Oddball Carter's?

[kharrisma]

Hi Everyone,

 

I just picked up a Carter's black hard rubber fountain pen at a local auction. It's moderately oxidized, and has a fair amount of wear, with significant brassing of the (single) barrel ring, clip, and lever. The sac, of course, is nothing more than crunchy bits. Nib seems to be a generous semi-flex, and lacks the "INX" stamp of (earlier? later?) pens.

 

I understand that Carter's was in the pen manufacturing business for only six years, 1928 to 1932-ish; I'm guessing that would make them fairly rare? Most of the online examples I've seen are fairly attractive pens, in a number of colors/patterns; this is a plain-Jane, just smooth, black rubber, with a red stripe just below the end of the cap.

 

I have run across all kinds of references to numbers on the end of the barrel, yet this one seems to have no numbers at all; not the slightest hint of numbers; either they were deliberately removed, or it never had any, so I can't accurately identify the pen model. Can this fact be used to date this pen?

 

And on a more practical note: how difficult are these pens to break down? I'd like to re-sac it, and do a thorough cleaning of the feed, but this is possibly the tightest-fitting section and nib/feed I've yet encountered. I believe the section is a friction-fit; can anybody correct me here?

 

Any information or pointers on this pen would be appreciated

 

Here are links to some pics:

 

http://i1274.photobucket.com/albums/y429/kharrisma/Carters/PC090xxx_zpsef7a9e18.jpg

 

http://i1274.photobucket.com/albums/y429/kharrisma/Carters/PC090019_zps19638911.jpg

 

http://i1274.photobucket.com/albums/y429/kharrisma/Carters/PC090012_zpsefd46fc4.jpg

 

http://i1274.photobucket.com/albums/y429/kharrisma/Carters/PC090005_zps98a468f6.jpg

 

http://i1274.photobucket.com/albums/y429/kharrisma/Carters/PC090004_zps92e22677.jpg

 

http://i1274.photobucket.com/albums/y429/kharrisma/Carters/PC090001_zps8222c679.jpg

 

 

[ArchiMark]

Nice find!.....

 

Not a Carter expert...but from a quick look at my copy of Paul Erano's book "Fountain Pens, Past & Present" (beautiful book with lots of great info and pics btw....)

 

He says Carter's are quality pens....and yours looks to be same design as one that he says is from c. 1925...the one he shows is in mottled red hard rubber....but same design features as yours....

 

They stopped making pens in early 30's due to the Depression...

 

As for repairing it, I'd post this in the Repair section and let people like the repairmeister, Ron Zorn provide you input....

 

Hope this is helpful....

 

Mark

[raging.dragon]

The flatop design with engraved barrel were made in or before 1930, sometime in or around 1930 Carter dropped the barrel engraving and switched to a semi-streamlined design. Carter were early adopters of celluloid, so the hard rubber construction suggests an early pen. I believe the unmarked nib also suggests an early pen - I recall reading somewhere that Carter used such nibs for a few years before introducing INX (semi-flex) and Superwear (manfold) nibs.

 

The design and trim look like my Carter and the few other Carter flattops I've seen photos of.

 

I'm not sure what to make of the missing number, but the number should be 2xy5 (I'd guess it's a 2115), where:

 

2 = colour (polished black)

x = girth

y = length

5 = nib size