Old Waterman's Foutain Pen

[razercat]

A friend gave this to me yesterday, I am not sure if it is used with an ink well because I see no lever to fill a bladder like most old foutain pens. It reads (Pat'd 1884 May 23, 1899 Waterman's Ideal Foutain Pen.N.Y.U.S.A. & Aug 4,1903) any info is appreciated.

Thanks
Eddie

[shavewithwhat?]

eddie -

this may be an eye dropper style pen / you put the ink in with an eye dropper , this would be early 1900's

if you look between the first gold fill band and the nib - there appears to be a seam - you might want to turn that gently and see if it that section comes out

the pen is made from hard rubber - so don't soak it in water or you will discolor it - the coloring looks good from the pic.

you can take the nib and place on your fingernail and very gently/lightly push downward - if the tines split a little its a flexible nib and can be used for very expressive writing with some practice. I bet it is flexible

is there a number on the either end of the pen - cap or body?

i dont know if the cap matches the body or not - is the pattern on the cap also on the body?

great looking pen

enjoy

PS i would use as a desk pen and not place it in my shirt pocket

[Rufus]

Probably an eyedropper-filler. If you fo on to the Fountain Pen Network there is a forum dedicated to Waterman's pens. If you post the picture there I'm sure you'll learn a great deal more about your pen.

[razercat]

I forgot to mention but yes there is a number 12 imprinted in red at the end of the pen, the cap pattern is the same as the pen with Clip Cap and Ideal printed inside a globe with a pat number. I do see a seem about 5/8" above the end at the nib and it does unscrew at this seem.The cap stops at about 3/8" below the gold band toward the nib end when put on. It does have a few very small spots where it may have come in contact with a rubber band maybe from sitting in a draw at some time in it's life. The nib has ( Aikin Lambert CO No 2) imprinted on it, And where the split is on the nib it is slightly misalined but not broken or is there any creases from the bend or misalinement.

Thanks
Eddie

[RichGem]

ditto about using it at the desk.. the early hard rubber pens can tend to leak at the seam or blob from the nib since the feed design for the nib wasn't perfected yet.