Collectables -> Pens-and-Writing-Instruments -> Pens

You can walk into almost any store today and purchase a fountain pen. Technically, the modern ballpoint pen is a fountain pen, at least by definition. But the type of fountain pen most people think of is a vintage pen that’s refillable and has a distinctively shaped nib or tip that deposits the ink onto the paper through gravity. Historically, pens that contained their own ink can be traced to 10th century Egypt. And in the 17th century, description of a pen that contained its own ink was found in the notes of an inventor, describing a quill pen with another ink-filled quill inside.

Quill pens were feathers in which the quill was shaped to a point, and dipped into an ink pot in order to use it as a writing instrument. This was the common method of writing for a number of years, even though it’s inconvenient because the quill must be dipped continually, and it’s messy because of the potential for dripping ink each time the quill was dipped.

In the early 19th century, a Romanian inventor patented the first refillable fountain pen design, but only after other inventions that improved the quality and writing ability of the fountain pen, did these writing instruments become popular and widely used. These pens didn’t appear until the 1850s, but instantly people recognized the convenience and the fountain pen became a poplar writing instrument. Stylographic pens were made popular in the late 19th century, and are actually still used today for some technical drawings.

Fountain pen production became mass-production in the 1880s, with one pen manufacturer, Waterman, quickly becoming a leader in the industry, overtaking Wirt in both terms of production and sales. Other companies that also produced innovative fountain pens during the early 20th century include Conklin, Sheaffer and Parker. Any of these pens in good condition are highly collectible today, because they ‘re often the first fountain pen that used an innovate design.

The fountain pen was the most popular ink writing instrument even up through the 1950s because the new creation, the ballpoint pen, was much more troublesome to use. Ballpoint pens were more expensive than fountain pens, yet they often leaked or blotted, making fountain pens still the superior choice. It wasn’t until the 1960s when the use of fountain pens was overtaken by newer ballpoint pens that were improving all the time and becoming the more reliable, and less expensive, writing instrument.

Some things that make vintage fountain pens more desirable are the types of nibs. If you can find an iridium point nib, you’re looking at a pen that was probably one of the first to use this patented nib which made ink flow much better and helped popular fountain pens. A vintage pen with a good nib, even if it’s over 100 years old, will still work very well today. Be sure to ask about the condition of the nib when considering a fountain pen purchase, especially if you’re about to purchase the pen through an online auction.

Originally posted 2008-11-15 05:00:35. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

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