Back about a month or so ago I was trolling through a website that auctions stuff off. Wink, wink. And found a lovely green marbled fountain pen. This pen has expanded my fountain pen experience. First it needed a new ink sac, then the gold plated nib needed to be straightened cause it was seriously wonkyjawed. For those unfamilar with wonkyjawed it means messed up pretty good.
The really neat thing about this pen is how old it is. My best guesstimate is 1940s to the 1950s. If so this pen is in it’s 60 or 70s. My dad is going to be 75 this year. My grandmother was a school teacher and she probably would have used a fountain like or very similar to this one. I love the connection because I really never knew who she was outside of being MeMa. I have some stuff that belonged to her, the seashells she used in class and a piece of her jewelry and all the memories of her.
Once I got the pen back I tried the Pilot Iroshizuku Syo-ro ink in it. The good folks on Goulet Nation mentioned it was possible for the ink to melt the latex sac. So I cleaned it out and got a bottle of Waterman’s Harmonious Green fountain pen ink.
So far both pen and ink have gotten on well with each other. I think the ink is getting low because when I start writing I get a drop of ink. Bleed it off and the pen is good until I cap it and then pick it back up.
The Leverfill mechanism is interesting and will take some practice. It makes it a lot harder to judge how much ink is in the pen when you can’t see it or feel how full the ink sac is.
Quirks and all I am rather pleased with my first vintage fountain pen and the discovery of a new ink. I can’t say it will be my only vintage or my last vintage, but for right now it checks all my boxes.
Cheers, james
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