Waterman's 52 Wood Grain With #2 "j" Calligraphy Nib?!

[kohlj2]

I purchased this Waterman's 52 Wood Grain with an unusual #2 "J" nib on Ebay a month or so ago. I may have paid more than I should have but having never run across such a nib, I could not resist. I've only seen one other reference to such a nib on the penboard.de and it indicated that it is a calligraphy nib. Can anyone confirm this or offer additional insight/knowledge about this nib?

 

Regardless of price, it has been a lot fun to write with. Even under the control of my untrained hand, the nib produces excellent ink shading and puts out a really wet line. It is slightly flexible, however pressure predominately enhances the ink flow and not line width. With light pressure, the pen produces a line 1.44 mm in width on the down-stroke!

Edited April 18, 2014 by kohlj2

[Xof72000]

Waouuh !

Congratulations !

I have never seen such a nib ...

[RMN]

Interesting nib and a beautiful pen.

 

Enjoy it

 

 

D.ick

[Uncle Red]

Waterman's 1925 catalog offered nibs that were called stubs, Extra Broad Stubs (for an extra $0.50) and for nibs 4,5,6 and 8 there were Special Broad Stubs (for an extra $1.00).

 

I have what must be a slightly later, English made Extra Broad Stub on a 52 1/2v

 

 

The J looks like the logo for Jif, Waterman's French distributor. Is the nib marked 18K 750?

[Xof72000]

  On 4/18/2014 at 11:34 PM, Uncle Red said:

 

The J looks like the logo for Jif, Waterman's French distributor. Is the nib marked 18K 750?

 

 

I would be really supprised about this Uncle Red, as the "JI" letters of "JIF" stands for the name of the distributor, Jules-Isidore, and were allways used together (only mentionning "Jules" on the nib wouldn't make sense).

[kohlj2]

  On 4/18/2014 at 7:40 PM, Xof72000 said:

Waouuh !

Congratulations !

I have never seen such a nib ...

I feel lucky to have stumbled across this. I can say that it pays to squander many of my waking scouring Ebay. Certainly strange things pop up. Also, I do believe there is one of these "J" nibs for sale on the following link: http://www.penboard.de/shop/hlist/nibs/WAVI/1To view it, scroll down approximately halfway down the page.

 

 

  On 4/18/2014 at 8:40 PM, RMN said:

Interesting nib and a beautiful pen.

 

Enjoy it

 

 

D.ick

 

Thank you D.ick! I was excited to find this one! Best, Jesse

[kohlj2]

  On 4/18/2014 at 11:34 PM, Uncle Red said:

Waterman's 1925 catalog offered nibs that were called stubs, Extra Broad Stubs (for an extra $0.50) and for nibs 4,5,6 and 8 there were Special Broad Stubs (for an extra $1.00).

 

I have what must be a slightly later, English made Extra Broad Stub on a 52 1/2v

 

 

The J looks like the logo for Jif, Waterman's French distributor. Is the nib marked 18K 750?

Hi Museum Piece, thanks for the image of your FP, very nice broad nib!

 

As for this 52, from what I can view with the nib installed, it is engraved: "J" "Waterman's" "IDEAL" "REG U.S." "PAT OFF". I have not removed the nib from the feed so I cannot confirm or deny the presence of hallmarks indicating that it is 18K. There are clearer pictures of an similar nib here: http://www.penboard.de/shop/hlist/nibs/WAVI/1. It is a #4 nib, but marked with the same "J".

Best regards,

Jesse

Edited April 19, 2014 by kohlj2

[kohlj2]

I just placed the 52 Wood Grain with the "J" nib side-by-side a 52 ripple with a #2 nib. I believe I was mistaken that the "J" nib is a #2 size. In fact, the "J" nib looks much more like a #4... Thus, it is identical to that pictured on the following link: http://www.penboard.de/shop/hlist/nibs/WAVI/1 (scroll down to view).

 

 

Interestingly, the pen itself is clearly stamped "52" at the end of the barrel. Would have made more sense if it was a 54, yes?

Edited April 19, 2014 by kohlj2

[RMN]

Looking at the very clear pics at penboard ( ) there seems no tipping left, and the nib seems ground in a special way, the sides seem to be ground away a bit looking from the top. There is no gold content mentioned as is on yours.

 

Strange, and interesting. I have no idea what it means.

 

D.ick

[Left FPN]

Y J ?

[h.farmawi]

very nice pen, the Nib is Interesting.
enjoy the Pen.

 

PS: nice ink color.

[kohlj2]

  On 4/19/2014 at 11:01 AM, h.farmawi said:

very nice pen, the Nib is Interesting.

enjoy the Pen.

 

PS: nice ink color.

Hi h.farmawi, yes the nib is indeed an odd one! As for the ink, I have not used many Noodler's Inks, but I really like this one (Apache Sunset). There is another I have seen from Noodler's called English Roses that I'm keen on trying:

 

http://www.carpedavid.com/blog/2011/3/29/ink-review-noodlers-black-swan-in-english-roses.html

 

Best,

Jesse

[kohlj2]

  On 4/19/2014 at 9:58 AM, RMN said:

Looking at the very clear pics at penboard ( ) there seems no tipping left, and the nib seems ground in a special way, the sides seem to be ground away a bit looking from the top. There is no gold content mentioned as is on yours.

 

Strange, and interesting. I have no idea what it means.

 

D.ick

D.ick, that is a good observation you made regarding the "J" nib on the penboard. My "J" nib does not have much tipping either, but I think the sides are ground slightly differently than the one pictured. I'll post some more images shortly.

 

Best,

Jesse

Edited April 19, 2014 by kohlj2

[kohlj2]

Close-ups of the "J"nib.

 

Best I can do with my lousy digi-cam and photography skills.... Will have to stop buying pens and invest in a better camera... Someday.

[kohlj2]

One more image for good measure...

[Uncle Red]

There's a bit more tipping on mine but that's a nice looking nib. 52's and 54's are the same size holder so it may be a replacement nib.

[Vintagepens]

"J" nibs are found more often on German pens, for some reason.

They are an instance of dip pen nibs being duplicated in gold for fountain pen use. Falcon nibs are another instance. Most J nibs have the "J" in relief.

 

Coincidentally, I recently posted pictures of an early Edward Todd eyedropper with a J nib here: http://vintagepensblog.blogspot.com/2014/04/more-unusual-edward-todd-pens.html

[kohlj2]

  On 4/20/2014 at 11:37 PM, Vintagepens said:

"J" nibs are found more often on German pens, for some reason.

They are an instance of dip pen nibs being duplicated in gold for fountain pen use. Falcon nibs are another instance. Most J nibs have the "J" in relief.

 

Coincidentally, I recently posted pictures of an early Edward Todd eyedropper with a J nib here: http://vintagepensblog.blogspot.com/2014/04/more-unusual-edward-todd-pens.html

Hi David,

 

Thanks for your the information! Coincidentally, I did purchase this pen from a German seller on Ebay (auch-pelikan) who resides in Munich. http://www.ebay.com/itm/261429584527

 

Best,

Jesse

[h.farmawi]

  On 4/19/2014 at 8:04 PM, kohlj2 said:

Hi h.farmawi, yes the nib is indeed an odd one! As for the ink, I have not used many Noodler's Inks, but I really like this one (Apache Sunset). There is another I have seen from Noodler's called English Roses that I'm keen on trying:

 

http://www.carpedavid.com/blog/2011/3/29/ink-review-noodlers-black-swan-in-english-roses.html

 

Best,

Jesse

still didnt try those type of inks just (BLACK< BLUE AND BLUE-BLACK) would like to start with a nice green one like this Noodler's green, and for that English Rose.......Wow its really nice i think ill keep it in mind .