I’ve been playing with a pen I bought at the Dallas Pen Show last year in someone’s “junk” box. I couldn’t resist. $3 was the grand price I had to pay to take this baby home. Ok, well, it was in a pretty sorry state, and frankly, I forgot about it until a couple of weeks ago. The lever and J bar are similar to Waterman and others that use a channel in the pressure bar to slide the lever into. Well, let me tell you, that is one real pain in the butt to get situated! Anyway, this guy sat in my “frustrated” tray for quite some time. The lever was also twisted and bent, and the plating has worn off. Oh well, I like the look of this pen with its silverplated military clip style cap and the best part, a semi flex nib!
I’m not a Platinum collector by any stretch of the word, but I find it funny that I have two Platinum pens in my four pen case this week. This $3 beauty, and the much more expensive $3.95 Platinum Preppy converted into an eyedropper. 🙂 Both perform admirably and are a delight to use.
I find it interesting this pen has a “51” style clutch ring and friction fit cap like the “51”, but uses a complicated lever pressure bar set up instead of an internal filling system like an aerometric filler or even some form of piston or cartridge. This is otherwise a well made pen, and despite appearing black in the image is really a dark midnight blue. A lovely color.
Even the imprint is interesting to me!
Now the big question, does anyone have any more information on this pen (model, date range, colors, etc.)? If I could find more I would probably buy one as they really are neat.
How about you? What kind of great $3 finds have you rummaged up at a pen show or flea market?
Cheers!
Brian