57095f11.jpg http://i1282.photobucket.com/albums/a522/TigerLady143/FPN%20Photos/8957f300141e760d05b3ac3d571a34e6_zps207ca5bf.jpg