Onoto plunge-filler ID help

[Nightjar]

Hello

 

I have just bought an Onoto plunge-filler (Model N? 3000?), with ornate bands which look more like Wert bands than the plain bands seen on googleable Onotos.

 

As far as I can see, it has been nicely restored (e.g. no horrid over-polishing) and works beautifully: plunge filler makes nice pop, and it happily wrote a page of A4 without burping, hiccuping or skipping. Writes very nicely, fine line, modest flex.

 

The pen is marked > "ONOTO" / PATENT SELF-FILLING PEN / T.D.L.R. < The plunger knob is marked N.L. (and perhaps the meaning of that is lost to us?). There is subtle chasing, almost imperceptible (and uniform, so I suspect originally subtle, as opposed to severely worn). It's 14.4 cm long capped, barrel diameter about 1.0 cm.

 

Feed is under-over, which might (?) suggest 1909-1916 Model N, per a previous @richardandtracy post.* Though maybe (?) Onoto used under-over on the 3000 or other closely related models? 

 

[* https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/topic/262883-any-advice-please-re-onoto-pen/?do=findComment&comment=2930273]

 

Nib is longitudinally marked WARRANTED and 14 CARAT GOLD. There is a similarly marked nib on a very posh silver Model O on the Battersea Pen Home website.

[https://www.penhome.co.uk/products/de-la-rue-onoto-in-sterling-silver-medium-nib?variant=16391261519990]

 

As noted, the bands are ornate. No visible hallmark, so presumably gold filled/plated. [Though on closer examination with an OptiVisor, I now suspect they're actual gold, unhallmarked, they're engraved and the cuts are very sharp/bright.] I don't know if Onoto sold pens with bands like this, I certainly can't find any by googling: maybe somebody has Steve Hull's book and would be kind enough to take a look? I guess it's possible that the bands were on the pen when new... or that they come from Wert or another brand and were put on the pen at around that time, or recently.

 

Any help you can give me will be gratefully received. If expert opinion is that it has franken-elements, that's fine, I love the pen anyway!

 

I have linked to a Google album (below), and have attached just one photo.

 

Thank you!

 

 

https://photos.app.goo.gl/o6fHm6DRZSLQaiSx7

Edited Monday at 10:13 PM by Nightjar

[Nightjar]

I found out some more information, and will post it here in geeky-monologue mode, in case helpful for others in future. I'd still be delighted if anyone has the Steve Hull book and could take a look (page 33 or thereabouts, perhaps) 🙂

 

According to modern Onoto (who very kindly replied to a request for guidance), my pen was "likely made in the USA between c.1909 and c.1912. The ornate scroll pattern on the bands is an original design feature of this model."

 

I have subsequently found the following from David Nishimura (link below): "A serious and well-financed attempt to introduce the Onoto to the US market was made starting in 1909, but apparently the pens, partially American-made, proved to be substandard. The operation was shut down around 1913, with the company buying back unsold pens from dealers and distributors. [...] Some Onotos for the British market were made in the USA during the First World War, and there is reason to think that many early metal overlays were American-made as well." Which perhaps (?) explains why my nib has the same markings as the posh silver overlay model on the Battersea Pen Home website. It would be interesting to know what the (apparently) "substandard" issue was, and whether this stems from informal oral history or is actually documented somewhere (very possibly not, I guess). I don't consider my own pen to be substandard, how rude 🤣

 

https://vintagepens.com/Onoto.shtml#:~:text=Some Onotos for the British,was very influential in Japan.

 

Also noting my emerging understanding that "Model N" and "Model O" appear to be just later descriptors, at the time they were perhaps just sold as the "Onoto Patent Self-Filling Pen", with diverse variants available.

 

If anything I have said is questionable or wrong, please feel free to correct me.

Edited Wednesday at 05:19 PM by Nightjar