English Wartime Duofolds

[barriep]

 

Looking through my English Duofolds I came across three pens from Newhaven production during the second world war. All three had one thing in common, the gold plated cap bands were seriously brassed, much more so than on US and later Newhaven Duofolds. (The ball of the clips were also brassed but this is much more common.) I wondered if wartime limitations meant that the gold plating used was thinner quality than normal on Duofolds?

[FarmBoy]

Nice. I'd not even notice the brassing.

[drtomprice]

Interesting question. I assume that the clips are 12k gold filled - which means that it would normally require a lot of copper, which was subject to wartime rationing. Maybe they had to use a thinner sleeve for the fill due to the copper cost/supply? Or they may have substituted silver for the copper (Au>Ag>Cu instead of Au>Cu>Ag) or upped the Zinc content?

 

Of course, that individual clip could have just seen more wear.

[JotterAddict62]

Nice looking pens...

[mitto]

Beautiful English pens...

[majorworks]

Beauties, especially that bottom one. It looks knitted.

[ENewton]

Lovely pens.