butterfly nib Butterfly nib

[VijayGS]

Non tipped butterfly nibs. 
The nib shapes were cut out of the metal sheet with the tip sporting a butterfly wing shape which was later folded downwards along the tines, pressed and heated to form a pseudo tip. These nibs provided a wet, smooth writing experience at the cost of durability due to the lack of hard metal tipping. The life span of a steel butterfly nibs were a max of 6 months and that’s one among the reasons for these nibs selling in box containing multiple nibs.

 

Pre Folding.

 

 

Tipped Vs Non Tipped.

 

 

Full view of the two nibs.

 

 

Side view of the folded nib tip.

 

 

Clear demonstration of the tipping on the left Vs The Non tipped folded butterfly nib.

 

[OCArt]

Ah, yes. I've seen that nib shape on a few inexpensive pens but didn't know the name.  Thanks for the photos @DrVijayGS!

[Bristol24]

On 10/22/2022 at 9:15 AM, DrVijayGS said:

These nibs provided a wet, smooth writing experience at the cost of durability due to the lack of hard metal tipping. The life span of a steel butterfly nibs were a max of 6 months

Thank you for the description and photos of the butterfly nib.  Very interesting...

 

I collect vintage Wearever combos and see this tip on the least expensive ones.  I have some that are still good writers and others that have worn severely and required nib replacement.  While Wearever was a third tier manufacturer,. Esterbrook was certainly tier two yet they also sold almost nothing but untipped nibs from 1932-1940. Esterbrook simply folded the tines under to form a tip.  Again, I have three that were worn to the point of the folded tip breaking and 5 that still write beautifully.  I believe you are correct about the lack of durability but perhaps too pessimistic about their lifespan.  My limited observations suggest that such a nib has a service life of at least several years or about 10%-20% that of a nib with a decent iridium tip, perhaps even a bit longer.  This, of course is all subjective because of unknown variables such as the amount of usage, paper type,  nib/writing pressure, and even ink and ink flow.

 

Cliff

[VijayGS]

@Bristol24 Thank you and you may be right. Though I have a few butterfly nibs in my possession, I have only put one among those nibs into use so far. The 6 months lifespan is based on few literature I’ve gone through regarding butterfly nibs.