Vintage Fountain Pen Personalization – Making Pens Personal

Personalization of fountain pens goes back to the days when a person was fortunate enough to have a fountain pen.  If you had enough money to have a fountain pen, then you’d better make sure you didn’t lose it or have someone else take it.  Putting your initials or your full name on a pen would solve both of these problems.  If you lost your pen it was now easily identifiable, and if someone stole your pen, they couldn’t claim it was theirs, unless they happened to have the same initials or full name as you.

Wirt Lever Filer

Wirt Lever Filler

Henry Birks & Son's Eyedropper

Henry Birks & Son’s Eyedropper Ornate Engraving

I’ll start out by saying I’m a big fan.  That’s right.  I want someone else’s name on my pen.  Well, to some degree anyway.  Do I want Joe Schlabotnik’s full name engraved on my pen, well, maybe not, but if I had a choice between a full name and a set of initials I’d go with the initials any day.  There’s more mystery about them.  Who really was LRL and why were they presented with a gold filled overlay in 1917?  Who was D.T. Rosborough?  Was it Dennis or Doris?  Then there are full names with presentations on them like Rev. L. Happ and the address of his church in Brooklyn NY.  What sermons did the pastor write with that pen?  What wedding or baptismal certificates did he sign with it?

D.T. Rosborough

D.T. Rosborough Picture by Terry Clark

Waterman 0314

Waterman 0314 eyedropper Rev. L. Happ
DeLaRue

DeLaRue Rev. E. J. Woodall

Overlay pens from the early 1900’s through the 1920’s are most often seen with such engravings.  In fact on some early eyedropper pens, it is difficult to find them without some form of inscription on them.  They were expensive even in their time and for someone to have such a beautiful, ornate object would have warranted either a special occasion, or a reason for such a purchase.  Many times they also included the year or date of the presentation or gift, giving us a means to date that particular pen.

Waterman 0552 1/2

Waterman 0552 1/2 “LRL 1917”

To some degree there’s almost something sad about a beautiful vintage pen with no engraving on the indicia.  It is like it was never truly “born”.  Made with the intention of being presented or having your initials, it never happened.  Sure it is pristine like it left the factory, but also a tad bit average and boring.

Aikin Lambert

Aikin Lambert eyedropper “Jennie”

The funny thing about personalized pens is they can often be had for less money than the same unengraved pen.  To me that is win-win.  The nib is no different on the engraved pen, the feel or the size of the pen isn’t any different, yet it costs less because it is apparent someone prior to me owned it.  It might even be said we owe the very existence of some pens to the fact they were personalized.  Many pens were made by manufacturers with the purpose of having the owners name on them and for special presentations.   Take the very rare Waterman’s overlay pattern where the owner’s name is actually worked into the filigree pattern.  There’s no more custom then that!

Then there’s the all the different and unusual award pens out there.  Imagine what it must have been like to enter a contest where the big prize was to win a fountain pen!  We take them for granted today, even as a so-called “luxury” item as the press often leads us to believe, we can’t image a contest to be so exciting as winning a fountain pen.

Waterman 452 Sheraton

Waterman 452 Sheraton Presentation

Personlization and engravings can be interesting, unusual, and some just downright weird.  How about the initials WTF on a pen?  Clearly a generational gap, but in the age of the internet it makes the pen interesting.

What are some of the more interesting engravings you’ve come across?

Cheers!

Brian