British 1930's & 1940's Button Filler Pens.

[Ricky2011]

Hi,

 

just thought id share my selection of Stephens (1932) & Parker victory (1935-46) English made (discounting the first 5 years made in canada).

when you look at the the period in general a lot of the the other makers were concentrating on lever fillers.

 

would be nice to see what else is made during the period in button filler.

 

regards

 

Rick

[PAKMAN]

Nice Collection! Congrats and thanks for sharing!

[eachan]

That's a great collection!

 

Wyvern and Mentmore were turning out button fillers in that period. Conway Stewart made one (and only one) too!

[Ricky2011]

thanks both @eachan do you have any?

[eachan]

If you go to my wife's blog:

 

https://goodwriterspens.com/

 

and search for Wyvern and Mentmore you'll see quite a few.

[Ricky2011]

Thanks @eachan do you and Deb collect anything.

I was about to email her to ask her as running out of people who may know...

I know debs as a transparent mentmore.. have either of you seen more in that range or were they just one off.

i.e there is a bout 12 designs in the early Stephens and around 35+ designs in the victory MKI.

 

stay safe.

[eachan]

We don't collect but anything interesting goes in the blog. I've seen several semi-transparent Mentmores. It seems to be the result of fading - total loss of most colours. It's usually black that remains, though I have seen white. There are several marbled designs in the Autoflow range but I couldn't say how many.

[Cob]

You could add National Security. The 1930s stud fillers were really copies of Parker Duofolds. I have one with the wrong clip and a nice stub nib. It is in the usual brown marble finish.

 

Cob

Edited August 9, 2020 by Cob

[northlodge]

You could add National Security. The 1930s stud fillers were really copies of Parker Duofolds. I have one with the wrong clip and a nice stub nib. It is in the usual brown marble finish.

 

Cob

 

Yep, the Lang made National Security models and some of their other early sourced pens were button fillers.

Other Summit / Lang items (eg Debretts Top-Lever and the S.200 ) were button fillers. Valentine & Burnham produced many colourful button fillers.

 

Getting harder to find would be the Conway Stewart made Esterbrook Relief S pens (which probably counters the suggestion that they only made one button filler), the exotic "Turnstyle" pens (from Mays? ) and the Totus Securus may be loosely classified as a type of button filler, and finally the short lived "Truepoint" models.

 

Ricky, That lot should keep your wallet empty for a good few year ;-)

[Ricky2011]

Thanks @Northlodge. In my head i had grouped the valentine/victory/duofold (as all predominately coming from Newhaven).

What are the range of colours/variations in the others.

 

I think i found reference to the wyvern 75 on worthpoint.. use that for research of brands and variations i.e i can add button filler to search to reduce the amount of levers..

 

not familiar with the other brands 'truepoint' and brutus. will have to check the hull book on english pens..

[Ricky2011]

somehow got interested in vintage platignums.

blind cap is a little loose on the one on the right.

Edited September 2, 2020 by Ricky2011

[CS388]

Hi Ricky2011

 

Great collections. Thank you for sharing them with us.

 

Unfortunately, I have had nothing but bad experiences with vintage Platignum. The ones I had were fragile and delicate. I found them difficult to repair* and never found them to be great writers?

I should point out that this was many years ago, and many of the pens I had back then came in job lots, so were never in the best of condition. My memory may be painting them worse than they were, but I went on to collect other brands and abandoned the Platignums.

 

I hope you have a better experience with them.

Your Stephens and Parker Victory collection is excellent.

 

Best wishes, CS

 

*I wonder if they were casein pens, which made the broken barrels difficult to repair?

[Ricky2011]

Thanks @CS388, i have some more to be added to my collection. as my victory and stephens pens has dried up.

 

anyone know why the blind caps are different.

[eachan]

I don't know why you have trouble with particular blind caps, Ricky, but be aware that Platignums are cheaply made pens, not in same category as your Stephens or Parkers. There are some exceptions but in my experience most Platignums have problems with shrinkage, loose or missing cap rings and poor threads.

[Ricky2011]

Thanks for the tip @eachan

 

the green one does have a cracked barrel. though near the nib.

[eachan]

I believe those pens are celluloid, so should be capable of repair by celluloid welding but of course a cracked barrel near the nib is especially difficult given the stress of the section insertion. There was a suggestion further up the thread that the pens might be casein. I'm pretty sure they're not.

[northlodge]

I think platignums get a bad press because of the 1960's school pens.

 

Some of the earlier 1930/40 examples are not so bad. They were made by Mentmore and often shared the same bodies as the Mentmore B/F, but carried a cheaper nib. (the situation is the same with some Curzon & Lang models).

 

Knowing this, it is always possible to try for spares from the other range - e.g. I have seen your your B/W model in both Mentmore & Platignum branding, (as well as "Guildhall" and possibly others). I bet if you put your B/W pen on ebay as Platignum it would sell for a tenner, branded "Mentmore" £30 - £40 ??

[eachan]

I think platignums get a bad press because of the 1960's school pens.

 

Some of the earlier 1930/40 examples are not so bad. They were made by Mentmore and often shared the same bodies as the Mentmore B/F, but carried a cheaper nib. (the situation is the same with some Curzon & Lang models).

 

Knowing this, it is always possible to try for spares from the other range - e.g. I have seen your your B/W model in both Mentmore & Platignum branding, (as well as "Guildhall" and possibly others). I bet if you put your B/W pen on ebay as Platignum it would sell for a tenner, branded "Mentmore" £30 - £40 ??

 

In general I would agree but many of the 30s pens pens are the ones I was thinking of when I mentioned shrinkage and loose rings. Great colours but often a problem after 80-odd years. Hardly surprising as they were built down to a price.

[Ricky2011]

thanks for the advice.

 

here is the crack- picture taken by the sellers... I think they are on here. but cannt remember their handle.

[eachan]

That's a big crack and the fact that it runs to the end of the barrel where the section is inserted means that it will constantly be under stress. I wouldn't regard that as repairable.