Leroy W. Fairchild Dip Pen Info

November 8, 2023

Hey all, hope this is the right place to post this. I just acquired a L.W. Fairchild dip pen and was curious if anyone had any info about it. I am finding it hard to find good info about dip pens since they're not as widely collected as fountain pens.

Apologies for the poor lighting, I'll take some better pics tomorrow. What little I know about Fairchild is that they were one of the premiere manufacturers of dip pens in the 19th century and they made some of Waterman's earliest nibs. There is an imprint of "L.W. Fairchild & Co." on the holder. The nib reads "Leroy - W - Fairchild - New York - No 4."

Unfortunately that's where my info ends, so I was wondering if anyone knew more about this dip pen. Biggest things I'd like to know are the approximate year of production (I'm guessing late 19th century rather than mid, but would love to know more), and the material. The nib is definitely gold, but I am curious about the holder and the "taper."

The holder does not have any kind of purity marks so I am guessing it is not solid gold. It had a very small amount of wear but very little so I am curious if this is just a lower purity of gold (9kt?) or very heavy rolled gold. The taper, I have no idea about. Not mother of pearl like many of these. It doesn't smell like celluloid (the nose knows) but I'm not sure. Did they use some kind of animal bone or ivory for these?

The nib is great, nothing like these old dip nibs. One of the tines is a little bent but I don't have the patience or skill to align a super soft nib like this so I am leaving it alone. Tipping is intact and it's fabulously soft. I am tempted to buy some dip pen ink to use with this. I'd try the whole "frankenpen" thing but the nib has the beginnings of a stress crack on the inside and I do not want to make it worse by sticking it in a section with a different curvature.

November 11, 2023

Nice pen.

perhaps I'll steal it for my western saga.

Contact AAAndrew on the com.....he is our dip pen, and nib expert.

November 12, 2023

This is a solid gold (most likely 14k) nib made by one of the best gold pen makers in the US. (which means the world, as the best gold pens were made here in the US) It is tipped with iridium to keep the gold from wearing down quickly.

I'd date this to roughly somewhere between 1890-1920. These holders often have a slider that slides the pen inside the metal part of the holder. It looks like this one works that way, or at least did at one point (not clear if it still works). These were often included in a traveling writing set. You would slide the nib inside the holder to protect it during transport. The (probably) bone or (less likely) ivory end of the handle shows that this was a nice set. The metal ferrule is gold-washed brass, or more-likely, gold-washed steel. (try a magnet to see what you have)

These can be straightened to make them writing-ready. I'm not sure who does that, I just know that there are people wo do it. The stress crack would have to be stabilized before you'd want to use it too much. It probably happened, along with the tip bending, when this pen was dropped. That's probably why this was put aside, and survived to today. These gold pens cost at the time the same as about 3 gross of disposable steel pens. They were a very nice item and not for just anyone. Jewelers would often repair them and they could be used for years and years with care.

Overall, a nice, but not terribly rare, gold pen in a nice traveling holder. They look great as decoration on a desk set, or get it repaired and use it. If the tipping is intact, then the rest is not terribly difficult to do. Good luck!

And for steel dip pens, there is my website (see in my sig), or just ask me. I know less about gold pens, but do know a little.

November 12, 2023

48 minutes ago, AAAndrew said:

but do know a little.

He might know someone who knows more....but not the rest of us.

No BS.... :notworthy1:

November 12, 2023

You are correct about the relationship between Fairchild and Waterman.

When the Waterman Factory began its operations, and in its early years, it focused upon manufacturing the writing instruments only; Waterman chose to acquire his nibs from the outside. Fairchild & his Company were selected by Waterman to do this manufacturing for them.

November 13, 2023

3 hours ago, AAAndrew said:

This is a solid gold (most likely 14k) nib made by one of the best gold pen makers in the US. (which means the world, as the best gold pens were made here in the US) It is tipped with iridium to keep the gold from wearing down quickly.

I'd date this to roughly somewhere between 1890-1920. These holders often have a slider that slides the pen inside the metal part of the holder. It looks like this one works that way, or at least did at one point (not clear if it still works). These were often included in a traveling writing set. You would slide the nib inside the holder to protect it during transport. The (probably) bone or (less likely) ivory end of the handle shows that this was a nice set. The metal ferrule is gold-washed brass, or more-likely, gold-washed steel. (try a magnet to see what you have)

These can be straightened to make them writing-ready. I'm not sure who does that, I just know that there are people wo do it. The stress crack would have to be stabilized before you'd want to use it too much. It probably happened, along with the tip bending, when this pen was dropped. That's probably why this was put aside, and survived to today. These gold pens cost at the time the same as about 3 gross of disposable steel pens. They were a very nice item and not for just anyone. Jewelers would often repair them and they could be used for years and years with care.

Overall, a nice, but not terribly rare, gold pen in a nice traveling holder. They look great as decoration on a desk set, or get it repaired and use it. If the tipping is intact, then the rest is not terribly difficult to do. Good luck!

And for steel dip pens, there is my website (see in my sig), or just ask me. I know less about gold pens, but do know a little.

Thanks for the info! It does indeed retract, that's how it was when I got it. I bought it with another pen, and it was listed as a "pencil." I have a few of these already so I immediately knew it was a dip pen, I just didn't know if it had a nib (since the seller never checked and didn't know it extended). Thankfully it did and quite a nice one.

I'm not too fussed about getting the tines totally straight. These really flexible nibs kind of align themselves when you press them to the paper and in my experience these dip pens are not extremely smooth anyway. It does not have a stress crack yet, just what looks like the beginnings of one on the inside (kind of looks like a wave or crimp in the metal).

I probably won't be using this much, I just like collecting these. My favorite one that I have is a retractable one with a retractable pencil on the other end. The nib on that one is quite firm (for a gold dip nib, at least - it's still soft compared to most nibs) and scratchy though.

October 5, 2024

I just picked up another one of these at a flea market. I am not sure if I overpaid but it's a really nice one IMO.

(sorry for the errant hair in this one)

The #6 size nib is massive and the tipping is in really nice shape! I think the small #2 one I posted earlier is quite a bit flexier and smoother than this one though. It's rather stiff and pretty scratchy which seems typical with a lot of these.

Also, maybe I am wrong, but the holder "plug" appears to be solid gold as well as the nib. I've looked it over and it has a lot of wear but no brassing where you would expect it (the part that pops in and out I would expect to show a lot of brassing).

Anyone have some info about this one? I am assuming it's from about a similar time period as the other since it has an identical imprint (other than being a #6). Is the "tail" made of ebonite? I am pretty sure these predate any form of "modern" plastic.

It made me a little sad to be honest, the guy at the flea market had like 14-15 of these laid out in a huge display case, and another 7-8 with their original boxes. Obviously this was someone's prized collection of antique dip pens and they passed away or had to sell it off and I felt a little bit bad to separate this one from the others. This one was by far the nicest though, the majority of the others were ones with #2 or #3 size nibs.

October 5, 2024

:puddle: :drool: :thumbup: Cubed.

October 6, 2024

Not on your level, but some of what I have.

The silver one polished up well.

The Russian Doctor that lives in my building couldn't read it. The Ukrainian woman who lives here thought it was from the Caucasus Mountains.

Got an elderly celluloid one somewhere, that never had a picture made of if.

October 6, 2024

22 hours ago, LoveBigPensAndCannotLie said:

I just picked up another one of these at a flea market. I am not sure if I overpaid but it's a really nice one IMO.

(sorry for the errant hair in this one)

The #6 size nib is massive and the tipping is in really nice shape! I think the small #2 one I posted earlier is quite a bit flexier and smoother than this one though. It's rather stiff and pretty scratchy which seems typical with a lot of these.

Also, maybe I am wrong, but the holder "plug" appears to be solid gold as well as the nib. I've looked it over and it has a lot of wear but no brassing where you would expect it (the part that pops in and out I would expect to show a lot of brassing).

Anyone have some info about this one? I am assuming it's from about a similar time period as the other since it has an identical imprint (other than being a #6). Is the "tail" made of ebonite? I am pretty sure these predate any form of "modern" plastic.

It made me a little sad to be honest, the guy at the flea market had like 14-15 of these laid out in a huge display case, and another 7-8 with their original boxes. Obviously this was someone's prized collection of antique dip pens and they passed away or had to sell it off and I felt a little bit bad to separate this one from the others. This one was by far the nicest though, the majority of the others were ones with #2 or #3 size nibs.

That's a really pretty pen! Does the nib unit swap around to fit the nib inside the barrel for travel/storage? (I'll admit that my knowledge of dip pens is pretty much relegated to modern Speedball dip pens and nibs from calligraphy classes in high school and college.

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

October 7, 2024

4 hours ago, inkstainedruth said:

That's a really pretty pen! Does the nib unit swap around to fit the nib inside the barrel for travel/storage? (I'll admit that my knowledge of dip pens is pretty much relegated to modern Speedball dip pens and nibs from calligraphy classes in high school and college.

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

I think the nib is too big for that, or at least the shoulders look a little too wide. But I have seen ones that work like that. Also the bit of the "plug" that is towards the nib has a bit of wear on it so it seems like it was pressed in the other way before. Maybe for storage?

4 hours ago, Bo Bo Olson said:

Not on your level, but some of what I have.

The silver one polished up well.

The Russian Doctor that lives in my building couldn't read it. The Ukrainian woman who lives here thought it was from the Caucasus Mountains.

Got an elderly celluloid one somewhere, that never had a picture made of if.

Oh those silver ones are very pretty, I don't have any silver ones. The set in particular looks very cool.

October 8, 2024

I'm not really a dip pen collector, but I picked up this "Fairchild 8" at the flea market last summer. It is the largest gold dip pen I've ever seen. It is almost 8" long with an enormous Fairchild #8 nib. The taper is mother of pearl, and the holder also appears to be gold. It is presented in a beautiful maroon leather and velvet box. It looks like the day it was made.