Who really did make the best vintage/antique pens ie pre 1960's?

[Avenir1122]

What exactly is in your mind the pen manufacturer that always produced high quality pens across the board, even if it happened to not be one of their flagship pens? Like even if you were to get a smaller midrange pen, you'd still be walking away with a sturdy and well made fountain pen?

Like involving brands such as Parker, Sheaffer, Soennecken, Waterman, Mabie Todd, Conklin, Faber, Osmia, Conway Stewart, Pelikan, Kaweco, and Wahl/Eversharp to name a few.

 

[jar_]

LOL

You need to go at least another half century or more before 1960 to find anything that could even remotely be considered as vintage or antique.

 

[tankerjohn]

That’s a great question, and I don’t know if there’s one definitive answer. I’ve always heard the aerometric Parker P51s are particularly bulletproof, having a metal cap and an extremely simple filling mechanism. Other than that, in general, all of brands you noted made quality pens. I should think that pens with metal or ebonite bodies will be hardier than plastic bodies, though vintage celluloid is actually fairly sturdy as well. Similarly, I would venture that simpler filling systems like lever/button-fillers will be more robust than complicated ones like pistons and vacs. I recommend Richard Binder’s website for a comprehensive source of info on the most significant fountain pen models. RichardsPens.com • Pens That Write Right! - http://www.richardspens.com/

 

[Slivovitz]

LOL

You need to go at least another half century or more before 1960 to find anything that could even remotely be considered as vintage or antique.

Back to 1910? That might be a bit of an exaggeration for what most people would consider vintage, or even antique. I don't think most people would have a problem using the term vintage for my Conklins (nineteen teens and twenties), Sheaffer Flat Top and Balance (1930s), Mabie Todd Swan 3150 (40s) or even a 1950s Conway Stewart that I have. The term antique might fit my WWI era Waterman's 12 PSF, although I won't insist on it.

But I've developed a pretty high degree of trust for older Sheaffers and Parkers.

 

[Super Mario]

It is a fair time frame to me. Pre 20s-30s the Fountain Pens were quite rude with the most simple filling systems....more advance filling system pre-cartridge (say 40s-50s) are exactly the range I find to be perfectly balanced for fit, function, and vintage enough to be cool...yet still so functional as to rival anything modern! Have 3-4 Esterbrooks and 3 Sheaffers all self restored. 2 Snorkel, 1 1949 Touchdown. Touchdown with two tone Triump nib is my best nib of any pen. 1 90s Pelikan M400 with F nib...most reliable and ink storing boss pen (also a super smooth writer). Have a random Senator Melbi, also a German piston filler...but nib is too soft and flexy for me.....in the hunt for a Parker Vacumatic, but today I will vote for Sheaffer. Reminds me I sent back improperly restored Sheaffer Vac filler and maybe a Balance at one point to dealers who were either incompetent or faking? Not sure, but was totally sad to send back...they were beautiful, but guess on shabby restorations might be why I suddenly have a new "tool box" and why I did the restoration on all my vintage pens Happy with them all at this point...but still will take Sheaffer as one of best Vintage manufacturers.

 

[KW Driver]

I was really happy with my Sheaffer Imperials (NOS 60s pens) with XF nibs.

I like my grandfather’s P51, but wish the nib was smaller than probably a F/M, and the barrel is slightly wider than I prefer for long writing periods.

I’be fallen in love with and primarily use a couple Esterbrook SJs, with an XF (best, smoothest, tightest wet line I’ve had in an XF) and a F stub. Perfect barrel/section grip size in my hand. I’ve got... maybe 5 nibs for them.

my pocket pen, carry on me is a TWSBI 530 mini, XF. Fatter barrel than I prefer, but I can write with it all day.

 

[AimlessWanderer]

The various filling systems are one of the things that put me off the old pens. I like pens that take standard international cartridges (even if I choose to put a converter in), and the simple piston fillers where you twizzle the end to draw the piston back. All the various levers and bladders and tweezers on a sac type affairs, all just look too much like liabilities and unnecessary complexities to me. I don't like making life harder than it needs to be.

I do have a Parker I bought new, but rarely use it. The fact it uses different carts/convertersto everything else I own, is one of the reasons it hardly ever sees the light of day.

 

[Jut]

I'm always impressed with sheaffer nibs from pre 1960. I have quite a few Parkers from the same era and do not find them as nice. I think the thing that suprises me the most is that the sheaffers don't cost as much as the parkers from the same era (at least that's my experience).

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[tankerjohn]

I'm always impressed with sheaffer nibs from pre 1960. I have quite a few Parkers from the same era and do not find them as nice. I think the thing that suprises me the most is that the sheaffers don't cost as much as the parkers from the same era (at least that's my experience).

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That’s an excellent point. Speaking as someone who owns a vintage Sheaffer, but not a Parker, I do think that Parker pens have a more timeless esthetic, whereas Sheaffer pens were more “fashion-forward” in their time. When I close my eyes and think of generic “fountain pen”, I see a Duafold or a Vac in my head. They had a very balanced look that holds up today. Sheaffers, on the other hand, often had extreme pointy ends, clips that were either too low or too high on the cap, crazy wide cap bands, etc. Additionally, while the Triumph and in-laid nibs have a certain appeal, they are also on the fringe of latter-day tastes. Simply put, modern fountain pen enthusiasts who want to pick up one or two vintage pens are usually drawn more to Parker’s style, and I’m sure that drives up the premium on Parker pens. Also, certain Parker models do still get a lot of hype, particularly the Duafold, Vacumatic, and 51. Even though Sheaffer’s Balance, Triumph, and Touchdown/Snorkel were equally revolutionary and influential pens, I don’t hear them discussed as much in the online pen community (such as it is). The one Sheaffer model that I do hear a lot of buzz about is the PFM, and I would say it commands more Parker-like prices than most other Sheaffer models.