The Salz Fountain Pen - Interesting Lever

[LoveBigPensAndCannotLie]

Just got this pen and I figured I'd share and see if anyone had any info about it. I have a small collection of early Salz Bros pens (mostly Peter Pan pens but also a few more interesting pens like their "Army Navy" pen) and I generally find them to be pretty good quality.

 

Solid "2nd tier" IMO, not that far behind something like the Aikin Lambert pens (which were pretty much just a secondary lower tier brand for Waterman by the end). Sadly their later Stratford pens were pretty bad, and even the good ones were often glued (at least the ones I've come across) so they're impossible to restore without breaking them.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The most interesting thing about the pen is the lever filling system. It has the ring on the outside of the pen, not inside; never seen this before. I don't love it, it feels like I'm deforming the ring and putting pressure on the pen every time I fill it. I'm probably going to run through my current fill and use it sparingly because the filling system feels fragile.

 

But interesting nonetheless. Some other cool features - the lever tab is shaped like a heart and has "US PENDING" on it (maybe PAT, not US, just worn?) and the feed even has an imprint with the Salz Brothers logo and "trademark," decidedly fancy for a not so fancy brand. It feels pretty high quality.

 

Anyone have an idea of when this pen was made or have any other examples of a lever ring like this? My thought is that this dates to the late teens or early 1920's based on the weird lever. My guess is this is from during the period of time when everyone was trying to copy Sheaffer's newly invented levers without getting sued, so it would have been very early on.

[amberleadavis]

Thank you for sharing your find.I have no helpful information to add, but I really enjoyed seeing your pen.

[txomsy]

I feel tempted to agree with your estimation, for exactly the same reasons, but cannot give any guarantee for them.

 

BTW, I do also like my Salz Bros. A Perter Pan is one of my preferred pens.

[LoveBigPensAndCannotLie]

  On 11/17/2023 at 11:14 AM, txomsy said:

I feel tempted to agree with your estimation, for exactly the same reasons, but cannot give any guarantee for them.

 

BTW, I do also like my Salz Bros. A Perter Pan is one of my preferred pens.

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I think they're underrated for sure. I have a couple of the early Peter Pan pens and they're all great. A little too small for me to use reliably though. I'm on the lookout for a gold fill or overlay one but they go for a pretty hefty premium. The larger pens are nice too - I have a "Black & White" hard rubber one and it's well built.

 

I'm kind of sad their later pens are so bad. The Great Depression really did a number on them. As on a lot of other more important things I suppose.

[Bo Bo Olson]

This is the first time in a long time a Salz brothers pen has been shown...or as far as I remember.

I'm in the wrong portion of the world for that pen company.

[Penguincollector]

  I have a Salz novelty penguin pen named George, bought it from The Penguin himself, Mr. Propas, which is apropos. The original nib was a bad alloy, just mush, so he put a beautiful Degussa B nib on George for me. 
  I also have an unidentified mini ring top that’s missing it’s lever. I fill it by using a tongue depressor to put pressure on the bar. A parts person I know found a lever for me similar to what is on this pen. It’s the only other one that I have seen that looks like that. I have to figure out if it’s a fit. 
 

* I don’t know how the text ended up like that, tried to fix it, to no avail.  Oh, here’s George:

[Bo Bo Olson]

  On 11/19/2023 at 3:57 PM, Penguincollector said:

Degussa B nib

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All I have is 5-6 F or EF Degussa nibs. (Easy full Flex). I swapped some with Mauricio for Waterman 52 wet noodles.

 

The other ones ones I do have, my Osmia and a few Degussa brand marked nibs are real nice nibs. Degussa took over  Osmia' nib factory for debt in 1932...and the workers refused to move across the world...45 km...to Pfortzheim where Degussa is based. Degussa stopped making Muttchler's nibs when it closed down in 2000. One of my best nibs is on a cheap Reforem made by Mutchler and nibbed by Degussa.

 

I just don't get around to swapping nibs.....if I ever did, I'd look first to those steel superflex Degussa nibs hiding in the box in far off corner.

[Penguincollector]

  On 11/19/2023 at 5:29 PM, Bo Bo Olson said:

All I have is 5-6 F or EF Degussa nibs. (Easy full Flex). I swapped some with Mauricio for Waterman 52 wet noodles.

 

The other ones ones I do have, my Osmia and a few Degussa brand marked nibs are real nice nibs. Degussa took over  Osmia' nib factory for debt in 1932...and the workers refused to move across the world...45 km...to Pfortzheim where Degussa is based. Degussa stopped making Muttchler's nibs when it closed down in 2000. One of my best nibs is on a cheap Reforem made by Mutchler and nibbed by Degussa.

 

I just don't get around to swapping nibs.....if I ever did, I'd look first to those steel superflex Degussa nibs hiding in the box in far off corner.

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  It’s a gorgeous nib- semiflex, smooth, springy. George is a great signature pen. 

[Bo Bo Olson]

In B I think it would be.