Unusual Doric Color?

[Paul-in-SF]

I am intrigued by the color of this Doric. It's 2nd generation, and not gold seal. It's also a very petite pen at 112 mm capped.

 

I would describe the color as green-veined brown and gold marbled. As usual the photo doesn't capture it well, but the gold part of the marble especially has an impressive chatoyance. Photo below. My reference for Doric colors has been Richard Binder's book on Wahl-Eversharp, and it is not listed there, or indeed under any other model that he covers in that book.

 

Does anyone have any information about this color in Dorics or other W-E pens?

 

(I struck lucky with this pen, the section came out easily, as did the petrified sac; the section is currently soaking out the old ink. There are distinct signs of wear, including brassing on the lever and clip, and the engraving on the back of the cap is quite faint. But it is otherwise in quite good shape, there are no cracks or chips or decaying celluloid that I can see. Time will tell how the Manifold nib writes.)

[Addertooth]

I believe that is Moss Green/

[Paul-in-SF]

Thank you. Is that a color used for Dorics only?

 

I just noticed a sentence in Binder;s book: "The color range shown here for the Doric Junior and Popular Doric lines is far from complete." Maybe this pen is both a Popular and a Junior, since it is both low-end and small?

[Addertooth]

I may have the name wrong, but that color was used on other pens. I think I have a Wahl desk pen which is that exact color.

[joss]

did you exclude "bronze and green" as possible colour?

www.richardspens.com/ref/profiles/doric.htm

[Addertooth]

Thank you Joss,

I get my Waterman and Wahl color names crossed sometimes.

[crescentfiller]

Especially unusual with the vanishing point!

[Paul-in-SF]

did you exclude "bronze and green" as possible colour?

www.richardspens.com/ref/profiles/doric.htm

 

Thank you for the link. It does look like the Junior color labeled as "Bronze and Green."

 

I have a flat-top, like a small Decoband, in a color that is also described as "bronze and green" but it is a completely different material. A lot more green than the Doric Junior, no brown at all, and somewhat flatter, i.e. less chatoyance. Have I been calling this flat top the wrong color?

 

Edited to add: what I have been calling the flat top is, apparently, not an offficial Wahl Eversharp color designation, so I guess my point is moot. I would be interested to know if the flat top's color does have an official name, though.

 

Here is a photo of the two together.

Edited February 16, 2020 by Paul-in-SF

[joss]

 

Thank you for the link. It does look like the Junior color labeled as "Bronze and Green."

 

I have a flat-top, like a small Decoband, in a color that is also described as "bronze and green" but it is a completely different material. A lot more green than the Doric Junior, no brown at all, and somewhat flatter, i.e. less chatoyance. Have I been calling this flat top the wrong color?

 

Edited to add: what I have been calling the flat top is, apparently, not an offficial Wahl Eversharp color designation, so I guess my point is moot. I would be interested to know if the flat top's color does have an official name, though.

 

Here is a photo of the two together.

The pattern on the two pens is indeed different but the colour on the bottom pen was also called "bronze-green".

The pen is shown in this 1929 Eversharp advertisement and described as "bronze - green pyrallin":

https://archive.org/details/the-saturday-evening-post-1929-12-07/page/n101/mode/2up

[Paul-in-SF]

The pattern on the two pens is indeed different but the colour on the bottom pen was also called "bronze-green".

The pen is shown in this 1929 Eversharp advertisement and described as "bronze - green pyrallin":

https://archive.org/details/the-saturday-evening-post-1929-12-07/page/n101/mode/2up

 

Thank you so much for posting that. When I can see that ad, I get a much stronger sense of the real history of my pen, and a kind of amazement that it is still in good working order 90 years later. I looked up pyralin and it is a variety of celluloid. I love getting the actual terminologies correct on these pens.

[Wahlnut]

Just reviewing. Did I ever answer?  I hope I did but if not the color is an off catalog one. We all call it camouflage but even though it was an often seen desk pen color it seems to be confined to the lower end junior or popular priced pens. The cap band pattern makes it the Junior though. 

[Paul-in-SF]

On 11/24/2020 at 10:40 PM, Wahlnut said:

Just reviewing. Did I ever answer?  I hope I did but if not the color is an off catalog one. We all call it camouflage but even though it was an often seen desk pen color it seems to be confined to the lower end junior or popular priced pens. The cap band pattern makes it the Junior though. 

Hi, and thanks for the new information. I'll make a note of the unofficial name "camouflage," which seems to fit pretty well. I still think it's one of the best colors among the Dorics that I own, it has so much depth to it. 

[jonveley]

Topaz.

[Wahlnut]

Its frequently called" Camo" as in Camouflage because although thousand and thousands were made and have survived, it was never a catalogued color.  If you look closely in the photo there are the green elements that help identify it.