Inky T O D - Mom's Ink Closet

[amberleadavis]

Lately, a few of us (DCWaites) have mentioned having our mom's pens and how we enjoyed them as kids - when she would let us touch them, and as we have gotten older and our moms are no longer using pens, we cherish these pens. Don't worry, we'll ask about Dad next.

 

If you were lucky enough to have a mom, grandma, aunt, female mentor who used a fountain pen, tell us about what ink she used in that pen. (Okay, tell us about the pen too).

[amberleadavis]

Okay, I'll confess, my grandmother had fountain pens and she dumped them all when we got our new receipt books at work - they had real onion skin and blue carbons for the 3 part invoices. I wish I'd kept the books. She made us all start using ball points.

 

 

My mom, however, had a Waterman Exclusive and Montblanc (the little one) that both used converters. She started out on MB Black and then got hooked on MB Burgundy. I didn't get to try Skrip Peacock until I was in college.

[dcwaites]

Ok, my Mom's Parker 51 (Blue body, cap may have been gold) was given to her by her family in 1955 to write letters home. My father had gotten a job with the Health Department in the then Territory of Papua and New Guinea, and the pen was to write letters home with.

She never really let me use it ("The nib wears to the owner, and letting any one else use it will damage the nib") but it became that grail pen.

 

When I went to boarding school, I bought a Chinese P51 clone - a Dragon 666 - that saw me through 6 years of high school. It only ever got fed with Parker Quink Blue-Black with Solv-X, and never got rinsed out.

 

I don't know what happened to the pen. It was one of those things that disappeared in multiple movings of home.

[amberleadavis]

So do you now own a blue Parker 51?

[migo984]

My mum had a Parker 51 too. Burgundy with gold fill cap. My dad bought it for her when he was in the Fleet Air Arm and stationed in Aden, in 1959. She used Parker blue ink in it.

 

Two years ago she gave me the pen; it was used continually all those years and so is a bit battered, but it's my most treasured pen.

[Ghost Plane]

I've got my granny on Mom's side lever-fill Waterman with a military clip. No idea what model. The family put her purse away with its contents in 1962 with blue-black petrified in it and I found it when clearing my parents' house. Got Main Street pens to replace the sac and deal with a horribly corroded cap so I can use it. Sweet M nib.

[dcwaites]

So do you now own a blue Parker 51?

 

I do, one of several P51s (Specials, Vac-fillers and Aeromatic) I bought over the years is now a "Pride of Place" deep Teal with gold filled cap and Fine nib. It's what I use PR American Blue in, as it tames that ink down to behave well.

[jmccarty3]

If my mother or either of my grandmothers wrote with fountain pens, I never saw them. My mother wrote with a small, well-controlled hand, pretty much the opposite of her personality. It's too bad she never used fountain pens as an adult. I'm sure she did as a student--she was born in 1925. My maternal grandmother was in the retail clothing business, and from my earliest memories in the '50s, I can't recall her using anything but a ballpoint. My paternal grandmother was not educated, and I don't recall whether she ever wrote anything with a fountain pen.

[Barkingpig]

My parent's each had two Sheaffer Snorkle Autograph sets (fountain pen with pencil;) one black & the other green. I have my Mother's green pen with her signature on the cap band & my Father's pencil. Each lost, conveniently the opposing item comprising their sets. So my green "set" has my Mother's signature on the fountain pen & pencil has my Father's signature on it's cap band. A truly "one of a kind" set. Sheaffer blue black always was the choice of ink for both. I washed a LOT of blue black out of that pen before refilling it with J Herbin's Vert Empire!

[amberleadavis]

I'm wondering if our mom's weren't as inky as our dads????

[canobiecrazy]

My mom was born in the early 1960s, went to public school, and never really used fountain pens. Names like Sheaffer and Scripto sometimes make her say "Oh! I remember that!", but I'm pretty sure she's told me she had always used pencils or ballpoints in school.

 

My maternal grandmother is still alive, and she used fountain pens up until they started to fall out of popularity. She told me she always had cheap dime store pens that weren't anything special, since she never had much money. One time when I was showing her a vintage Epenco pen I had just got, she asked "Is it a National?". Her mind isn't what it used to be and sometimes thoughts come out strangely. I'm not sure why that brand in particular came to her. From what I've read it seems they mostly made pens under other imprints. Maybe in the past she owned one that was made by National, or maybe they were sold a lot at stores in the Boston area? I doubt I'll ever know. In any case, all of the pens that she had are long gone, sold at a yard sale or given away over the years.

 

No idea about my paternal grandmother! I should ask my dad some day. It's safe to say that she did, she was a high school graduate and born in the 1920s.

 

[mmg122]

I was fortunate enough to get my mother's red Esterbrook J when she passed away and also had the benefit of FarmBoy (Todd) restoring it for me. It had a chipped jewel, which he lovingly replaced. I remember watching my Mom write weekly letters to her Mom who lived about 400 miles away. She always used Script blue black ink because she felt it was a "proper" and "respectful" color to use when writing her Mother. I guess that was a consideration in the early and mid century. I think I've mentioned previously that my Dad was the Midwest sales manager for Esterbrook and thus my Mom's choice of pen. Many fond memories...and thanks to FarmBoy for restoring my Mom's beautiful pen to "good as new"...and to Amber for inviting me to take this trip down memory lane.

[inkstainedruth]

My mom grew up during the Depression. My grandfather was a mine foreman (so, not union -- but first in and last out on his shifts). I'll bet my mom had some third or fourth tier pen like a Rexall. I know that she once said that fountain pens were messy. So I'm betting something like Carter's or maybe Quink or Sheaffer for inks.

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedurth

[ac12]

DANG, I did not ask my mom about her inks. I am sure one was black ink and one was red, but which ink she used, I have no idea.

 

I do have 4 of her pens, all desk pens;

- Parker 51 aerometric (I used this all through college. And like most aerometrics, 40 years later and it still works fine.)

- Wahl Eversharp, lever (don't know the model. This one has a accountants fine nib, which I could never write with, cuz I did not understand how to use an XXF nib. You write on HARD SMOOTH ledger paper.) This one needs a new ink sac and it will be good as new.

- Sheaffer Touchdown. I think I restored this pen.

- Sheaffer "dolphin" cartridge pen

 

The Esterbrook desk pen was lost, and "someone" threw out the 8-ball base. grrrrrr

 

BTW mom was a bookkeeper/accountant back when they used pen and ink, hence the desk pens. I don't know which was the red ink pen.

Edited November 23, 2015 by ac12

[amberleadavis]

I was fortunate enough to get my mother's red Esterbrook J when she passed away and also had the benefit of FarmBoy (Todd) restoring it for me. It had a chipped jewel, which he lovingly replaced. I remember watching my Mom write weekly letters to her Mom who lived about 400 miles away. She always used Script blue black ink because she felt it was a "proper" and "respectful" color to use when writing her Mother. I guess that was a consideration in the early and mid century. I think I've mentioned previously that my Dad was the Midwest sales manager for Esterbrook and thus my Mom's choice of pen. Many fond memories...and thanks to FarmBoy for restoring my Mom's beautiful pen to "good as new"...and to Amber for inviting me to take this trip down memory lane.

 

 

That's a lovely story!

[Runnin_Ute]

My maternal grandmother I know used a fountain pen. Why? While in Texas on a mission for the LDS Church I got letters from her written in fountain pen ink. (this was 1979-1981 time frame) Her husband, my maternal grandfather died when I was 13 months old (April 1959) owned a plumbing business which he started in the Depression and is now owned by my cousin, so is in its third generation) I have posted links to photos of his handwriting (using a fp) in some books I got after grandma died in 1994. (she was 93) The books date to the early 1920's.

 

I am sure I saw her use a fountain pen, but I couldn't tell you what it was. Nor the ink. My guess is a Parker of some sort, perhaps a 51. I don't know that - just speculation. The examples of grandpa's handwriting I have appear to be Blue Black ink of some sort. I seem to recall from grandma's letters a blue ink. I could be wrong though. Probably whatever was available. Grandma taught school at one point in time.

 

My paternal grandparents- don't ever recall seeing anything written with a fountain pen. Grandpa died in spring 1986. He worked in the Kennecott Copper Mine until retirement in the early 70's. Grandma died in December 2000 at 88. About 6 weeks shy of her 89th birthday.

 

I share my middle name (William) with my dad, my maternal grandfather and at least 4 others going back a total of 6 generations to the late 1700's/early 1800's. (some had it as their first name and some as a middle name) My paternal great grandfather and his father are two that I share the name with.

Edited November 23, 2015 by Runnin_Ute

[amberleadavis]

My grandmother and her mother were both prolific letter writers during WWII, I think they were using something like Carters, but it could have been Sheaffer or Parker. It was a beautiful blue black and I'm sure the school bought it in large containers.