6 Of The Most Iconic Fountain Pens Of The 20th Century! | Kirby Allison

hi I'm Kirby Allison and in today's video we're going to review six of the most significant and iconic vintage fountain pens of the 20th century for those who enjoy riding by hand there's a particular elegance and satisfaction to be found when riding with a classic fountain pen one of the few accessories that a gentleman can collect and use daily a great fountain pen will enhance the pleasure of riding and generally Elevate one's daily ritual I've recently added several vintage fountain pens to my own collection not only do these pens come with their own history but each vintage pen will also over time have developed a character unique to itself and it is in the appreciation of this quality that the pleasure of the writing experience becomes further heightened to put it simply while there is already a real romance to riding with a proper fountain pen using a vintage fountain pen makes the act of riding even more special it is definitely true that they often write better than newer pins but perhaps the main reason I enjoy riding with the Vintage fountain pen is that you actually have a small piece of history in your hand as you write vintage pins were crafted by skilled Artisans who put their years of experience into each and every piece it is this craftsmanship which allows these pins to stand the test of time when properly cared for and maintained they continue to write as well today or as mentioned in many cases even better as they did when they were first created over Decades of use a great fountain pen will develop a beautiful patina that simply cannot be found in a modern pen riding with the fountain pen in this day and age also sets one apart from those who write with ordinary riding instruments or let's be honest simply don't write it all to this end One's Choice of pen becomes an extension almost an element of one's personal and professional identity it is an opportunity to set oneself apart and can often serve as a conversation starter when around others just like a fine mechanic technical watch or a well-shined pair of shoes a vintage fountain pen can serve as an element of Distinction and Mark of discernment the modern fountain pen was developed by the Waterman company in 1884. prior to this date people were riding with nibs that had to be constantly dipped and dipped again into a pot of ink but the fountain pen with its new internal reservoir of ink and ability to control this flow of ink allowed for a seemingly endless supply or Fountain of ink from within the instrument itself at this time it truly was revolutionary fountain pens were perhaps at their popular Zenith in the first half of the 20th century when the dip pins of the late 19th century became Obsolete and before the invention of the ballpoint pen in the 1950s much in the same way that the invention of the quartz watch movement in the 1970s would displace mechanical watches the ballpoint pen would remove the fountain pen from popular use but today just like those who still enjoy wearing a beautiful mechanical timepiece fountain pens have found a home with those that appreciate quality craftsmanship and tradition in their daily lives so let's review some of the most significant vintage fountain pens of the early 20th century four of the six pens that I'm going to show you in today's video have been lent to me by my good friend Aiden chow and the other two he sold me he is an Ardent pin collector and has been instrumental in helping me grow my Personal Collection you can find them on Instagram at vintagepinco underscore USA where he restores and sells vintage fountain pens as a hobby these pens represent important milestones in both the evolution of filling technology and overall design during the peak of Fountain Pen production first we have the Waterman 52 which is an Exemplar of early fountain pen design the Waterman 52 is a Hallmark of 1920s fountain pen manufacturing and was one of the first fountain pens to achieve worldwide Fame the pin has a very flexible and responsive nib that is full of character in every stroke it features a very reliable feed that maintains a good wet flow of ink and it was made with beautiful decorative materials this particular example was made with hard rubber and sports a sterling silver overlay engraved with a beautiful Art Deco checkerboard the pin featured a lever filler which was a popular type of filling mechanism that allowed for the ink to be filled quickly and easily this is an absolutely beautiful pen and it's really hard to believe that this example that I have in my hands right now is over a hundred years old up next we have the Schaefer balance this pins streamlined torpedo shape revolutionized fountain pen design fountain pens of the teens in the 20s came in many designs but all retained the same basic cylindrical shape with blunt ends Schaefer's introduction of the radically streamlined balance in December 1928 changed this overnight many pins to this day retain this tapered shape the balance is arguably one of the most influential pins ever made due to its lasting impact on design this is another absolutely beautiful example and you can see it has that iconic cylindrical shape the cigar shape that many call it and this particular one with its beautiful patina really showcases all those elements that one comes to love in a vintage fountain pen doesn't look new and it's not meant to look new because it's not this pen easily almost 100 years old has an absolutely beautiful beautiful patina to it that really showcases the evolution of something well used another characteristic of this pen that I particularly like and a characteristic of fountain pens in general is the fact that it has a very fine pointed nib so across various fountain pens there's various nibs shapes and sizes that allow for different riding characteristics and this particular one has an exceptionally fine riding point which for someone like me that enjoys writing notes and marking up scripts is very useful next we have the ever sharp Skyline this beautiful pen was introduced in the second half of the 1940s and was discontinued in 1948. the skyline was one of the most popular pins of this decade the pen was created by the prolific designer Henry Dreyfus who also designed the New York Central Hudson and emulated the look of the train with this streamlined shape of the pin Skyline color and trim variations are exceptionally diverse making the series a natural for collectors this pin doesn't represent any particular advancement in technology but instead more of an advancement in design by 1942 the skyline was one of the most popular pins in America and it helped the company to escape bankruptcy by more than doubling its sales even during a wartime economy again this is an absolute beautiful pen and really showcases the evolution of design and shape that you see during the Decades of the fountain pens Golden Era while the Waterman 52 was very cylindrical and almost in some cases square with its flat ends the Shafer then introduced this beautiful kind of tapered torpedo look and by the time we get to this beautiful pin right here we have that element of the torpedo but also the beautiful kind of design of the cap itself it's an absolutely marvelous pin I particularly love this color it has a beautiful gold nib and one of the other things that I love about a fountain pen of course is selecting the proper ink and a pen like this really cries out for a beautiful burgundy ink this is an incredibly elegant pen that fits in the hand beautifully and if you pull this out in a meeting and begin taking your notes in this it would be difficult for someone not to take notice next we have the Parker vacuumatic this is one from my personal collection and this is one of the two Parker vacuumatics that Aiden has acquired for me Parker's Flagship model from the late 1930s to mid-1940s this pin capitalized on the art deco Trend and created an iconic Masterpiece for the School of Art the pen was created from a pearlescent Celluloid that was layered with sheets of transparent Celluloid creating a transparent Barrel that allowed for its user to see the ink level which proved both useful and practical with this pin Park worker also released the vacuumatic filling system which used a pump to depress a diaphragm that created a vacuum to suck up large volumes of ink this ability to fill up the entire barrel of the pen with ink was revolutionary and inspired the pen industry to move away from the lever filler the Parker vacuumatic showcases not only this Evolution and design but also the Innovation and filling mechanisms that occurred during the Golden Age of fountain pens this is one of my personal favorites and as I said Aiden was able to help me acquire not just one but two and I'm currently looking for a third what I love about these pins is the beautiful visual texture it's something that you hear me speak often about on this channel like a fine grenadine tie there's just something about the Simplicity of this pen paired with its Rich visual texture that I immediately fell in love with this is a beautiful brown and you can see the great patina and variation in color and this is another beautiful dark gray with chrome or sterling silver Hardware an absolutely beautiful pen and again as I spoke to earlier one of the things that I love about a collection of fountain pens is being able to pair them with an appropriate ink so the brown vacuumatic is paired with the beautiful Montblanc ink from Purdy that supposedly smells like cigars so it was immediately sold and then my dark gray vacuumatic is paired with the beautiful permanent gray ink from montblock up next we have the Parker 51 which is also from my Personal Collection introduced in 1941 it is arguably the most famous and best-selling fountain pen in history it went through several iterations over the first few Decades of its existence until it eventually ceased production in the 1980s Parker's strong marketing campaign reinforced its renowned tying the PIN to patriotic motifs such as the P-51 fighter plane General Dwight Eisenhower used this model of pin to sign the treaty which ended World War II the German instrument of surrender a testament to the power of a fountain pen in shaping world history it was known as a reliable and consistent companion and remained as such for many people throughout the decades including the late Queen Elizabeth II who was known to use it to sign papers the pin was so popular that it was actually brought back into production in 2002 and began in 2021. this particular pin is a beautiful example of the Parker 51 with its beautiful gold cap and burgundy or as the late Queen Elizabeth II would call it Claret body again what I love about a beautiful fountain pen is the ability to pair it with an appropriate ink so this particular pen I fill with a beautiful Oxblood ink that I bought from Goulet pins and last we have the Shaffer snorkel this is from Aiden's collection the snorkels were released as Schaefer's response to the post-war interest in the Space Age Technology many argue that this pin is over engineered something that made it difficult to fix but it successfully reflected the acceleration of technology and design that occurred post-world War II the snorkel tube in the feed allowed for the PIN to be filled without getting ink on the nib or section a big selling point to Consumers who were tired of getting ink on their fingers they were made from 1952 to 1959 and advertised by some of the most prominent figures of the time like the cast of I Love Lucy this was a sort of Custer's Last Stand against the rise of the ballpoint as it was one of the fountain pen industry's last attempts at creating a new filling system and making fountain pens more competitive in a market now dominated by ball points but we all know how that ended this is another beautiful example of the diversity of Fountain Pen design with its jet black Barrel the sterling silver and gold cap and then of course the unique filling mechanism that could be extended to fill the pen without getting ink on the nib or the barrel itself pretty cool I must say this is without question a cool pin and one that without doubt is fun to fill so there we have it six of the most iconic fountain pens of the 20th century and great examples of the evolution of the fountain pen during its golden years these Fountain pins at a minimum have 50 if not 70 years of age and at a maximum up to a hundred years showcasing the durability and the longevity of a beautifully well made fountain pen that is well looked after and cared for properly whenever it comes to the romance or the magic of riding with a fountain pen a vintage fountain pen is truly second to none as I spoke about earlier there are a few elements of a fountain pen that make them truly pleasureful to write with and if you're someone that has been avoiding fountain pens or avoiding vintage fountain pens I would encourage you to give them a second chance as I spoke about there is great variation in the design of the fountain pens themselves because you're able from a vintage perspective pull from 70 years of production if not more within those years and especially within this Golden Era of Fountain Pen Evolution you have incredible diversity not just in the filling mechanisms but also in the shapes and the designs of the pins themselves it would be impossible to not find a fountain pen that you absolutely fall in love with now that's just the shape and the design of the pen itself one of the other elements of a great fountain pen of course is the fact that they write so much better than an ordinary writing instrument one of the things that I love about vintage fountain pen nibs is that generally I find them to be more springy and more flexible just allowing for an easier riding experience that has more feedback another point of differentiation between fountain pens is the shape and the size of the nib itself you can find everything from an ultra fine point nib like this one I have in the brown vacuumatic to something slightly more blunt like the one with this Parker 51. there is an incredible diversity to the shape and sizes of nibs that allows anyone to find a fountain pen that perfectly matches their preferred style of writing now in addition to all of that one of the other great virtues of a fountain pen is the fact that you have access to so many incredible inks with which you can fill it and unlike a ballpoint pen or any other type of pen that you're buying at the store you're not locked into just one ink over the lifetime of a pen you can evolve or experiment with several different inks as I stated earlier one of the things that I really enjoy is matching the color of the ink to the pen itself so this vacuumatic that I have right here is paired with this beautiful brown cigar scented ink that was produced as a collaboration between Mont Blanc and Purdy this Parker 51 I fill with the beautiful deep Oxblood ink that I thoroughly enjoy riding with and then this other vacuumatic the dark gray one is filled with one of my all-time favorite inks The Mont Blanc permanent Gray not quite a black and not a medium gray but an interesting ink that has a touch of character that really makes it stand out now this is another ink that I recently acquired which is a sailor ink again I think I have four or five different dark blues that I'm playing around with and Aiden is currently looking for a PIN to match up with this ink so after one discovers a beautiful fountain pen that has a nib whose feel and feedback they enjoy you then pair that with a special and unique distinctive ink and then you find great paper well when all that comes together it produces an experience that is absolutely exceptional and once you experience that one can never go back to riding with an ordinary pen so I hope you all enjoyed this video let me know what you think in the comments section below if you are someone that has a vintage fountain pen or any fountain pen for that matter I'd love to hear about it in the comments section if you have any fountain pen inks that you recommend or any fountain pen stories please share them with me I always love hearing these stories from the viewers of this channel of course for more information about Aiden the pins that he acquires restores and sells check out his Instagram page and of course if you haven't visited Kirby allison.com please take a moment to do so it's the best way to support the content that we film here on this channel and there you'll find the largest collection of luxury Garment Care and luxury shoe care accessories in the world as well as other great clothing accessories for the well-dressed like this beautiful new Sovereign grade necktie I'm wearing pocket squares braces socks belts and so much more I'm Kirby Allison and I love to help the well-dressed acquire and care for their wardrobes while exploring the world of quality craftsmanship and tradition thanks for watching [Music]

Channel: Kirby Allison

Views: 55,037

Keywords: kirby allison, mens fashion, hanger project, fountain pens, pens, vintage, vintage pens, best fountain pens, top fountain pens, pen collection, handwriting, iconic, Shaeffer, Parker, Eversharp, Waterman, ink

Id: s_0QeDkfYqw

Length: 18min 51sec (1131 seconds)

Published: Sat Feb 04 2023