New Old Pen - Inkograph - Worth The Restoration?

[boybacon]

Okay, fellow fountain pen enthusiasts. I spent a little money today, and I want to see how poorly (or how good :-) I managed to do. Is this pen worth a restoration, or did I spend $20 on a frankenpen?

 

This is pen #1. The clip is marked Inkograph, and the lever is marked "Made in USA", pen is stamped/engraved "Inkograph" over "Registered in USA & Foreign Countries". The plating appears pretty darn good.

Question #1 - The ink sac is pink rubber, and does not appear to have any cracks. Is that the original ink sac?

Question #2 - The lower section of the pen (with the ink sac) does not fit tightly into the pen. There are bits of old shellac on it. Does that appear to be original, or is this a frankenpiece someone tried to fit to the pen?

Question #3 -- The nib and feed I have NOT been able to remove. The nib appears to be gold and not plated (carats unknown). What I can read is "ME" over "Ma" over "U." I'm assuming that the second two lines would read "Made in the" over "U.S.A." Would that be the original nib to the pen? It's in superb shape, unbent.

 

So...did I buy a frankenpen ? Is it worth fitting the ink sack/nib section back into the pen? Is it worth restoring?

 

Yes, that is a lot of questions from a newbie who had a moment of weakness and couldn't say "no" to buying an old pen

[FarmBoy]

No need to remove the nib/feed from the section. Change the sac. Ink it and use it, it doesn't matter what you paid.

[lallin]

You have a late-40s, very early-50s Inkograph barrel and cap. The section and nib do not appear to be Inkograph parts; but, I can't be certain without a closer look. There is at least one eBay seller that routinely swaps out the stylographic works for nibs/sections from whatever will fit.

 

I have a couple of hundred Inkographs and have never seen a red sac, only clear and black; however, that means little. They very well could have used red sac for a day, a week or whatever period. Or, it could have been replaced sometime in the past 60+ years.

 

An Inkograph nib and section of that era would typically look like this:

 

http://i60.tinypic.com/qyhflz.jpg

Edited February 23, 2015 by lallin

[boybacon]

Thanks, lallin. This was an antique mall find while I was looking for writers so I guess as long as the nib and feed work and I can shellac the works into the barrel then I should be good. The cap is in really good condition.

[Egatdagi]

Not sure if this thread is still active but I have the same pen. I just bought it off ebay and the section is loose. It likes to slide out like it's under pressure. My section is plain black and the seller replaced the sac so no idea if the original was pink. I inked it and it writes nicely but it really feels cheap. I'll be de-inking it and adding it to the collection as an Inkograph sample but not entering it into my writing rotation.

[lallin]

Not sure if this thread is still active but I have the same pen. I just bought it off ebay and the section is loose. It likes to slide out like it's under pressure. My section is plain black and the seller replaced the sac so no idea if the original was pink. I inked it and it writes nicely but it really feels cheap. I'll be de-inking it and adding it to the collection as an Inkograph sample but not entering it into my writing rotation.

Perhaps the sac was not trimmed to an appropriate length; a too-long, supple sac could push a loose section out. Or, the sac could have been cut correctly; but, the j-bar, if removed, was not pushed all the way in.