Found a couple of pens today

[Sled Dog]

I dropped in to a collectables store today, I have bought a few razors from him and he always gives me a fair deal so I go see him once a month or so.
Today he had a pretty nice gold uncased Aristocrat for $15
I asked if he had any fountain pens, we looked around and found an open clamshell case with 6 or 7 pens in it, 3 or 4 were fountains and the rest were ballpoints.

This one was the cheapest at $5, it is a "Pea ****" which I have never heard of but it is a piston filler and looked kinda cool so I picked it up


This one was $10 and Im sure most of you will recognize it as a Sheaffer Snorkel model (Special or Admiral??)


I also bought the clamshell case that he was using to hold all the pens...


It was $15...
and it came with a Parker 51 (no pencil)


Here is a group shot...


The "51" is in nice shape, no cracks but it has a tiny name engraved on it. The sac or bladder is soft and when I flushed it I was testing it and it writes perfectly.
The Snorkel has a crack on the cap but the pen body looks ok. I soaked the tip and tube and ran some water through it..I think the fill function is working.
I watched a You tube video on filling it, when testing it in water, bubbles come out of the tube when I depress it..I assume that when filling with ink, air is going out and ink is going in during this one movement? I will try filling it and see what happens...
The Pea **** has a crack on the body near the tip. I like the clear window to see the piston move back and forth and fill with ink (or water in this case).
It sucks water up like a champ and does not appear to be leaking anywhere.
I will fill them with ink tonight or tomorrow and see what happens..Im sure the "51" will work fine, Im hoping the Snorkel works, and if the Pea **** writes...bonus.
Will take more pics tomorrow

 

[Sled Dog]

I filled all three pens and they all work!! The Snorkel is amazing, what a writer!!
The Peacock writes very nicely but I think it might weep ink around the seam at the knob when stored tip up.
Will let them sit over night and see how they work tomorrow

 

[one cut]

lucky you they all look really nice.

 

[Snargle]

Excellent finds and great bargains. Congratulations and happy writing!

 

[nemo]

Looking good in your nice pics, hopefully the piston seal isn't leaking on the red one.

Congrats!

 

[RichieRich3902]

Great score! The last time I found a snorkel and touchdown in the wild they were stuck shut and the seller wanted $100 each.

 

[jzuzphreek]

Awesome score! As a budding collector, I've learned that if at least 3 antique/flea shop owners don't have your number... you're doing it wrong.

 

[BowTieGuy]

Great scores! Good luck with the pens. Snorkels are my favorite - wonderful to write with, and that cool mechanism!

 

[RichieRich3902]

This inspired me to go take a look around at the antique mall near my office, unfortunately all I found was a Gillette Fatboy for $8.25

 

[jzuzphreek]

This inspired me to go take a look around at the antique mall near my office, unfortunately all I found was a Gillette Fatboy for $8.25

Yeah... tough luck on that one.

 

[cursethis]

I've been to a handful of antique shops. The only one with fountain pens had a box filled with broken no-names and a couple Esterbrook desk pens. The real issue is that they wanted $25 for each and every single one of them. I just shook my head and left.

 

[Sled Dog]

Here is a follow up and some pictures of the pens I found yesterday...the bad news is they all seem to have "issues"

First the Parker 51
The cap is not sitting perfectly flat on top, although it seems tight and the clip is firm against the cap


More importantly the nib has problems...when I was testing it, it felt rough and sort of like it was cutting into the paper on certain strokes.
As you can see it is damaged, it looks bent and one side is lower than the other.
Can this be repaired or does it need replacing?




Not that this is a problem, but here you can see the tiny name engraved on the pen




The "Pea ****" pen was weeping ink from the seam where the piston knob is at the bottom of the pen..it appears to have stopped since I used the pen a bit today.
Anyone know if Pea **** is the pen maker or is it an advertisement for another company?


Heres the crack near the top of the pen. It slowly weeps ink when the pen is nib down..like when I'm writing with it
I think I might try gluing the crack and seeing if I can stop the leak


With its leaking issues, it will be banished to the desk...it wont be going in any of my pockets
Here is a shot of the nib...it does write really nice


The Snorkel has a crack in the cap, its actually hard to see but it showed up well in this picture


The other issue might be more serious..it seemed to run out of ink quite quickly.
I will refill it and use it a few more times to see if I get better mileage, but I suspect it isnt sucking up as much ink as it is supposed to.

Here is a pic of the Made in Canada #5 nib...man it writes nice!!
It doesnt look so scratched in real life


Thx
Kevin

 

[syngent]

The 51 Nibmay be tough to re align because of it being hooded, not sure a fingernail would do it, but Brian is the one to answer you on that one, The red pen Peacock may be dont you can try to seal it, but it may be a finger inker for the remainder of its life, and the snorkel, you can unthread the section from the barrel, there is a hole in the metal section you can see the sac through, if you have a tooth pick or an paper clip you can poke it lightly to see if the inner sac is still pliable or if it has gone or beginning to get tough, they can be repaired, although it may be a tough one for a first time

 

[Sled Dog]

The 51 Nibmay be tough to re align because of it being hooded, not sure a fingernail would do it, but Brian is the one to answer you on that one, The red pen Peacock may be dont you can try to seal it, but it may be a finger inker for the remainder of its life, and the snorkel, you can unthread the section from the barrel, there is a hole in the metal section you can see the sac through, if you have a tooth pick or an paper clip you can poke it lightly to see if the inner sac is still pliable or if it has gone or beginning to get tough, they can be repaired, although it may be a tough one for a first time

Haha Slow down on the keyboard
I will try to seal it, its a cracked $5 pen that is leaking..cant do much more harm

The Snorkel bubbles like crazy when I depress the plunger into the ink and I wrote a full 8.5X11 sheet of paper before it ran dry..it holds ink, just not sure how much its supposed to hold??

I could probably do as you suggest and see if the sac is serviceable, but I wouldnt want to try any serious repairs on this pen.
It would either have to go to someone for repairs or I live with how much ink it holds.
I just refilled it..will see how long this fill lasts

 

[syngent]

Haha Slow down on the keyboard
I will try to seal it, its a cracked $5 pen that is leaking..cant do much more harm

The Snorkel bubbles like crazy when I depress the plunger into the ink and I wrote a full 8.5X11 sheet of paper before it ran dry..it holds ink, just not sure how much its supposed to hold??

I could probably do as you suggest and see if the sac is serviceable, but I wouldnt want to try any serious repairs on this pen.
It would either have to go to someone for repairs or I live with how much ink it holds.
I just refilled it..will see how long this fill lasts

My snorkel did that, but I found it had a small leak, Doug (Nemo, our resident Mod) suggested checking the sac, and sure enough it was done and a waiting disaster checking it to see is easy enough, the black section unthreads from the green body just above the chrome trim piece and the hole you will see right away, if you stick something in it and it feels hard, then its just a matter of time before ink ends up everywhere, if it feels pliable like the sac in your 51, then your good to go, BTW snorkels are known for the small amount of ink they hold at the cost of the coolest and most complicated filler system anyone ever thought up lol

I wrecked mine (although someone did some damage before me) being impatient with the wrong tools for the job, but I still have it ill snap a pic to let you see what im talking about

They are uploading now, just make sure its ink free as you will have to extend the plunger out all the way before unthreading

 

[celestino]

Kevin,
Congratulations on the nice finds! Enjoy the pens.

 

[syngent]

If you extend out the touchdown plunger, the body just threads off like any other pen, you can see the metal tube inside has a small hole, you can check the sac from there, just see if it feels hard to the touch, or pliable, you not looking to poke a hole in it just feel


btw at this point the whole inner filling section just slides out of the nib, as you can see, then you can just slide it back in and rethread the body on

Inside the body is a large spring that wraps the body on the inside, if it falls out just drop it back in, there is nothing special about how it sits in place

and it turns out the thing i thought i broke i didnt lol, so all my pen needs is a difficult sac replacement, which im not going to attempt again

 

[Sled Dog]

Cool, thanks James..I'll check it out as soon as I run it dry again..will let you know