Pelikan 101N After 72 Years In The Grave.

[Dexter FOP]

On 17 December 2011, we had a privilege to carry out a restoration of a Pelikan fountain pen.

The pen was excavated from the grave of Cpt. Wladyslaw Raginis, a commander of the "Wizna" Defence Section during the WWII.

He died a heroic death in the battle of Wizna in September 1939 and the pen was discovered together with his earthly remains and other personal items at the time of the exhumation in late 2011.

 

The restoration/conservation session was held at MemoPens workshop in Wroclaw and the work was carried out by four representatives of the Polish Fountain Pen Board (Forum o Piorach: www.forumopiorach.net): Rka, Lash, Dexter. The President of "Wizna 1939" Association, Mr. Dariusz Szymanowski was also present to oversee the conservation work.

 

Initially, the pen was only roughly cleaned from the dry mud it was covered in when it was first discovered.

There were a few speculations that the nib has been broken off and stolen along with a piece of the section/ink-view window which both appeared to be missing.

 

Inspection of the pen.

 

What we found when we got pen:

- The writing instrument in question was a Gunter Wagner fountain pen - a Pelikan 101N in Tortoise Shell.

- The pen barrel was broken diagonally along to the ink-view section and separated into two parts: cap and the remainder of the barrel.

- The ink-view window was 'bottle green' in colour, with no darkening or ink deposits/residue.

- It turned out that the nib, feed and section were stuck in the cap and had to be extracted.

- The cap lip originally had two gold-filled bands typical of early Pelikan pens. However, since the pen was buried in the ground for many years, the base metal oxidised beyond salvation and disappeared completely: only two grooves remained where the cap rings had been.

- Bottom of the cap significantly distorted elliptically flattened.

- The clip caps survived in beautiful condition. No traces of gold fill wear or any other damage. The sides of the clip and ring attachment mounted to the cap tightly and covered with green oxidised brass.

- Pen body preserved in good condition, without any signs of damage apart from missing section assembly. The Tortoiseshell binde with only slight traces of damage.

After the pen was examined, we began the restoration work.

The main priority was to reach the interior of the cap and extract the section-nib and feed assembly. The pen was then to be completely disassembled and cleaned thoroughly.

 

Work on the pen body:

It turned out that for over 70 years of resting in the ground (at a depth of about 2 meters), the celluloid shrunk considerably. The overall pen diameter decreased by about 0.6 mm. We managed to pull the filler assembly without any major issues. It had almost no traces of use. The cork has shrunk but not disintegrated and was in perfect condition. Because the pen and the cork both shrunk, the dried cork piston fit perfectly inside. Even though the cork was to be left "as is", the piston filler still worked and the pen drew water inside the barrel. After a few cycles in the ultrasonic cleaner to clean all parts, we found some toothies on the piston knob - apparently someone tried to remove the piston mechanism at some point but they had no idea that it has reverse threads and did it the wrong way, only leaving a couple of teeth mark trails.

 

The pen body had a small bit of celluloid missing above the piston knob, just below the brass ring of the piston guide. The missing part has not been filled in since the main point of the restoration was to clean the pen and preserve it in the original condition. The sides of the crack were only secured so that there was no further damage from handling the pen in future. There were also some some clear "goose bumps" on one side of the pen. Probably in this place the pen had direct contact with the body of the late captain.

 

The pen was gently polishedbut scratches and all other marks were were not removed. The next step was to give the cap and barrel a delicate sheen. The celluloid immediately regained its original colour and luster - Pelikan 101N is indeed a beautiful pen.

 

Work on the cap and section:

As with the pen body, the cap was also slightly deformed. Many years in the ground, caused the celluloid to shrink very tightly and compressed the top threads.

 

The difference in diameter was approximately 0.5 mm. It's a lot, considering the fact, that even if the cap top threads are not deformed, they are a really tight fit with the cap threads.

 

After about 15 cycles in an ultrasonic cleaner, and many hours of manual cleaning, clip began to move around the cap. Thorough cleaning also revealed a small split in the celluloid where it was originally welded when the cap was formed from a celluloid sheet. And attempts to twist off the top of the cap still had no effect.

 

Any attempts to lubricate the trapped elements did not help either and the cap and section could not be taken apart. We decided to cut off the cap top at the point of contact with a ring clip. Cutting had to be sufficiently precise so as not to damage the nib/feed assembli trapped inside the cap. After taking off the cap top, a beautiful nib showed up. Orignal Pelican, 14 carat gold, F. The iridium point was perfectly preserved, as well as the nib and the feed. In the cap top we found some traces of black ink. However, even though we managed to remove the cap top, we still couldn't extract the broken section that was stuck inside the cap.

 

Tilting the nib/feed/section assembly a bit finally allowed us to unscrew the section and we managed to bring out the part of the pen that was previously unseen.

 

Nib has been cleaned of accumulated dirt. To our delight, the pen flow channels were not clogged. The grip section did not have any, even the smallest cracks or scratches.

After putting the barrel and the section together it turned out that two small pieces of the ink-view section were missing. These elements were probably lost in the grave.

 

The cap has been gently straightened and re-glued in place to connect cracking. The ridges where the cap rings had been were cleaned, but the new rings were not fitted. The cap - as with the barrel - was only gently cleaned and hand-polished. We removed no scratches or other marks upon request of the "Wizna 1939" Representative - after all, the pen was to be kept in as 'original' state as possible. The clip was thoroughly cleaned of oxides gently shined. Cp top was also only very slightly polished. It has clear Pelican logo imprint to the top and PELIKAN PATENT lettering on the sides. Cap was re-assembled.

Overall, the conservation work on the pen lasted about 7 hours without any interruption.

 

After the restoration work we carried out a bit of research and we found that the pen was produced in about 1938-1939: late Cpt. literally had to have received this pen right at the time of his nomination and subsequent move to the Border Protection Corps.

One thing was certain. He could not have used it more than a few times. Judging by the traces of ink found in the cap, it could be also seen that the captain used black ink, probably Pelikan Tinte brand.

 

In theory, it was technically possible to restore this pen to its former glory: it was possible to make it function and write properly. But this was not our goal. We had to make sure all parts were original and that everything was exactly as found.

 

 

After more than 70 years, the nib saw a bit of ink for the very last time. Gently dipped, it wrote a short note honoring Cpt. Raginis. After that, it was gently cleaned and the pen was prepared to be displayed at the war museum.

All work was done under the supervision and with the approval of Mr Dariusz Szymanowski, the President of "Wizna 1939" Association, whom we would like to thank for the opportunity to work with the pen that belonged to Cpt. Wladyslaw Raginis.

 

Before:

http://images10.fotosik.pl/37/9adfb44221b9b3a3med.jpg

 

At work:

http://images8.fotosik.pl/2953/a77698bd74bb14a0med.jpg

 

http://images8.fotosik.pl/2953/f3b8faab01e74f77med.jpg

 

http://images8.fotosik.pl/2953/191527e5f06353f2med.jpg

 

http://images8.fotosik.pl/2953/48dd43758fd89e07med.jpg

 

http://images8.fotosik.pl/2953/83da5331577501c3med.jpg

 

http://images8.fotosik.pl/2953/739a14113affad52med.jpg

 

http://images8.fotosik.pl/2953/51177aaf34307b92med.jpg

 

And, after work:

 

http://images8.fotosik.pl/2953/5ca6ce0939159e53med.jpg

 

http://images8.fotosik.pl/2953/7f32c7be6432a2c5med.jpg

 

http://images8.fotosik.pl/2953/88630b92a3cd2cd2med.jpg

 

Dex.

[Antoinem]

All I can say is WHOA! What a beautiful repair work! You should be very proud of your work.

[Tiffanyhenschel]

What an amazing story. Thank you for sharing it with us.

[Edgar Allan Bo]

Great story! And really nice to revive the pen back into life but not replace any original part!

[Bo Bo Olson]

That was an honorable thing to do.

[ticoun]

:clap1:

this is the most extreme pen restoration i ever seen! simply mind blowing!

[jgrasty]

Wow!

[dannyboy]

Thank you for this truly amazing story of recovery and restoration! Triple WOW!!!

[dweit]

Fascinating story. For me one of the great attractions to vintage pens is wondering who handled it before and where it had been. Thanks for sharing this.

[mikkolopez]

excellent restoration, congrats on bringing back a piece of history

[daenghafez]

Thank you for sharing this restoration news. You guys are simply amazing. What a superb job! :notworthy1:

[Azuniga]

Wonderful story, thank you for sharing !!!

[david1600]

not only great story but great pen as well

[wastelanded]

A labour of love and respect, and very well done. Amazing work!

[jandrese]

Impressive! Thank you for sharing.

[esterbex]

Phoenix from the ashes.....an honorable service and well done! Interesting to see a dental matrix band and retainer used in the process.

[29pavlich]

This is one of the best things I have read on FPN. The restoration is a wonderful tribute to Captain Raginis. Is there is any where I can find more information about him and the battle of Wizna?

[Dexter FOP]

Thank you for your kind words.

 

Here are a few words about the Battle of Wizna:

 

On September 1 1939, the Polish Defensive War and World War II started. The German 3rd Army was to advance from East Prussia towards Warsaw, directly through the positions of Polish Narew Corps. On September 2 Captain Władysław Raginis was named the commander of the Wizna area. As his command post he chose the "GG-126" bunker near the village of Góra Strękowa. The bunker was located on a hill in the exact centre of the Polish lines. His forces numbered approximately 700 soldiers and NCOs and 20 officers armed with 4 pieces of artillery (75mm), 24 HMGs, 18 machine guns and two Kb ppanc wz.35 anti-tank rifles.

After initial clashes at the border, the Podlaska Cavalry Brigade operating in the area, during the night of 3/4 September was ordered to withdraw and on September 5 it left the area and marched toward Mały Płock to cross the river Narew. On September 3 Polish positions were spotted from the air and strafed with machine gun fire from enemy fighters.

 

On September 8 general Heinz Guderian, commander of the XIX Panzer Corps, was ordered to advance through Wizna towards Brześć. By early morning of September 9 his units reached the Wizna area and were joined with 10th Panzer Division and "Lötzen" Brigade already present in the area. His forces numbered some 1 200 officers and 41 000 soldiers and NCOs, equipped with over 350 tanks, 108 howitzers, 58 pieces of artillery, 195 anti-tank guns, 108 mortars, 188 grenade launchers, 288 heavy machine guns and 689 machine guns. Altogether, his forces were some 60 times stronger than the Polish defenders.

To keep the morale of his men high, Raginis pledged that he would not leave his post alive.

 

The defense of Wizna against overwhelming odds lasted for three days. On September 10, 1939, the bunker commanded by Raginis was the last remaining pocket of resistance. Although heavily wounded, Raginis was still commanding his troops. At noon on the third day, the German commander, Heinz Guderian, threatened that all Polish POWs would be shot if the defense of the bunker did not cease. Turning to the rest in the shelter he thanked them for the fact that they were soldiers and did their duty, he then ordered them to surrender themselves and leave the shelter - he would keep his word and not surrender.

Seweryn Biegański, who was the last to leave the shelter, describes the moment;

"The captain looked at me warmly and softly urged me to leave. When I was at the exit, I was hit on my back with strong gust and I heard an explosion."

Raginis then decided to end the resistance and committed suicide by throwing himself on a grenade.

 

The defense of Wizna, despite the clear imbalance of forces, of which the defenders were aware, was significant.

It had pinned down the German forces for two days, allowing the remnants of Polish troops in western Poland to defend the capital, Warsaw.

It helped gain time for many Polish units and the government leadership to conduct an orderly withdrawal to the Romanian bridgehead.

[29pavlich]

Thank you Dexter FOP for the information. I can see why this restoration was so important.

[Lash]

This is one of the best things I have read on FPN.

Thank you for your wonderful words

This work was a challenge and a great honor!

 

Greetings from Poland

Edited January 2, 2012 by Lash