Waterman Desk Pen But No Visible Means Of Filling!

[amk]

I found this rather nice Waterman desk pen at the weekend. The imprint is fairly clear (I chalked it to show up in the photo), and the nib is a 'commando' steel nib.

 

However... there is no visible means of filling the pen. Would the tulip-shaped holder have included some ink, is the pen intended to be used as an eyedropper, or am I missing something?

 

Does anyone know anything useful?

 

[crescentfiller]

Have you unscrewed the taper?

If so, can you provide a photo showing what's inside that end?

[amk]

I can't get the taper shifted at all; it might be glued. The section screws out quite easily (8-9 turns), and there's a funny little rubber collar with a ring attached to the nipple - definitely not the remains of a sac - so I'm wondering if maybe this is an eyedropper? But I've never come across a Waterman eyedropper before!

[crescentfiller]

I'm doubtful it is an eyedropper. Perhaps you could try some dry heat (a hair dryer) on the taper end, as I'm rather more confident it will be the filling end of this pen.

[amk]

By the way, it's desk pen month! I always look in the boxes of penholders that turn up at sales round here, and today my luck was in - a Gold Starry desk pen in black and gold, admittedly without the nib, but for one euro I wasn't going to quibble. This time the means of filling is quite obvious - a nice gold plated lever.

[pen lady]

OK, now I'm really going to stir things up! The trumpet looks more Sheafferish to me, but beside that, is it possible that the barrel is from a bank dip pen used by customers when dealing with the teller? The OP said the nib is stamped Commando, is it gold, and the feed looks a bit odd too. I've checked in the Waterman pdf vintage desk pen catalogue and they are all lever fillers.

[amk]

Frankdeskpen perhaps? I agree penlady, there's something really a bit odd about this beast. And the barrel has threading for a cap, too, which my other dip pens don't.

 

The nib is steel but has what looks like a little bit of gold plating left just up by the section.

 

I'll aim my hairdryer at the taper tomorrow.

[Z-Tab]

Before you play with heat, can you post some more pics of the pen. You say the section unscrews? That sure sounds like an eyedropper system...

 

Could be that you've got yourself a prototype or something especially interesting/unusual.

 

Even the imprint is pretty unusual on this one.

 

WATERMAN'S

UNITED STATES

OF AMERICA

 

I strongly recommend you don't get aggressive with this pen until you know what it is.

Edited September 23, 2018 by Z-Tab

[pen lady]

I don't know a lot about desk pens, but didn't some of them screw into the trumpet? If that's so, then that would account for the threads. What a mystery!

[amk]

Here you go; a couple of pics showing the barrel threads and the rubber 'parasol' thingy, and the nib.

[Left FPN]

I am going to say. because we will never really know, that this is a prototype of sorts eyedropper.

 

It can only be an eyedropper because there is no other method of filling and it has a screw section/block.

 

I can see that rubber item being a seal inside the barrel.

 

Are you 100% the nib is steel and not silver or rhodium plated gold.

[amk]

The nib doesn't respond to a magnet and it does feel like a complete nail. And since it's marked 'France' and without a poinçon, I think it's probably steel.

 

Just thinking....if it's an eyedropper then the taper is probably glued on, to prevent leakage. That would explain why I can't unscrew it.