Easterm, can you help me with this mystery?

[thibor66]

 

Hello everyone, greetings. First of all, I apologize, I do not speak English and I have used an automatic translator to write this message, sorry for any possible errors.

A (beautiful, I think) mystery has come into my possession, my intention was to show you this fountain pen and tell you about its history and curiosities, but I have to recognize an apotheotic failure and ask the committee of wise men for help, I have not found even a word about this brand of fountain pens and even less about our friend in question, so I offer this enigma to see if we have in this group an oracle that will enlighten us or a detective more competent than me.

I'll start by saying that the fountain pen gives me the impression of being American, from the 1920s or early 1930s, but let's not get ahead of ourselves.

The fountain pen is a flat top, 137mm long with the cap on, the thickness varies, in the grip section it measures 11mm but the body of the fountain pen varies from 12.7mm at the beginning, 13mm in the center and reaches about 12mm in the shorts.

 

 

The fountain pen loads by lever, both it and the cap clip and the rings of this one seem bathed/plated in gold, the rest of the pen seems to be made of celluloid in a woody and reddish-grained color. Personally, I find it a very attractive color.

 

 

On the cap you can see two bands and a generous clip, which reads Easterm, being the only inscription that could refer to the brand throughout the pen, but our friend has other mysteries up her sleeve. Needless to say, if we search for Easterm with M and Eastern with N, many references to oriental and Eastern European fountain pens appear, but not a word about our friend.

 

 

The nib is another element that makes me think of an American origin, it is a replacement nib after the pen, specifically from a Wearever De Luxe, they were assembled from 1940 to 1944 and you can read the inscription 14K PAT'D U.S.A, it is from the number 6 and has a curious steel frame around the gold core, it is a surprisingly smooth F and I would dare say that it has some flex. As a curiosity, I will comment that when cleaning the fountain pen, remains of many different colors came out, black, red, blue, lilac, various types of green and even some grey, in short, our friend has had an intense life.

 

If anyone is curious about the origin of the nib or the history of the Wearever De Luxe, you can consult the following link.

 

https://penhero.com/PenGallery/Wearever/WeareverDeluxePearl.htm

 

 

Now we come to another part of the mystery, on the one hand it allows us to date the pen to 1931 at the latest, on the other hand it leaves us even more intrigued. On the body you can read the following engraving: P.R.R BOXING 1931 175 LB.

This refers to a heavyweight boxing event (at that time it was at 175 LB, later it was raised to 190 LB) taking into account the multiple divisions and conferences that operated in the United States at that time, the Golden Gloves and minor and promotional events make searching for any information a very difficult task.

 

 

The pen arrived with a matching mechanical pencil, very similar to the Parker Lucky Curve of the time, with the same inscription on the clip (Easterm) and the mysterious text engraved on the body, which makes it evident that the championship or evening boxing game was important enough for them to bother making promotional items.

 

 

So after giving you all the information I have, I propose this enigma to you, to see if anyone is able to solve it.

 

[Paul-in-SF]

Hi. First point, the name is "Eastern" because the last letter is "n" in cursive, not "m." So perhaps if you search under "Eastern" you will find something. I am not familiar with that brand or model of pen. 

 

My second point is that, from appearances only, I would expect the barrel and cap material to be ebonite (a kind of hard rubber) because that color has been a very popular one for ebonite for a long time. I would not be very surprised if it were celluloid or some kind of plastic, but my first bet would be ebonite. 

 

And welcome to the gang. Good luck with your search.

[thibor66]

On 8/16/2024 at 9:58 PM, Paul-in-SF said:

Hola. En primer lugar, el nombre es "Eastern" porque la última letra es "n" en cursiva, no "m". Así que tal vez si buscas bajo "Eastern" encuentres algo. No estoy familiarizado con esa marca o modelo de bolígrafo. 

 

Mi segundo punto es que, por las apariencias solamente, esperaría que el material del cañón y del capuchón fuera ebonita (un tipo de caucho duro) porque ese color ha sido muy popular para la ebonita durante mucho tiempo. No me sorprendería mucho si fuera celuloide o algún tipo de plástico, pero mi primera apuesta sería ebonita. 

 

Y bienvenido a la pandilla. Buena suerte con tu búsqueda.

Hello, greetings, thank you for your comment, I had not considered the possibility that the M was actually an N in cursive. Unfortunately, after checking this possibility, I have not found a single word about our mysterious friend in terms of the material it is made of. I opted for celluloid. in consideration ebonite and even wood but discard the wood due to its weight and feel and the ebonite after rubbing the fountain pen, when you rub the ebonite and let it heat up a little a slight sulfur aroma is released.

Edited August 18 by thibor66

[PPPR]

Look into Jon Veley's excellent and informative American mechanical pencil catalogue and blog. (The blog has more information.) You'll find Eastern is a brand of National Pen Products, Inc., which didn't make anything. Other companies were contracted for production. It also explains why the Wearever is unlike the black pencil.

 

HTH 

[thibor66]

On 8/18/2024 at 11:18 PM, PPPR said:

Look into Jon Veley's excellent and informative American mechanical pencil catalogue and blog. (The blog has more information.) You'll find Eastern is a brand of National Pen Products, Inc., which didn't make anything. Other companies were contracted for production. It also explains why the Wearever is unlike the black pencil.

 

HTH 

Thank you very much for the information, could you write me the link or copy the information about Eastern, I can't find it on the blog

[PPPR]

7 hours ago, thibor66 said:

Thank you very much for the information, could you write me the link or copy the information about Eastern, I can't find it on the blog

I have the printed versions of the blog in book form because the blog is no longer available online. Of the seven, printed volumes comprising the former online blog, the first six each have a little information about National Pen Products. Volume 3, has the most comprehensive information. Not wishing to violate Mr. Veley's copyright, no reproductions will be forthcoming.

 

Since you found his blog, you should able to find copies of Veley's printed versions. Lemme know if you can't, and I'll do my best to help. Good luck.

 

HTH 

[thibor66]

On 8/20/2024 at 11:27 PM, PPPR said:

I have the printed versions of the blog in book form because the blog is no longer available online. Of the seven, printed volumes comprising the former online blog, the first six each have a little information about National Pen Products. Volume 3, has the most comprehensive information. Not wishing to violate Mr. Veley's copyright, no reproductions will be forthcoming.

 

Since you found his blog, you should able to find copies of Veley's printed versions. Lemme know if you can't, and I'll do my best to help. Good luck.

 

HTH 

Hello, greetings. It's curious, a long time ago I restored an old Good Service.

This fountain pen seems to have been manufactured for Sears by the National Pen Products Company. As a result of this restoration, I investigated the fountain pen and this led me to get to know a little about the National Pen Products Company and the brands. that it manufactured, at no time did I come across any reference to a brand called Eastern (which makes this fountain pen even more mysterious to me). If anyone wants to consult the article I wrote about this fountain pen, you can do so here:

 

https://estilograficas.mforos.com/2095705/13220618-good-service/ 

 

PPP as a collector (and as a crazy person who loves fountain pens and likes to restore them), it is important for me to know their history and curiosities, and I looked for any reference to Eastern that Jon Veley could have put in his blog (volume 3 of 7 in total ) and yes I found the possibility of buying them printed but no reference to this brand that no one had commented on this brand. PPP, I don't want to put you in any ethical dilemma nor do I want you to violate Jon Veley's copyright, but could you tell us something about the Eastern brand, any data or information that will help me resolve this mystery?

In your own words and without copying any paragraphs.

can you help me?

[PPPR]

Apologies for the delay.

 

The link between Eastern and National Pen Products is found in The Catalogue of American Mechanical Pencils. Under the listing for Eastern is a photo of three pencils. The text states in part, "The top two are the typical National Pen Products pencils as shown under Diamond Medal." Below the text, in the values listing, is a line for "'National' Eastern pencils." 

 

HTH