What Do We Have Here (Vintage Pen Id Request)

December 9, 2019

My fantastic, amazing, wonderful wife arrived home today with five vintage fountain pens which she'd stumbled upon in an antiques shop in Utrecht, Netherlands. Four of those five are Dutch-made, ca. 1950 pens from brands such as Boston, Ero and Nobel. Those four are absolute stunners to look at (I'll post photos as soon as I can get them into daylight) and have amazing nibs (think smooth, pleasant, tactile semi-flex needlepoints), but three of those four need professional repair because the sacs have disintegrated and the levers and buttons are frozen in place.

The fifth pen is a mystery to me. At first glance it appears to be a 1920s/1930s USA-made pen, but it might also be a cheap copy from another era:

^--Similar in size to a MB 146, imprinted with "U.S. ROYAL". Note the thin, white end caps on both sides.

^---Lever filler. Sac disintegrated.

^---No brand name imprinted on clip or cap.

^---Nib says "NICHROMA EXTRA IRIDIUM POINT" and has an emblem resembling a buffalo. Wonderful nib to write with.

Any suggestions what this might be?

I'm going to have it professionally restored, because it fits my hand like a glove and has a marvelous nib.

December 9, 2019

A A Pfortzheimer nib maker used the buffalo/ bison. Look up bison...for the nib, there has been threads on that.

""""""""Very likely German. Here's a link to a similar pen with same nib and buffalo insignia:
Nichroma nib, buffalo insignia""" but link didn't work for me.""""

Your NICHROMA nib.....

""""""""""""

Nib Identification, Please

Posted by RMN on 02 March 2018 - 20:56 in Of Nibs & Tines

I am looking to determine a similar nib, which was placed on a MB pen.

The owner now has rep[laced it with an original MB nib.

Now the question is: which nibmaker had the Buffalo or Bison as logo.

Niicroma is mentioned on a few places here on the forum, but afaik that is not a brand but the metal alloy it was made of

One finds Nicroma nibs without a bison on the internet.

Nicroma nibs WITH the bison have been seen on at least a Luxor pen and a SonnBlick pen.

So it must have been made by one of the many nibmakers active around ~~Heideliberg~~ (I suppose) in the interbellum or the middle of the last century.

D.ick""""""""""""""""

Edited December 9, 2019 by Bo Bo Olson

December 10, 2019

I've come across the buffalo/bison imprint on supposedly German piston fillers before. I couldn't find out who the maker was. Nichroma was a widespread steel alloy for nibs in the 1930s and 1940s in Germany. It's not easy to find details about it but it's most probably a high nickel and chromium steel alloy that's non-stain and non-magnetic and is highly flexible. So, your mystery pen most probably is of German origin.

December 10, 2019

That’s great info, thank you both very much!

December 10, 2019

Just woke up, and thought Kaweco would have answered our questions of a bison or buffalo nib maker........I couldn't find any info.

I know he knows........but I forgot where or if I noted that somewhere.

I do have at least one of those bison nibs.

So do contact Kaweco on that. Thomas is a scholar on Heidelberg area pens (once the Pen Capitol of the world)...and Pfortzheim is close enough to count. Might take him a while to answer, in he's not on the com often anymore.