What Could That Be?

[pal38]

I saw this on eBay: http://www.ebay.co.u...=item415edb2d38 .

 

There are Reliefs 314 made by Wirt on Brian's website. Could this be another Wirt pen? Did they make lever fillers too? Could this be a pen of the 1920s?

 

Any answers are greatly appreciated.

Edited November 7, 2011 by pal38

[pal38]

Here are some pictures, perhaps it's easier to visualize than a link:

 



 



 



 



 



 

[Brian Anderson]

This is indeed a Wirt made pen, can't believe I missed it, so I hope you got it. Giveaways are the vented feed and ventless nib., as well as the Made in USA around the top of the cap Lever fillers were made but not as common (at least in my experience) to find as the eyedroppers were.

 

If'n you're interested in parting with it, do let me know.

 

Cheers!

Brian

 

P.S. Don't you just hate it when ebay sellers take the whole darn thing apart?

[pal38]

Thanks Brian,

 

I was hoping to get an answer from you on my question! Yes I was the lucky winner of this pen, a give-away at $47.00. I have it now in my hands and was able to take some pics myself:

 

 

 

 

A 'W' stamped in the lever end.

 

 

 

But the story doesn't end here! Last week I bought another pen. It was a black chased hard rubber (BCHR) pen with the inscription on the barrel 'R. Esterbrook & Co. Made in USA'. But the Cap was absolutely untypical for an Estie, and to me it looked like a Frankenbrook, a cross-breed between a very early $-pen barrel and a matching HR cap of unknown brand with a chunk broken off the cap lip.

 

The seller tried to sell this ruin for about a month, relisting it week after week. The auction starting price was set at £14.00 but nobody bid on it. I wrote to this guy telling him I'd buy his pen for £12, shipment included ($20). He agreed and I got the pen yesterday.

 

Judging from the matching discolorations on cap and barrel I had to admit: Barrel and cap were a matching pair. But an Esterbrook fountain pen made of BHCR with a flat end cap and no clip? No jewel? Different from any Esterbrook we know! Then an idea popped up: I put the 2 pens along each other and – you guessed it – they were almost identical. Of course the nib and feed on the Esterbrook was different from the Relief, but they are surely not the originals. But the rest, apart a few fractions of an inch in length, were identical twins. Both caps fitted both barrels perfectly.

 

I think I just discovered the earliest model Esterbrook I know of. Anyway, earlier than the V-clips! The lever is not fixed with a steel ring, but with a pin driven through the barrel (see pic).

 

 

Above you see the Wirt Relief 314 and below the Mystery Esterbrook. The likeness is stunning!

 

 

'R. Esterbrook & Co. Made in USA' the inscription is really very faint, but still clear.

 

 

 

This is the nib that is mounted on the Esterbrook. I doubt very much that it's the original nib of the pen.

 

Am I making an elephant out of a midget? What do you think?

Edited November 14, 2011 by pal38

[Brian Anderson]

The bottom pen was made by Aikin Lambert, note the similarity between the lever and Aikin's of the period. They can come clip-less and the nib was most certainly not original. It would have had a breather hole for sure, but imprint on the nib varies.

 

Interesting lever on the Wirt. I am not familiar with that with an imprint on it. I've handled a few Wirt pens, and own a couple, but have never seen one like this (which, admittedly doesn't mean much).

 

Nice finds, I need to get on ebay more these days if these are showing up.

 

Cheers!

Brian