Old Platignum, Identification

[HolyCrap]

Hi FPN,

This being my first post, I promise I will follow up with a proper introduction in the near future.

Having built up some steam over pens and inks over the last couple of months, however, I'm eager to get this question out, and so the introduction will have to wait.

 

Having recently revived my fountain pen enthusiasm I discovered my very first pen lying around and so I thought the only right cause of action were to revive it. So I did.

Having been unused for at least a decade, probably more, this took quite a while. The pen was not "retired" correctly after it's last use so several rounds flushing were necesarry. The old Pelican 4001 Royal Blue cartridge from it's last use was still in there, all dried up.

 

Medium story short, it now seems to function again.

 

It struck me then that I don't know much about it. While I have dug into the world of fountain pens recently, I am still a beginner.

So, here follows a brief description and "review" of this writing instrument, and the hope that someone can provide some additional information about it's origin.

 

The pen in question made by Platignum. It was purchased in 1992 for me by my father. I was 9 years old so I can imagine he chose a fairly cheap model.

It was bought in a store that sells pretty much everything, so not a dedicated boutique.

 

The body and section are all plastic and the cap seems to plastic with a thin metal cover and clip. The clip read Platignum and the end of the body has the text "Made in England".

 

Specifications (mm):

Length:

• Capped: 136
• Uncapped: 125
• Posted: 154
• Cap: 56

Width:

• Max: 11
• End: 8
• Grip section: 9-9,5 tapering

Weight: 14 grams

 

I'm not sure what this type of nib is called (stub? italic?) but it seems to be around 0,8 mm wide.

One side says "Fine" (the other "Platignum England").

 

All measurements are a bit uncertain due to the cheap quarlity of my slice gauge.

 

The pen is a bit on the light side but feels okay posted. It feels very plasticy though so that makes it feel rather cheap.

The nib is very scratchy. I'm don't habe enough experience with different nibs to know of this is normal or not, but I certainly prefer much smoother nibs.

 

I was unable to inline pictures so I will attach them instead.

• Pen details
• Lineup from top to bottom, Lamy Safari Petrol, Parker IM, Platignum, Parker Jotter FP
• And of course a customary writing sample.

 

If anyone knows anything about this model I'm happy to hear it.

 

BR,

HC

[PaulS]

Hi - welcome to the FPN The main thing is to like the pens you have - most of us have a few we don't adore, for whatever reason, and they can be shown the door quickly, but for reasons of sentiment or nostalgia we often keep a pen that otherwise might not cut it when writing.

The 1990s wasn't a decade to remember for Platignum - by then their heyday had sunk below the horizon, so you may get little response from folk here in the way of interest for such things. There is some interest for pre WWII examples, and a little from c. 1960/70s when some had 14 ct. nibs, but quality had all but disappeared by the date you mention.

The nib on your Platignum looks a tad contradictory - it appears to read FINE, yet looks more like a broad in tip width - perhaps it was a calligraphy fine point, in which case there wouldn't be any tipping material.

Many Platignum nibs - from across their period - weren't provided with any tipping material i.e. 'iridium' or whatever, so they do often seem less than smooth when writing, and there's little you can do about that in the absence of any material to smooth.

Sorry, not a clue as to the name of this model - or if in fact it ever had one - but I do have a Platignum from a similar period and with a similarly shaped nib, which is tipped with 'ridium' and what looks like a cheap gold wash. Like yours, my pen says 'MADE IN ENGLAND' which surprised me - I'd have put money on that not being the case.

If you want an inexpensive pen that is smooth and will write without fault, then something like a Parker Vector or Parker 25 will do all that is asked - but then probably your other pens are almost certainly better writers than the Platignum.

Sorry this doesn't tell you much about your pen.

[mallymal1]

Like PaulS, I'm not familiar with your particular model, but I can say that your nib is an Italic Fine.

 

I have a similar nib (with a gold coloured wash), which is part of a calligraphy set.

 

 

The nib sizes in the set are, Fine, Medium, Broad, B2, B3, and B4.

 

Do you recall if the pen was a stand alone item, or part of a set like this?

 

 

 

 

[HolyCrap]

Hi - welcome to the FPN The main thing is to like the pens you have - most of us have a few we don't adore, for whatever reason, and they can be shown the door quickly, but for reasons of sentiment or nostalgia we often keep a pen that otherwise might not cut it when writing.

The 1990s wasn't a decade to remember for Platignum - by then their heyday had sunk below the horizon, so you may get little response from folk here in the way of interest for such things. There is some interest for pre WWII examples, and a little from c. 1960/70s when some had 14 ct. nibs, but quality had all but disappeared by the date you mention.

The nib on your Platignum looks a tad contradictory - it appears to read FINE, yet looks more like a broad in tip width - perhaps it was a calligraphy fine point, in which case there wouldn't be any tipping material.

Many Platignum nibs - from across their period - weren't provided with any tipping material i.e. 'iridium' or whatever, so they do often seem less than smooth when writing, and there's little you can do about that in the absence of any material to smooth.

Sorry, not a clue as to the name of this model - or if in fact it ever had one - but I do have a Platignum from a similar period and with a similarly shaped nib, which is tipped with 'ridium' and what looks like a cheap gold wash. Like yours, my pen says 'MADE IN ENGLAND' which surprised me - I'd have put money on that not being the case.

If you want an inexpensive pen that is smooth and will write without fault, then something like a Parker Vector or Parker 25 will do all that is asked - but then probably your other pens are almost certainly better writers than the Platignum.

Sorry this doesn't tell you much about your pen.

 

Thank you for your reply, PaulS, you told me plenty!

I already suspected this was a very cheap model, possibly without any name or designation.

Searching online I found pictures of very similar nibs and there seem to be a variety of models, though the ones most like mine have "Italic" printed on top rather than "STD".

Here are some examples I found:

https://thumbsnap.com/s/NIKBJBRL.jpg

http://www.pendemonium.com/nibsandparts/nib_pltg_6.jpg

https://i.ebayimg.com/thumbs/images/g/JB8AAMXQVT9Sx92q/s-l225.jpg

 

I appreciate the pen suggestions, but as you say, my other pens vastly out perform the Platignum in almost every conceivable way, except the line variation that an italic nib brings.

I do have some "calligraphy" pens that are smoother though, should I ever feel a need for that.

 

 

Like PaulS, I'm not familiar with your particular model, but I can say that your nib is an Italic Fine.

 

I have a similar nib (with a gold coloured wash), which is part of a calligraphy set.

 

 

The nib sizes in the set are, Fine, Medium, Broad, B2, B3, and B4.

 

Do you recall if the pen was a stand alone item, or part of a set like this?

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks for your reply,

I do have a calligraphy set with, I think, three nib sizes, but I don't recall at the moment if that was Platignum or some other brand. I very rarely use it so it's stored away.

The pen in question did not come as part of a set. What intrigues me is that the nib has "STD" printed on it and not "Italic", despite looking suspiciously italic in shape.

Maybe it was incorrectly marked?

 

/HC

[mallymal1]

My humble apologies HC...how did I not see that?

 

So, the difference between a STD and an Italic? Well, I don't have the fine nibs, but I do have the broads to compare.

 

 

STD broad on the left...Italic broad on the right.

 

 

 

Slightly different shape, and the Italic is certainly wider than the STD.

 

Another difference between my examples, is that the STD is a screw-in nib unit, while the Italic is a nib and section assembly.

 

So your nib is what passes as Fine?

[HolyCrap]

My humble apologies HC...how did I not see that?

 

So, the difference between a STD and an Italic? Well, I don't have the fine nibs, but I do have the broads to compare.

 

 

STD broad on the left...Italic broad on the right.

 

 

 

Slightly different shape, and the Italic is certainly wider than the STD.

 

Another difference between my examples, is that the STD is a screw-in nib unit, while the Italic is a nib and section assembly.

 

So your nib is what passes as Fine?

 

With the nibs side I can see the difference in shape, but without the difference in marking I would never have thought of them as different types. I'm guessing there are more subtle differences that my untrained eye cannot discern.

 

As to the width of the nib, I have attached a small writing comparison with the Lamy Safari extra fine and Parker IM fine.

Don't mind the ink colors too much, a lot going wrong there*.

It looks pretty similar in line width to the IM. The Safari somehow looks wider, even though it's extra fine. Not sure what's going on there.

The paper is standard printer paper, 75 g/sqm.

 

How would you say your STD broad compares to other broad nibs?

 

/HC

 

* The Diamine Evergreen always starts out really dark and gains it's proper color after a couple of lines.

The Pelikan black in the Platignum is probably slightly diluted by water left in the feed after flushing out the pen. I was to impatient to let it dry.

Bad lighting and mobile phone camera also does it's part in misrepresenting the inks.

 

Edit: Forgot to attach image

Edited October 7, 2017 by HolyCrap

[mallymal1]

Hi HC, finally found time to ink up a couple of pens.

 

 

I found the Platignum STD Broad to be slightly broader than both the Lamy and the Parker broads, and obviously slightly narrower than the Platignum italic Broad.