A couple of weeks ago concluded the annual Ohio Pen Show and it is always a well attended show with tons of pens. I admit I am helpless at auctions and feel as though I need to save every pen that comes across the auction block.
That means I “bid, and bid often”, as show organizer and auctioneer Terry Mawhorter says during the events two vintage pen auctions. This year was no exception, however, I flew solo both times, with Lisa electing to rest instead of stay for the two plus hour ordeal each time (probably the smart thing to do).
Thursday’s auction is typically called the “Discovery” auction, but all of us refer to it as the “parts” auction. Typically this has been the auction with bags of parts pens, or good pens with issues, missing a cap, a nib, a small crack, or some such. This year’s Thursday auction was more like a Saturday night auction from any previous year. Solid quality pens and no real problem pens. A very good selection, and 123 different lots available to bid on.
Being early in the show, and having arrived the night before, Thursday was a long day for us, and we were tired. Thankfully, the lots I wanted to bid on where in the first quarter of lots, so I bid, won three, and left. All three lots were Esterbrook, and one turned out to be a variant I did not have, a Model H Bandless Dollar Pen in Red. Model H was the smallest size (akin to an SJ later on), and they are somewhat harder to find than the full sized B or slender A. In the Bandless models, H are very hard to find, so I was happy with this acquisition.
Esterbrook Model H Bandless Dollar Pen
On Friday a good friend of mine came up to me and sold me three pens. One was for parts, but had a Wirt feed, and another was a Conklin Crescent with early crescent imprint and factory stub nib.
Conklin Crescent
The Conklin has some issues, but did I mention a Factory Stub nib?
Conklin Crescent Factory Stub
The third pen was an interesting Gem fountain pen with a sleeve filler.
Gem Sleeve Filler
Slide the end of the barrel off (this one comes completely off) to expose the thumb filler. Press down on the bar to compress the sac and fill the pen.
Gem Sleeve Filler Open
Saturday night was the main auction. This is the highlight of the year auction wise, as there are always some great pens in this. 2015 was no exception, and most pen folk agreed perhaps one of the best groupings of substantial pens in years. Of course, there were a few I had my eye on, but trying to narrow the list down to a manageable few was difficult. I got to see the inspection early, made my notes, and made my plan. The problem with a pen show auction, like any auction, is that you run into an issue where something you want can be before something you really want. So, do you wait to see if you will get the later piece, risking losing out completely, or do you go for the early lots thinking you may or may not run out of money before you even get there. Well, again, Lisa decided to sit this one out. She gave me an allowance for the auction with strict instructions to not spend it all. I decided to wait it out for the three pens I was most interested in out of the 121 lots. Sadly, they started at 94, and were in successive order, meaning I had to pass up on four pieces I would have bid on were these three not there.
Number 94 in the auction was an unmarked gold filled filigree eyedropper of high quality. The nib was most certainly incorrect, being an Eagle nib. Bidding was moderate and I won at a reasonable price.
Unmarked Gold Filled Filigree
Number 95 was listed as an unmarked Sterling Silver filigree eyedropper. Knowing a thing or two about some of these old overlay pens, I noticed the EHCO nib on the pen. This is the mark of Eggens Hambler Co., a New York manufacturer, and the pen is period appropriate and very well could have been made by them. Either way, bidding was light and I took it home easily. With moderate wear on the overlay, I wasn’t surprised, but it is a nice piece nonetheless.
Eggens Hambler Sterling Overlay
Number 96 was of course, the best of the three overlays in the auction. Frankly, I wish this one would have been first, as I may have elected to not bid on the EHCO if it had, but alas, was not the case, and bidding resumed. If number 94 was high quality, this surpassed even that, very much quality work of the highest standards, Aikin Lambert, Heath, and the like, attention to detail second to none. To top it all off, this is a straight cap eyedropper, with an unusual nib, bearing the mark of Rueff, a New York Jeweler. I hit my maximum, and it was a close call to being outbid, but I managed to walk away with this most beautiful pen:
Rueff Straight Cap Gold Filled Filigree
Thankfully, I was under budget, but perhaps a little over my comfort zone for spending at an auction. I was fulfilled and went home happy.
Sunday morning a good friend of mine came up to me showing me a pen I had forgotten he had showed me on Thursday. “Come see me at the end of the show” I said, and here he was. This was a very interesting early pen, a mottled hard rubber Wirt, with #4 sized nib and vented feed, two gold filled barrel bands, and three lined imprint with 1903 patent date. Really a cool pen.
MHR Wirt #4 with Unique Barrel
If that wasn’t enough to whet the appetite, this pen had something else. Something to explore. There is a knurled knob at the end of the barrel, with a clear separation between the end of the barrel and the knob. My friend indicated he had seen another similar example in black chased hard rubber showing this knob unscrewed. Sadly, this area was stuck on this pen, but nothing a little heat probably couldn’t resolve. With some damage to the feed, and the pen needing tipping or a new nib, a reasonable price was achieved, and it came home. Upon further inspection, there appears to be a long metal rod that curves at a 90 degree angle and touches the inside the barrel up towards the end of the section, most likely attached to the knob at the barrel end. What this contraption was there for we don’t know, but it will assuredly make for some interesting research down the road.
MHR Wirt Barrel End
So there it is, my collection of pens acquired at the 2015 Ohio Pen Show. I know I’m always going to pick something up, but it is always a surprise what it will be. I think they look great together, don’t you?
Ohio 2015 Pen Show Booty
Ink it up!
Brian & Lisa