Identification Of Unknown Brand Fountain Pen

June 30, 2017

Hello, can you please help me identifying my pen? There is no logo on it. Thanks.

June 30, 2017

Looks English, well made, silver plated and there were a few of thse made in a small production run around 4 years ago, very similar design to the Aspinall range and it was suggested to me that this was a trial run for the shop that didnt proceed.

https://www.aspinaloflondon.com/search/go?view=grid&cur=GBP&asug=&m=V2VsY29tZSB0byA8c3BhbiBjbGFzcz0ic21hbGwtY2FwcyI%252BQXNwaW5hbDwvc3Bhbj4%253D&w=pen

They were selling for £100 in 2012.

Might be completely wrong of course, but it looks very like the pen I saw at a pen show.

June 30, 2017

doesn't look silver plated to me - more of a chrome finish possibly. What is the nib imprint? - might not help at all, since nibs are often made separately and then bought in for attachment later. Over time there have been many pens manufactured without a name, simply to be sold by a retailer or other promotional outfit. Don't think I'd ever pay £100 for a pen without a name.

Rub the pen with some sort of silver cloth or other very fine polishing compound - it the cloth looks black then you do have a silver surface, if nothing then it's chrome.

Edited June 30, 2017 by PaulS

June 30, 2017

doesn't look silver plated to me - more of a chrome finish possibly. What is the nib imprint? - might not help at all, since nibs are often made separately and then bought in for attachment later. Over time there have been many pens manufactured without a name, simply to be sold by a retailer or other promotional outfit. Don't think I'd ever pay £100 for a pen without a name.
Rub the pen with some sort of silver cloth or other very fine polishing compound - it the cloth looks black then you do have a silver surface, if nothing then it's chrome.

Not quite sure what you are saying there Paul, sounds a bit confused,

You are asking about the nib imprint and then saying it doesnt matter.

You are saying you wouldnt pay £100 for the pen, not sure that this is relevant to the question.

And finally that the pen ought to have your silver test - is that going to identify the pen or just to have a go at me?

June 30, 2017

Hello Maximan - sorry, looks like my candour has fallen foul - sorry, not the slightest intention to insult you or have a go at you - so apologies if that was the perceived view.

1 ................. the nib imprint might possibly help to indicate country of origin, but as a component a nib is unreliable for pen id., and unlikely to tell us who made the pen. In the U.K., nibs showing the word Warranted were commonplace on pens, and usually had nothing to do with the manufacturer of the pen, but having an English text word on the nib does at least probably signify a British origin.

2 ................. my comments re £100 were in response to this figure as posted by you, since you were suggesting some possible connection as shown in your link. If, for example, this pen did prove to have that connection, then I still wouldn't be inclined to pay that sum for a pen that lacked a name. What any of us buys is up to us as individuals - but I'd suggest that most folk here would be disinclined to pay similar sums for un-named pens - provenance is important to most of us.

3 .................. my suggestion of the silver test was simply a practicable way of determining that your suggestion of silver plate was correct, or not - it saves guessing - and my thoughts on chrome were quite genuine - to my eyes the material does have a chrome appearance = but again I could be wrong.

I'd also argue (in a friendly way) that - in a general - a pens appearance is unreliable to say it looks English - it may well be of course, but pens come in may guises, and though you might be saying this due to the particular barrel chasing, it's possible that other folk may have other ideas.

Let's hope someone can identify this one for the op.

June 30, 2017

I bought one of these from John Sorowka, at WES 2012/3, he had a limited supply of the pens and told me the story behind them. They are silver plated and made for a luxury goods retailer, very similar styling to another Aspinal pen at the time, just a little smaller.

The pen I owned had poor flow, hope yours is a little better OP